“It’s like she think…” I reached for the words. “… she think that the marvellous things in this world, the wondrous things, we can find a trick to them, you know? And if we work the trick just right, well then, we can control them.” I kissed my teeth. “Why you want to control a miracle? Then it won’t be a miracle no more!” [loc. 1326]
Calamity (christened Chastity) Lambkin is in her fifties, single, menopausal, and mourning her father's death from cancer. Her mother walked out on the family when Calamity was young: Calamity fell pregnant at sixteen, and has a tense relationship with her own daughter Ifeoma. (She adores her grandson Stanley, though.) In fact, Calamity has tense relationships with quite a few people: she is forceful, independent and full of rage at a society that discounts her now that she's not young.
Lately, Calamity has been finding things: things that have been lost for years, like the brooch her mother gave her, and a beloved soft toy, and a whole, mature almond tree. One day she finds a little boy on the beach: she takes him home, names him Agway and begins to teach him English. Is Agway another 'lost thing', though, or has Calamity stolen him?
I loved this novel. Calamity is such a vibrant character -- though not always likeable: in particular she's viciously and offensively homophobic -- and her voice is unique and distinctive. How refreshing, too, to read about a menopausal woman! From one angle she's selfish: but from another, she has pride and independence, and knows her own worth. Hopkinson's writing is rich and allusive, full of vivid imagery (the sea smells 'salty and meaty ... like dinner') and she doesn't fall prey to the need to explain everything. The fate of her mother, the effects of the new chemical plant, the relevance of an old story about a slave ship, the finding of what's lost ... everything is connected, but the connections are seldom explicit.
I suspect The New Moon's Arms was more groundbreaking when first published in 2007. Highly recommended, though. I bounced off a Nalo Hopkinson novel about a decade ago (right book, wrong time?) and haven't read anything by her until now: I'll be reading more of her work.
Read for the 'by an Author from the Caribbean or India' rubric of the 2020 Reading Women Challenge.
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