Bruised Hibiscus

Set in a Trinidad island village in the 1950s, Bruised Hibiscus by Elizabeth Nunez (Distinguished Professor of English and Director of the Black Writers Institute, Medgar Evers College, City University of New York) is the compelling story of two female friends who witnessed a woman's unspeakable murder through a hibiscus bush as children, and memories of the horror haunt their lives, destroy their ability to form healthy relationships, and ultimately bring about their reunion and a search for freedom and balance. A gripping, deadly serious story of crime and its emotional toll, Bruised Hibiscus is strongly recommended reading. Also highly recommended are Elizabeth Nunez's earlier novels: When Rocks Dance and Beyond.

Brusied Hibiscus is set just as the shadows of colonialism begin to recede in 1950`s Trinidad. Wealthy white planters still control the bulk of labor prospects. African, South Asian and Chinese immigrants work the land living in stark contrast to the wealth of whites. At this time, and in this place, the stories of two women unfold. Zuela is twenty-eight, already the mother of ten children and married to Ho Sang, a man old enough to be her grandfather who insists on treating her as one would an incompetent child. The other is named Rosa, also twenty-eight, the youngest daughter of a white plantation owner. The only of three sisters not sent to England for betrothal and the only to marry a Black man, deemed worthy in part because of his occupation. The two women shared a bond like sisterhood as children, but each has forgotten the other in adulthood.However, when the decomposing body of a white woman is found in a river in the town of Otahiti, the intricate skein of race, gender, class, and culture that propels Trinidad forward begins to come undone. The news spreads far and fast and while some are quick to dismiss it as man-woman business, most know the act is indicative of much more. The dead woman`s body triggers a memory of sexual abuse that Zuela and Rosa witnessed together as girls. Each is forced to recognize that she must make a change in her life or risk losing herself or killing someone else. And so for the second time, Zuela and Rosa`s path cross.Nunez is a gifted writer. She employs the brevity and repetition of poetry in her work. She writes unpretentiously, deftly inserting sex, murder and cruelty into a story that also speaks truth to friendship, love and a miracle or two. She is able to create a telling story that is not cheapened by the often-exploited aforementioned themes. Her writing is like the sway in the walk of a confident woman. Buy it. Read it. It`s good.

One of the things I liked best about this book is how Elizabeth Nunez unflinchingly tells some pretty "hard truths" about issues that most writers would rather skirt: colonialism, racism, male/female relationships, sexual and emotional abuse, murder and power relations. However, let me not give the impression that this is some kind of boring, heavy-handed manifesto -- I lost sleep over "Bruised Hibiscus" because I couldn't put the book down. It's a painful, traumatic kind of read (especially for anyone who has suffered abuse themselves) that doesn't exactly make you feel like skipping through the tulips once you've finished -- but that's exactly the point. It's also an engaging, thought-provoking, and beautifully written book that really "hooks" you.

Bruised Hibiscus is a powerful novel. The author, Elizabeth Nunez, explores two Trinidadian women, their lives, their marriages, and how a series of events explodes their unsatisfactory, stagnant existence. A disturbing, compelling work, full of lush description and strongly drawn characters. A world of Caribbean obeah and Catholicism, everyday domesticity and marital drama. Throughout the book, there is always an undercurrent of the power of friendship, love, and the inescapable past. An important Caribbean work.

Set in Trinidad in 1954, this is the story of two women, Rosa and Zuela, who are linked by an act they witnessed together as children: the sexual violation of a young girl. Adults now, and long separated, their lives come together again through the catalyst of a murdered woman's body found by a fisherman. The murder, and their husbands' reaction to it, shakes loose something in the consciousness of both women. This is "man-woman business." They recognize it in its extreme, and they set about to reclaim their lives, at whatever cost. The book is a dark exploration of sexuality and power and is well worth the read. My one objection is to the style of the book. The prose definitely veers toward the purple end of the spectrum, and the run-on sentences often include repeated parts of previous sentences, that repeat over and over throughout the book. This is done perhaps to lend power to the words, in the manner of an incantation, but the effect is somewhat akin to reading "This is the house that Jack built..." and becomes an obtrusion that ends up detracting from, rather than enhancing this powerful story.