Augustown by Kei Miller

I finished Kei Miller's Augustown for my Jamaica section of storygraph's read the world challenge; although let us not pretend that reading a single novel gives a foreigner any deep insight into a country. I heard about the novel from an article Marlon James had in the NYTimes about reading your way through Kingston, Jamaica.

The book is written in standard English but the dialogue is in Jamaican patois -- the audiobook version helped this part of the story come alive. Miller's book reminded me a bit of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Their Eyes Were Watching God. All three are about marginalized communities who have a strong sense of group solidarity. 

I enjoyed just about all of Augustown, but I did find the ending a bit, um..., well, the author did end things with a big violent series of events. I certainly had never heard of Alexander Bedward before reading Miller's, so I feel I know just a bit more about the historysand religions of Jamaica.

Highly recommended.