Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
I assumed the old man was with the greenery and that he wouldn’t be long, so I tended the shop to pass the time. It would do well to take my mind from things. A remarkable debut, bristling with sharp prose and daring originality’ Nathan Harris, author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER To everything there may have been a season, but some things remained unchanged and I wouldn’t rest until I owned that house-atop-the-hill.
An Olive Grove in Ends - BookBrowse An Olive Grove in Ends - BookBrowse
As well as some vibrant prose (see the lengthy quote above), there are some brilliant figures of speech: “They hit every R' like joyriders hitting speed bumps” for a the accent of some (white) Bristolian builders; and “an ostentation of whites” to describe a group of early-gentrification phase inhabitants of the area – were for me worth the book price alone.Conversations take place in British and Islam flavored Jamaican Patois that readers of Marlon James will be somewhat familiar with but will possibly have to look up a few new words. I never found it in any way a hinderance to the flow of the novel. In return, Sayon wants to give the people he loves the world: a house atop a grand hill in the most affluent area of the city, a home in which they can forever find joy and safety. But after an altercation in which a boy is killed, Sayon finds his loyalties torn and his dream of a better life in peril.
An Olive Grove in Ends: The dazzling debut novel about love An Olive Grove in Ends: The dazzling debut novel about love
I had never entered the adolescent stage of thinking myself immortal. My mortality was as real to me as the soil I shovelled onto the aunts, uncles and cousins we buried. That was one of the downfalls of having a large family: the funerals outnumbered even the weddings.
For Sayon life is about making enough money to buy that house on the hill, one he saw as a child, and he has never let go of that dream. Life is also about family for Sayon, as the reader instantly surmises when viewing the family tree at the beginning of the novel. With so many uncles and cousins involved in the drug trade it’s hard for him to imagine another life but if he wants a life with Shona he will ultimately have to find a way out.
An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie review – an
And I would not be surprised to see it appear on literary prize lists over the next 12 months or so – as it clearly introduces a fresh and distinctive new voice to the UK literary scene from a very young author (the auction for this book – and a follow up around the St Paul riots – took place in 2020 when the author was a 22 year old recent English graduate).
Reader Reviews
A rare glimpse into the harsh realities of street life and love in luminous prose, rendered with sensitivity and without sentimentalism. An astonishing debut' Cherie Jones, author of HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us Which brings me to my final issue – as with “Who They Was” I think some readers may struggle to sympathise with Sayon’s worldview and the didactic way in which it seems to justify say selling drugs to homeless people as exactly equivalent to a religious group feeding or clothing them, as well as the constant violence and criminal activities which can be justified due to injustices against past generations. Boysah, yuh better lef di poor gyal loose, Sayon. Maybe next time mi bump innah Marcia mi could tell er, dem deserve fi know exactly who deh date dem daughter.
Great Deal 
New Comment