Select delivery location
See All Buying Options
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Jamaica Kincaid
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Small Place Paperback – 28 March 2018

by Jamaica Kincaid (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,063 ratings
See all formats and editions
A brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua - by the author of Annie John.

If you go to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see...

So begins Jamaica Kincaid's powerful portrait of the damaged paradise that was her childhood home. The island of Antigua is a magical place of breathtaking beauty - with cloudless skies, dazzling blue waters, and majestic sunsets. But it is also a place of dramatic contrasts. What one doesn't see while visiting this ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies is the sweeping corruption, the dilapidated schools and hospitals and homes, and the shameful legacy of its colonial past.
In A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid candidly appraises where she grew up, and makes palpable the impact of European colonisation and tourism.
The book is a missive to the traveller, whether American or European, who wants to escape the banality and corruption of some large place, Kincaid, eloquent and resolute, reminds us that the Antiguan people, formerly British subjects, are unable to escape the same drawbacks of their own tiny realm - that behind the benevolent Caribbean scenery are human lives, always complex and often fraught with injustice.
Read more Read less
  Report an issue with this product
Previous page
  1. Print length
    100 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Daunt Books
  4. Publication date
    28 March 2018
  5. Dimensions
    13.3 x 1.1 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1911547097
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1911547099
  8. See all details
Next page

Product description

About the Author

Jamaica Kincaid was born in St John's, Antigua. She is an award-winning writer whose books include At the Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, My Brother, My Favourite Plant, and My Garden (Book). From 1976-1996 she was a staff writer for The New Yorker. She lives with her family in Vermont.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Daunt Books (28 March 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 100 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1911547097
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1911547099
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.3 x 1.1 x 19.8 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,063 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Jamaica Kincaid's works include, Mr Potter, The Autobiography of My Mother, and My Brother, a memoir. She lives in Bennington, Vermont.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,063 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 8 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Anicka
5.0 out of 5 stars A Small place
Reviewed in France on 30 April 2024
Verified Purchase
Such a fantastic book, I loved every part of it.
Would definitely recommend. It also highlights how important it is to be literate, because education is the true key to emancipation.
Report
Elaine
5.0 out of 5 stars Degree read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2024
Verified Purchase
Perfect
Report
lidia coronado
5.0 out of 5 stars para leer y releer
Reviewed in Spain on 4 May 2021
Verified Purchase
hermosa prosa de las cosas sencillas. pocas veces me releo un libro. este seguro que lo volveré a leer.
Report
Ally Chang
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book
Reviewed in Canada on 21 February 2020
Verified Purchase
Well written and eye opening. I would highly recommend it to anyone curious about Caribbean history and the people who live there.
Report
Vivek Tejuja
5.0 out of 5 stars Short, and yet such a powerful, intense, and engaging read.
Reviewed in India on 1 January 2020
Verified Purchase
So, this is my first Kincaid read, and all thanks to the 2020 Reading Women Challenge. Their first prompt is an author from Caribbean or India. Since I’ve read a lot of women from India, I thought let’s give the Caribbean a shot and started with A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid – a rather short, but extremely powerful and engaging book about colonialism and its effects in Antigua. There were so many things I wasn’t aware about Antigua till I read A Small Place, and like I said I was only too happy to read something out of my comfort zone and thereby discover the writing of an author I had intended to read for a while.

A Small Place is a memoir, it is also a history of Antigua in a way, it is also an essay of anger against the people who colonised Antigua, it is also a voice of great empathy that Kincaid has for her country and people. The book begins with an attack on tourists who visit Antigua – what they expect and choose to see versus what the place is.

A Small Place is a short book – but extremely powerful and angry. Kincaid writes about home – about what it meant to her, and what has become of it. Of how the English ruled them, and how their independence has only worsened the situation because of corruption and bureaucracy. Jamaica Kincaid speaks candidly – almost to the point of being brutal – there are no holds barred. The prose comes from an extremely personal space and therefore the writing shines the way it does.

For instance, when she speaks of lack of clean water in the country or even about the beloved old library that was destroyed in an earthquake and how nothing was done to build the new one. And now that there is a new one that has been built (way after the book was published), but there is still doubt if it is open to public or not.

Kincaid’s book is large – very large not only in its scope but also in what it has to say – and how she manages to say it in all in less than hundred pages is nothing short of a feat. That explains the writer she is – succinct, bare-boned, and yet so deeply emotional that every emotion is reflected on paper, and in turn is felt by the reader.
One person found this helpful
 Report