Annie John: A Novel

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Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid is definitely not a story i would pick up on my own. It was assigned to me as reading for an English assignment and it met my somewhat low expectations. The story is of a girl figuring out the trials and tribulations of growing up in post colonial Antigua.The main character, Annie, has a deep connection with her mother which is broken as she becomes a young woman. The novel goes on to discuss her childhood adventures and friendships and ends with her leaving to America. Even less interesting is that Annie comes from a middle class family and faces no real difficulties, just those she places on herself. It is a well written novel however it is in no way remarkable and doesn't truly address an original issue, just the same old theme of 'growing up' that has been addressed by many different authors. This novel will most likely be a one-time read as it is not thought provoking enough to prompt me to read it a second time through. Therefore i would not recommend purchasing this novel. It was difficult to reflect on anything in this novel because all of its themes and morals are laying in front of you, no thinking involved.I assume the only way a person could give this five stars is if they had a personal connection with the novel or they like not having to think. Frankly it is quite generous to give it a three star review, I personally would give it a two and a half if i could. This book is definitely tailored to a small, specific audience, an audience that I am not part of.

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Annie John was a very engaging well written book that I think every mother and daughter should read together. Annie John narrates her life as a young black child living on the island of Antigua from the age of ten- seventeen. She was a curious, brilliant girl who has to learn to embrace the notion and reality of severance from her early childhood memories.
She and her mother, whom she absolutely adores, start out by being very close with one another, almost inseparable. Her mother would tend to Annie in so many ways: starting her baths, reading her stories, taking her shopping, and teaching her in every way how to be a strong independent woman. As time passes, Annie begins to notice how her bond with her mother has become undermined. She realizes that she has to go from a little girl and try to find herself as she grows into adulthood. In her transitions and struggles, she feels as if the passion and love she feels with her mother have diminished. Her mother begins separating herself away from Annie as she realizes the extent of her daughter's needs and her dependence. That only leads to Annie having much hatred for her mother. Annie begins acting out against her mother.
At the top of her class, Annie was a wise, mischievous girl who was quite popular amongst her peers. Throughout her days in school she made close friends with two girls Gwen and The red girl, who Annie sort of uses as a relief from the neglect of her mother. With all the intensity from the conflict between her mother and her realization of their separation she has a mental breakdown and becomes bed ridden for months. Her grandmother "Ma Chess" helps heal her. Annie survives and understands that she needs to leave the island and make a new life for herself, and begins to understand that we will not always be united with our loved ones on earth but will forever be bonded through spirit.

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I didnt like this book at all and I thought it was very boring. Also it was some what inapropriate!

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This coming of age story is sensitive and tranquil. It doesn't shout but is sound. Poetic writing. Worth a detour.

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This novel has the same beautiful, flowing, sparkling language as LUCY, which I loved. The sentences are a joy to read (they reminded me a little of Thom Jones, with their relentless, driving, dialogue-free qualities). This is essentially a slice-of-life story about Annie's teenage years in the West Indies that ends with her leaving for England. Annie is an interesting and complex character and I admired the unquestioning way in which we are told about her falling in love (crush?) with Gwen and the Red Girl. There is a wonderfully female sensibility in this book, the kind that is confident enough to portray women in all their complexity, as bad and as good, as able to wish well and able to rejoice in other's pain. However, the mother-daughter relationship did not convince me. I felt as if the writer knew more about this relationship than the reader was being told and so when I came to the sentence `I no longer loved my mother,' I did not believe it because I had seen to reason for this. The mother changes as the daughter gets older and, even making room for normal teenage angst, there were parts of the narrative that seemed determined to have the mother and daughter estranged even if it was not organic to the rest of the narrative. Of course, this happens in real life all the time but the demands of fiction are different - the reader should not be expected to make assumptions from `real life.' Still, Jamaica Kincaid is a brilliant writer. Her language is superb and her story-telling, even if not best demonstrated here, is remarkable.