Leone Ross wrote a magical and sensual, yet down-to-earth story that only Popisho natives will fully understand. This is a story about love, addiction, and choices.
Location: fictional archipelago in the Caribbean
Popisho synopsis
A sensual novel, Popisho conjures a world where magic is everywhere, food is fate, politics are broken, and love awaits. Everyone in Popisho was born with a little something… The local name for it was cors. Magic, but more than magic. A gift, nah? Yes. From the gods: a thing that felt so inexpressibly your own.
Somewhere far away– or maybe right nearby– lies an archipelago called Popisho. A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny and mystery, it is also a place in need of change.
Xavier Redchoose is the macaenus of his generation, anointed by the gods to make each resident one perfect meal when the time is right. Anise, his long lost love, is on a march toward reckoning with her healing powers. The governor’s daughter, Sonteine, is getting married, her father demanding a feast out of turn. And graffiti messages from an unknown source are asking hard questions. A storm is brewing. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters.
Book review
Leone Ross speaks of lovers who teach you all kinds of flavor in her acknowledgments. I can assure you that this book shows you as many flavors as there are cors (magical gifts) on Popisho. It has never been clearer that every person is unique. Some are right for you and others aren’t, but they all bring color to your life. It is up to you to choose the right person.
Reading this book feels like exploring a lesser-known part of the world. Popisho would be the perfect travel destination, with the passionate and gifted but flawed natives of the archipelago as your guides. This is the only land where moths are the new drugs and you can get rid of a man by folding him like a piece of paper and drop him far away on the beach. The narrative is wildly imaginative and at times you will wonder what you are reading.
The people in Popisho try to overcome addiction as they deal with love and relationships, and all the weird things that the exotic archipelago throws at them. If your most intimate body parts can fall off anytime and you live to tell, then you know that you can adapt. And that is one skill that you need to have if you want to live on Popisho.
Leone Rosse wrote such a fun and entertaining story. Enjoy the ride and go wherever it takes you. Popisho (also published as This One Sky Day) is a book unlike any other. It is magical and absurd, sensual and down-to-earth. The only drawback for me was the use of (Caribbean) slang and grammar to illustrate the exoticness of the islands, as it made reading more energy-consuming. But other than that, I loved the story.
The characters are interesting – I especially liked Anise, Xavier, and Des’ree – and the events are as far from boring as it gets. You might not always be able to follow what is happening – I didn’t – but that doesn’t matter. Only Popisho natives will truly understand this story about love, addiction, and choices. So I encourage you to read this book (and to take a good look at the amazing cover). I mean, what’s your alternative?
Let me conclude with the following quote: “A final giggle slid off the side of his mouth and fell into the sand, foaming. They watched it for a while.”
Interested?
Pre-order your copy of Popisho from Amazon (available 20 April 2021).
Book details
Title: Popisho
Author: Leone Ross
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 480
ISBN (13): 9780374602451
Publication date: 20 April 2021
About the author
Leone Ross was born in England and grew up in Jamaica. She is a senior lecturer in creative writing at Roehampton University London and a senior fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Many thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
