Review: Here Comes the Sun

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn has just been added to one of my all-time favorite books. Dennis-Benn's debut fiction novel was so complex, so rich in story, and so well-rounded that it's hard to believe that this is the author's first book.

Here Comes the Sun is set in Jamaica and it follows the lives of Margot, her younger sister Thandi, and their mother Delores. Margot has been selling her body for years to help her mother make ends meet and in efforts to give Thandi a better education and therefore life. Thandi is not interested in the science that Margot wants her to do so well in. She wants to be an artist. Not only does Thandi struggle in what would make her family happy versus what would make her happy, but she also struggles with her self-image. She uses lightening creams to the extent that she shouldn't even walk outside without an umbrella to protect her from the sun. Finally, the matriarch of the family struggles with the notion that she is not a good mother but in fact has ruined her children's lives. For example, she spends a lot of time coming to terms that selling Margot to a man for $600 at the tender age of 14 was not in Margot's best interest.

While I cannot definitively say that this story is true to the native Jamaican experience, I can say that the story seemed so real. I could feel the characters, their pain, their emotions, their hopes and aspirations - they truly felt real to me. This could be in part due to the fact that the author is a native Jamaican and has probably witnessed first hand what happens on the island outside of the tourist experience. I honestly don't know; but, I do know that there was so much life in this book and in Dennis-Benn's words.

This is not an easy read and it is not for the light of heart. This novel took me out of my comfortable American mindset and forced me to once again realize that life is not to be taken for granted. I know that I can speak for myself and say that I take many things for granted - shelter, food, education, women's rights, and more. When you discover that others go to such extremes such as selling their bodies for an education, it is beyond humbling. This is the power that is in this book. It was an absolutely great read.

Until we read again...