Nalo Hopkinson
Brown Girl in the Ring (1998)
Author: Nalo Hopkinson
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Plot Summary:
Magic mixes with dystopian themes in a Toronto of the near future. Toronto has become a "donut hole city"--the upper class has abandoned the city and taken its infrastructure with them. The coalescence of suburban sprawl and urban decay has created a barricaded inner-city, called "the burn," in which the poor and people of color must reinvent their world without the modern trappings of capitalism. People barter and farm for sustenance and turn to herbs for health care. The rich can still afford hospital care, but organ transplants are provided from pigs. A prominent politician in the suburbs is in dire need of a heart-transplant and uses this as an election ploy to get voters excited about the prospect of reinstating voluntary human organ donors. Against this backdrop, a fantastical story with voodoo at its forefront emerges. Ti-Jeanne is a young mother who lives with her herbalist and voodoo practicing Mami in the burn. Mami has always disapproved of Tony, Ti-Jeanne's estranged ex-lover, but his buff (crack-like drug) addiction and involvement in a drug ring ruled by a duppy (an evil spirit from Caribbean folklore) provides an avenue to reconciliation when Tony seeks Mami and Ti-Jeanne's aid in escaping the burn. The drug lords are recruited to find the politician a heart transplant and Tony is blackmailed to find a match and commit murder to obtain the organ. Ti-Jeanne must not only save Tony from the drug lords, but must protect her family as well. This mission turns into a story riddled with generations of family connections, Caribbean folklore, voodoo, and mystery. SPOILER: Ti-Jeanne realizes that her grandfather is the leader of the drug gang and has maintained a youthful appearance through the years by feeding the blood of street children and other poor souls to his duppy pot. In this pot, the spirit of Ti-Jeanne's estranged mother and mother's lover are trapped. Ti-Jeanne must out-magic her own kin in order to get her mother back and free Tony from the grip of the drug lords.
Geographical Setting: Toronto, Canada
Time Period: Near Future
Appeal Characteristics:
Brown Girl in the Ring is a deliberately paced, engrossing read. The characters are vivid and likable, but take a back-seat to the action when necessary. This makes for a storyline that is both character- and action-oriented. The tone is somewhat bleak with its emphasis on dystopian themes and the misuse of traditional magic. Hopkinson’s writing style is frank and direct and the story takes place over the course of a few days, which makes it a quick read. The dialogue is mostly written in patois, a creole dialect, which adds authenticity to the novel’s African Diasporic themes and traditions. These references to Caribbean folktales, lore, and magic frame the story and add ethnic and multicultural dimensions to a genre somewhat unaccustomed to such motifs. More generally, she explores themes of identity and marginalization. For these reasons, Brown Girl in the Ring is a refreshing addition to the Science-Fiction/Fantasy genre. Hopkinson won the Locus magazine award in 1999 for best first Science-Fiction novel.
Read-alikes: Fans of Brown Girl would enjoy Hopkinson's other work, more specifically her novel about the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint, Midnight Robber. Hopkinson has spearheaded a place in the sci-fi/fantasy genre for third world writers and writers of color with her short story anthologies So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy and Mojo: Conjure Stories. These make good readalikes for readers who enjoyed Hopkinson’s emphasis and treatment of tradition, ethnic and multicultural themes, and magical elements. Another anthology that focuses on African-American Science-Fiction stories is Sheree Thomas' Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. The themes of race and ethnicity and the sociopolitical commentary of these stories will appeal to fans of Hopkinson's novel, but some of the stories are older and the writing style is not as immediate or direct as Hopkinson's. Fans of Hopkinson’s direct writing style, dystopian themes, multicultural representation, and strong young woman of color protagonist will enjoy Octavia Butler’s Parable series: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents (should be read in that order). In Butler's future, a philosophical religion called Earthseed finds its roots in a decayed Los Angeles. Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren makes a good readalike in terms of setting and themes explored--similar themes to Brown Girl are gender, race, class, and identity. Delany explores a futuristic midwestern city in which the young and the poor live in the devastated streets and struggle to maintain their identity. A less earthly novel that contains similar appeal elements to Hopkinson's would be The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, a coming-of-age novel in which clones and space colonies complicate matters of identity. This novel explores similar themes of family and estrangement.
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Red Flags: Some violence, strong language, voodoo/magic themes, implied sexual situations.
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