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Frying Plantain

Written by: Zalika Reid-Benta
Narrated by: Ordena Stephens-Thompson
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Publisher's Summary

Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle - of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft”. In “Little Jamaica”, Toronto’s Eglinton West neighbourhood, Kara moves from girlhood to the threshold of adulthood, from elementary school to high school graduation, in these 12 interconnected stories. We see her on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with the ongoing battles between her unyielding grandparents.

A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control and teasing play can turn to something much darker. In her brilliantly incisive debut, Zalika Reid-Benta artfully depicts the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation Canadians and first-generation cultural expectations and black identity and predominately white society.

©2019 Zalika Reid-Benta (P)2020 Anansi Audio
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What listeners say about Frying Plantain

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Love the Reader (Ordena Thompson) and the refreshing story

What a refreshing story told from a perspective that is often silent. The reader did the voices so beautifully. I love the grandparents sooo much. I could smell the rooms and houses and related very deeply with this story!

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Loved every minute of it

I really loved this book! I grew up in and around the areas Reid-Benta described, and listening to the audiobook filled me with such nostalgia. She captures very authentic and relatable moments of Caribbean family life, and specifically, that life here in Toronto. The narrator, Ordena Stephens-Thompson, really brought the story to life. I was sad any time I had to pause this book, finishing it quickly. I highly recommend it, especially to those of us in the Caribbean diaspora.

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Great book!

I listened to the story with my mother she loved the narrator. I connected with Kara's West Indian upbringing love (physical) is often not shared among parents/family. However love from your parents/family in West Indian culture is provided in other ways.

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This was an excellent book

i really enjoyed this book. finished it in 2 days. cant wait for the next one!

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I loved it, it was just a bit sad listening to how

I loved it, it was just a bit sad listening to how hurtful experiences can make you bitter, and mistreat others, this was seen with the main character's mother. It's a sad truth about life, but needs to be addressed

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Amazing

Very relatable and engaging. It brought back my childhood. I really loved this book. Highly recommended.

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