Best little discovery of the month: Jamaica Kincaid’s “A Small Place”.

A tweet, now lost to history, recommended it. The book is short, just ~80 pages, about returning to Antigua. I know next to nothing about Antigua, so I thought: why not.

I learned a lot about the island, British colonisation, and even some Syrian and Lebanese investors, which I did not expect. But what really got me was the writing itself. Every line lands. It feels as if the typewriter is not just hitting the paper with each letter, but slapping you, the reader, across the face with every sentence.

You do not only understand Jamaica Kincaid’s anger through the words. You feel it in the movement of the text. In the rhythm. In the force of it. It gets beaten into you. In a good way.

But it is not only anger. There is love in it too. That shines through just as clearly.

New side quest unlocked: I want to learn how to write like Jamaica Kincaid.