This escapade is documented in the book’s central section, a congenial fog of mas, music, grog, ganja, sex, jealousy, freeing-up, and mayhem. These three, reunited by chance in a New York bar, agree on a trip home together for Carnival. Laurence de Boissière is a childhood friend from Laventille in Port of Spain (read: black and poor) who has made it as a poet and academic he has published a hit novel on slavery. Rachel is his second cousin and secret love, a “café-au-lait” beauty, nymphet, and sexual tease. The narrator, William Fletcher, comes from a wealthy white family in Trinidad, and is an unsuccessful writer in New York. But the interesting question is: how does Antoni intend this story to be read? On the face of it, Robert Antoni’s third novel is the straightforward tale of a group of Trinidadian expats who come home for Carnival in Port of Spain, have a wonderfully debauched time, then chill out on a lonely north coast beach where euphoria gives way to horror. Photograph courtesy Grove/AtlanticĬarnival has the uneasy feel of a book that requires decoding.
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