My husband and I were in St. Pete Florida last year and we were taking a walk. We came across a bookstore and had to stop in. While browsing I came across this book A House for Miss Pauline. Hmm... I thought, Jamaica a place to read about, and this house of Miss Pauline‘s must mean a lot. I must find out now.
So here I am with book finished and now my thoughts
As Miss Pauline writes to her granddaughter she seems a bit nervous. She thought about how Justine might not want to come for a visit. So instead of writing and seeing, how long a letter would get to her, she was talked into Skyping by a young man named Lamont, which not knowing later, she befriended him.
See Miss Pauline was hearing voices and she thought her house was speaking to her. So when she was speaking to Justine she did'nt say anything about that, if she knew she would think unkindly. Some things you just don't speak of. Miss Pauline knows she is getting older. She feels it. Turning 100 years old, Miss Pauline hears the reluctance in Justine’s voice. So she told her she was sick. As her health declines she isn’t steady and she gets dizzy. Time for a cane for her. That’s what she told Justine, also she wants her granddaughter to help her make things right.
What things does Miss Pauline need to make right? Does she have a secret? Justine did come for a visit. She helped her with her doctor. And she also helped her with documents on finding who owned the land her house is on. She also became friendly with Lamont, who actually thought Miss Pauline was cool. I know he thought a lot of her. When the time came to go looking for who/what she needed he was there to see her through it. Her advice to him was immeasurable.
For the secret and making things right. Miss Pauline was afraid the stones of the house would give her secret away.
She, and her husband, friends, and people from her village helped Miss Pauline build her house of stone. Stones from slaves. From a slave house called a Backca House. This shows identity, colonialism, and land. The rest of the stones was taken to build some parts of the village. Was she suppose to be on that land? Hmm... And this is where she needed to find the owner/family of that land and make it right.
With the guidance of the voices of the slaves, including her girlfriend(who was raped by no other than the clergyman who taught the children)and had a baby. Miss Pauline made amends with the people she did wrong by. And to tell them what happened to their father. They made their choice to carry on with their own lives. Lamont decided to move on. He will never forget Miss Pauline. Both mean too much to each other. Miss Pauline also said goodbye to Justine. She had to get back to America for work.
As for Miss Pauline she found out she has ancestry with the person who owned the land. She will miss Lamont but I think she will be able to live with the voices even though her house is falling apart. She is stronger by it.
So Miss Pauline educated herself with the books that she stole, to the woman who started a ganja farm, A successful farmer at that, she supported her family, and herself. Whatever was thrown her way she seen it head on. Miss Pauline lived her life the way she wanted, with her children and her one love, Clive.
I gave A House for Miss Pauline 5
Reading this I had this feeling of Jamaica with its beauty and natural dialect. Also learning a bit about the way of living with what food people of Jamaica eat.
You need to read this story to get the full beauty of what Miss Pauline and those voices of the past are trying to teach. Good book!
