Diss/Ed Banded Nation - Softcover

Odhiambo, David N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1896095267 ISBN 13: 9781896095264

Publisher: Polestar Pr, 2000

Synopsis

"Thoroughly convincing in its evocation of the sordid surroundings and emotional anarchy of young, rebellious, impoverished urban lives, it is also an immersion into a simmering stew of racial and cultural identities-the street mix of abandoned pasts and lost, yearning presents ..." -Globe and Mail

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Soulful, sexy, with an aversion to capitalization and a fondness for the virgule, debut writer Odhiambo's story rhymes/raps its way through the consciousness of a talented Kenyan immigrant loose in Vancouver's musical demimonde. Benedict, a lapsed student of theology, hooks up with Jazz, a well-connected jazz musician, and becomes the vocalist for a hip ensemble. A dizzying mixture of drugs, insomnia and starvation make his days melancholy and his nights unbearable. As his band comes closer to clinching a recording deal, the singer finds his private life increasingly difficult to control--an old girlfriend reappears and becomes pregnant, immigration officers threaten to deport him--and Benedict is plagued by memories of his straitlaced colonial childhood. Pared-down dialogue evocative of David Mamet lends an edgy realism to the characters' interactions. Unfortunately, Odhiambo's stylized lyricism turns mawkish with overuse: Benedict is "failing, like before, to meet another commitment misplaced in the maze of this perpetual haze he's become." His bucking of generic constraints has a political dimension--"to subvert colonialism"--but often obscures.

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polestar Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1896095267
• ISBN 13: 9781896095264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 156