Me Dying Trial, Patricia Powell
Me Dying Trial, Patricia Powell
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Me Dying Trial

Author: Patricia Powell

Narrator: Bahni Turpin

Unabridged: 9 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/03/2019


Synopsis

From a major voice in Caribbean literature—this is a story of Gwennie Glaspole, a schoolteacher trapped in an unhappy marriage, fighting to resist Jamaican cultural expectations and for her independence

A new edition of the “remarkable first novel” from a major voice in Caribbean literature in the Celebrating Black Women Writers series. Written in modified Jamaican patois, Powell traces the life of Gwennie, a strong woman who plays the role of wife and mother while suffering through a loveless and violently abusive marriage to Walter. Faced with choice of remain a victim to her duties or flee from the cruelties of her everyday life, Gwennie decides to start anew and embrace the pressures of sudden and laudable change. Me Dying Trial ambitiously conveys what goes unspoken—issues regarding identity, homosexuality, religion, and personal afflictions, and how often that strong sense of community holds us back from growing.

Powell’s debut solidified her status as “one of the most exciting writers living and writing on the island that is the Caribbean-American hyphen.” (Edwidge Danticat)

About The Author

Novelist Patricia Powell was born in Jamaica and moved with her family to the United States in 1982. Powell has taught creative writing at Harvard University, Wellesley College, MIT, and Standford University, and is currently Professor of English at Mills College in California. She is the author of A Small Gathering of Bones, The Pagoda, and The Fullness of Everything.


Reviews

Goodreads review by BookOfCinz on October 26, 2019

In Me Dying Trial we meet Gwennie, a primary school teach in rural Jamaica in an unhappy marriage with six children. Gwennie can not seem to catch a break, she works for a really low salary and is constantly tired with little or no help. With the help of her Mother and her Aunty, Gwennie was able......more

Goodreads review by Julie on December 15, 2008

Flipping through the pages, I see numerous hostile response notes in the margins.....I remember. At this time, I was still completely opposed to the idea of myself being a mother, but I can see that I must have had the same beliefs about parenting in general that I have today. I recall really disliki......more

Goodreads review by 2TReads on February 16, 2020

Maybe closer to a 4, I am still a bit upset at the augmentation of my native tongue. 'But Gwennie, if I know you like I think I know you, you are stubborn and strong, mule ownself. And if you suffer and go through what you go through with Walter, because of your plenty children, you can go through an......more

Goodreads review by Chloe on July 26, 2021

I have to say, this was a really good debut (published 1993). I was assigned another book by this author called The Pagoda (1998), and that one blew me away so I figured I would pick up this one when I saw it. Patricia Powell is actually a professor at my college and I really wish I had taken/can ta......more

Goodreads review by BernieMck on July 01, 2020

I really liked this book. We travel to rural Jamaica, to meet Gwennie, who is in an unhappy marriage. Gwennie does what she has to, to relocate her and her 6 kids With different personalities and issues to a better life. The drama found, between the book covers, is quite entertaining.......more


Quotes

One of the most gifted voices among the new generation of writers from the English-speaking Caribbean. With her flawless ear for the poetic vernacular of her native Jamaica and her in-depth understanding of the complexity of island society, Powell continues to affirm the Caribbean's rightful place on the literary map of the world.--Paule Marshall, author of Praisesong for the Widow

"In its appropriation of the singsong accent of Jamaicans, its vivid portrayal of landscape, and its stark portrayal of the trials of womanhood/motherhood, Me Dying Trial is a remarkable first novel."--World Literature Today

"Powell weaves a compelling plot . . . developing a whole cast of characters worth caring about. A bold writer, she takes on economic and political issues."--Belles Lettres