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Rogues in Paradise

By

Must read 🏆

A gripping, charming, utterly unputdownable paean to Barbados, this book brims with wit, elegance, and subtle humour.

We start our visit to Barbados with the tale of Ace, the first rogue in the story, and then go on to visit multiple characters and places in this memoir cum travelogue. An extremely whimsical style of writing coupled with the author's obvious love for the island and its people makes for a rather charming, almost old-fashioned portrayal of this Caribbean island and its inhabitants.


I have to start out with some effusive praise of the writing. I've read several boring slice-of-life vignettes and travelogues, but this piece of writing was anything but. I can't quite place the style, but I was able to get a hint of Roald Dahl's writing in Boy and the first few chapters of Going Solo in the rhetorical flourishes applied to the characters; and a bit of Ruskin Bond's flow in the poems and rhythms applied left, right and centre. Which is not to imply a lack of originality. Each character jumps off the page, their images as vivid as the pictures painted by Woolly Hewitt or Darla Trotman. Even though the author does not explicitly describe their physical appearances, one can get a good sense of each one nonetheless. Even the descriptions of places seem to have their own metre, the writing swaying in your head as it gently colours in an increasingly clear outline. The author complements these descriptions with some poetry here and there. I amused myself for a bit by reading the poems out loud, as I believe many others reading this book might do as well.


At the end, though, one puts this book down with a smile on one's face and a gasp upon the realisation that what one thought was five minutes was actually closer to an hour and a half. Reading this book is no effort: it is best described as a joy. It is uplifting, fun to read, and extremely engrossing. A must read for sure!

Reviewed by

Hello! I'm a PhD student working on health systems, but in my spare time, I am a voracious reader of history, philosophy, science, and most importantly, science-fiction and fantasy. I've maintained a Goodreads account since around 2015 or so and I try to review every book I get my hands on!

Two Weeks To Judgement Day

About the author

With 20 Years in travel, I learned that the key to success as a destination is its people. My first BIO-Novel, "Rogues in Paradise," goes behind the tourism facade to reveal the vibrant quality of culture and history through all the irascible and lovable people who make it what it is. view profile

Published on September 30, 2021

Published by

30000 words

Genre: Cultural & Ethnic

Reviewed by