Steeped in Science, Submersed in Story

I received this book as part of the GoodReads FirstReads program.

First, this is a very good collection of stories. It just so happens that it's a collection of stories from fairly new authors from the Caribbean, as well. But it's definitely worth reading as simply a good collection of stories.

As you might expect from a collection from a range of authors, these stories have a wide range of subjects and styles. What they have in common, of course, is taking place in the Caribbean. There's a rhythm to the language and patterns to the relationships in families, communities, the society. They mention the closeness of nature and the ocean and the dangers posed by that (no waxing poetic about the sea here).

Most of the stories are really wonderful, even through they deal with difficult subjects and aren't exactly happy stories. A couple of the subjects were so difficult that the stories were more deeply disturbing than anything else -- the disturbing took over and I couldn't process the story. But that really only ruined one of the stories for me. The rest I would recommend as excellent, thought-provoking, and at times enjoyable.

This is the first book from a new publishing press specifically to promote new Caribbean writers. It looks like they plan to make more of these collections in the future, and I am really looking forward to them.