This historical novel is a multi-generational saga about the Bradshaw family of the United States Virgin Islands. The story begins in 1917 with the transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States and the ongoing theme of the narrative is how the Virgin Islands are American but treated as something tangential. Events withing the story include the enlistment of V.I. men to World War II and the Korean War, the rise of tourism and resort hotels, Hollywood using the islands as a filming locale, and the Civil Rights movement which inspires a movement to occupy the beaches that are being privatized by white American property owners and hotels.

The Bradshaw's story starts with Owen Arthur Bradshaw, a ship's captain, and his wife Antoinette, who are part of highly-respectable family on St. Thomas. They have two daughters, Eona and Anette. Owen also fathers a son named Jacob Esau with his mistress. When their parents die (Owen in a traumatic shipwreck), Eona is forced to put aside her desires to raise Anette. The novel alternates among the three children's points of view as it follows their story up until the 1970s. Yanique's writing feels inspired by Toni Morrison and has touches of magical realism. There's also a lot of incest, both knowing and unknowing.

There are parts of this book that are very interesting but also some parts I found quite absurd (the Hollywood movie ends up being a pornographic film, in the 1950s?) and other times that I just wished that Yanique would get on with the story instead of circling around a point. So, consider this a mixed review. ( )

Set in the US Virgin Islands from the early 1900s to 1970s, this is the story of Bradshaw sisters Eeona and Anette, and their half-brother Jacob. When they are orphaned, they must make their own way in life. We follow their lives, loves, and struggles to deal with the many changes taking place in the islands at the time.

The author does a wonderful job of providing each character a unique voice. Eeona is the more formally educated. Anette communicates in the dialect of the islands. An omniscient narrator occasionally breaks in to provide commentary. Yanique mixes in elements of local folklore, obeah, and magical realism. These elements are subtle and do not overpower the narrative. The Virgin Islands are beautifully drawn, and the vivid sense of place is one of the highlights of the book.

This story is not solely a family saga. It also examines issues such as colonialism, racism, classism, tourism, and identity. I think the reader needs to be aware going in that the content includes incest. It is integral to the plot, and this portion is finished early in the book. Based on the author’s family background, this is an imaginative story grounded in the Virgin Islands’ culture and history. ( )

I kept trying to get into it, and just flat gave up about half way through. I don't entirely think that's the book's fault -- I wanted some kind of magical realism and while there are bits here and there, it just wasn't enough for me. I also didn't like the characters all that much and the pacing was slow. ( )

An excess of incest spoiled an otherwise lovely book for me. I'm leaving three stars because I enjoyed the writing style and ongoing interconnectedness of characters and past events so much, but docking both those two stars because of how squicked out I was throughout.

Plot summary for forgetful future me, chock full of spoilers:

We begin in the Danish West Indies in approximately 1917 with Antoinette Bradshaw, the slightly scandalous (for her childhood in Anegada) wife of wealthy merchant Owen Arthur Bradshaw, who is (yuck!) proactively enamored of his beautiful daughter Eeona. Worse, until the end of her days she describes her father as the love of her life, even her husband (yuck!). She's so jealous of his mistress, the local obeah woman with whom he's had a son, that she wishes him dead...and, shortly after fathering a second legitimate child, Anette (despite all of Antoinette's efforts to abort her), just as the Virgin Islands transfer to U.S. control, he does die in a shipwreck. Antoinette dies soon after, exhausted by her efforts to turn her fashion sense into a career right as the Great Depression hits.

Eeona refuses to give up her upper-class ways, despite Anette's desire to fit in. Eeona concocts various schemes for getting rid of Anette, convinced it will give her the freedom to rise again to her station, up to and including pushing Anette into a loveless marriage with the charming good cook Ronaie Smalls, right before he ships out to the U.S. to fight in WWII. Though they have a child, Ronalda, Anette scandalously divorces Ronald, who wasn't her cup of tea to begin with. Unfortunately, she then falls madly in love with the newly-returned Jacob Esau McKenzie, her half-brother. Yuck, but I'll give them a pass, since neither of them know it--Jacob's mother needs him to keep the McKenzie name so that the family will pay for his education and Eeona keeps the secret to protect what's left of her family's reputation (though given that Anette is divorced, I don't see how allowing incest makes things less bad). No, the gross part is that Anette and Jacob have sex on a beach while baby Ronalda is sleeping right next to them and Jacob thinks about how he's basically having sex with her, too. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Jacob decides that if he becomes a doctor and gets his mother's approval that way, she won't object as much to his marrying Anette later. So off he skedaddles back to the U.S. for his education...as a gynecologist, so that he can put his hands in women--not sexually is specified, but still...yuck. However, she's pregnant with a second daughter, Eve Youme "Me", and she needs a father for her kids, so she marries Franky Joseph, who's loved her since he was a child. She doesn't love him like she loves Jacob, but he's a good man that she comes to care for. They have another child, Frank, and start getting involved in island politics.

Meanwhile, Eeona is desperately trying to pursue her dreams: making souvenirs for tourists in a fancy hotel; planning to move to the mainland for fashion school; diverting instead to a months-long abusive affair with a man who, it turns out, is Jacob's mother's legal husband gone missing; and finally establishing a hotel to take advantage of the growing tourist industry. When she notices that Frank has developed a crush on Me (yuck!) she convinces Anette to let her take the girl to Anegada, where she has ultimately moved to be closer to her mothers' ancestors and the watery grave of her beloved (yuck!) father. Anette, by this time, very luckily learned of her relationship to Jacob right as they were about to rekindle their affair; she agrees to send Me with Eeona and only meets Jacob on a public beach, rejecting his advances, to share the letters Me sends--Jacob is, after all, her biological father.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

My ongoing discomfort with the twisty family ties and incest distracted me at times from this book's many strengths:

Its perspective and tense shifts, from Anette's first-person dialect to Eeona's formal third-person to the shifting third and "we" of the islander narrators, with occasional asides from the men Anette loves. It seems like it shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

Its layers of commentary on storytelling: Eeona's interest in Caribbean folktales and family lineage, Anette's desire to be a history teacher only to realize that her mainland and general Caribbean history classes don't cover local history, the narrators talking about what they know is true, the occasional forays into what didn't happen before revealing what did happen, the secrets kept and exposed.

The suffocating expectations of women whose "episodes" of wanting more are unacceptable and lead only to madness.

The influence of the United States on the islands, from becoming "American" but not having a vote, to being a source of soldiers, to discovering the depths of black-and-white racism in the U.S. compared to the colorist fluidity in the USVI, to being exoticized in a porn film, to being neglected in the wake of a devastating hurricane while "real" Americans (mainlanders) are evacuated, to being inspired to take back private beaches into public lands...

Yanique's book is rich in history, but she does seem to lean more on the "fiction" side of historical fiction. As she says in her author's note, several big events in the novel occurred at different times and in slightly different ways. An odd disassociation with dates may have contributed to my grumpiness while reading: the islands become the USVI in 1917 and Antoinette tells her husband that he is less than a mainland woman because there, women can vote...but mainland U.S. women didn't get the vote until 1920. WWI goes totally unremarked. The Great Depression is mentioned almost in passing. WWII has almost no impact on the islands until the soldiers come home. A major hurricane is undated. Eeona, Anette, and her children seem to age from babies to teens to adults quite suddenly, and then Ronalda seems to be in college for years and years--though this could also be an effect of their lives. Yanique also reveals in her author's notes that she's changed some of the historical events: That terrible film had a different name and was made almost twenty years later; the open beach movement had a different name; local bands and people had different names. I get not wanting to offend anyone living, but I also feel like there are acceptable standards of historical fiction when it comes to incorporating real things. Surely the people in the open beach movement and the local bands would be more pleased to see their names in print than dismayed? Unless they were also upset about all that incest, child molestation, and other weird sex things. Okay, yeah, I get why she changed that.

Which really begs the question...why? One case of incest in a story is one thing, but this much makes it seem almost endemic. How is this better than that porno film? Yes, the characters are rich and complex in a way that I absolutely loved, but what is the reader to feel when it seems like every single mother is sleeping with or wants to sleep with their parent or sibling? It's just too much.

I have Yanique's short story collection. I hope there's less weird sex in it, because I absolutely love her style, her complicated characters, her ability to call backward and forward to weave the whole story together, the symbolism, and the historical atmosphere (even if it felt like a bit of an authorial betrayal to find out how many things were deliberately slightly off) and I want to read more of that without the deep, pervasive feelings of unease and disgust. ( )

I liked this book far better than the three stars indicate...the setting is gorgeous, and I loved the elements of oral history and magical realism. Plot-wise, though, it's a bit of a mess, and I found myself progressively more annoyed with the author's habit of giving away major plot points in one sentence years and years (and pages and pages) before they actually occurred. That and , my goodness, so much incest. ( )

This novel takes place in the Virgin Islands. In the early 1900's, they become American. A ship has sunk in the Caribbean Sea. The boat belonged to and was captained by Owen Arthur Bradshaw. Owen and his family: Antoinette (wife), Eeona & Anette (daughters). They are wealthy and live at Villa by the Sea.
Owen has other women. Rebekah is one of them. Antoinette and Rebekah are both pregnant at the same time. Antoinette tries to get rid of the child through magic, but doesn't succeed.
Eeona believes that she was born to a higher order. Anette is more realistic.

This is a story about magic, families, incestuous relationships and what all of that can cause in life. Well written and makes you feel as if you are a real part of the story. ( )

Beautiful, descriptive prose from Ms Yanique takes the reader on a journey detailing the lives of several generations of a family in the British Virgin Islands, from the early 1900's to the 1970's. While the vivid imagery and lyrical patois of the sisters' in the story was something I found fascinating, what I found difficult was the constant skipping around between the different points of view, and the disturbing element of incest in many of the relationships. Others might be able to manage such a story element better than I though.

( )

Oh, this was lovely. There were segments where the pacing was off and I think in particular Rebekah's character simply got abandoned, as did Jacob's, but the writing is gorgeous and Eeona and Anette are complex, well-developed characters who are allowed to be unlikable at times and extraordinarily human, and the information I learned about the USVI was also new and unknown to me. ( )

Set in the beautiful and enchanting Virgin Islands, this is a story of love, loss, family, and magic. We begin in the early 1900s when the Bradshaw children are small and tragedy leaves them orphaned. They must face poverty and hardship together in order to survive. Their lives tangle around those of lovers, family members, children, and strangers. They fall from privilege to poverty, rise up to self-sufficiency, face racism and war, discover magic, and fight to discover their identity and place in the world. Secrets kept in order to protect create chaos instead and bring new challenges into their lives. Beautifully written and filled with memorable characters, this story pulls you into the heart of the island. Through three generations, we journey along as a new identity is forged for the land and those who love it.

Bettina P. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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A fascinating read very loosely based on the author's family history. With some VI stories and myth, this novel has a touch of magical realism as well.

The story takes place in the Virgin Islands, mostly the US side (though Danish at the beginning of the novel). We see the Virgin Islands in transition--as the Americans take over from the Danish and the Virgin Islanders become American citizens, over the decades they discover their islands have been overrun with tourists and purchased by white Americans who claim private beaches.

Eeona and Anette Bradshaw, sisters, lose both of their parents within a year's time. Eeona, significantly older, raises Anette, who does not remember their parents or Villa home. Anette seems a bit wild, but with no knowledge of the Villa and life as a captain's daughter, she cannot relate to the ladylike ways Eeona wants her to follow.

So, no spoilers, but the story follows them into middle age, as they each try to make their way in the new VI.

( )

This tale is particularly if you know the USVI. The tale of the two sisters spans much of the 20th century history of St. Thomas. The elements of magical realism makes the story charming. ( )

I was eager to read this book since it took place in the Virgin Islands, my childhood home. I don't think I would have chosen this type of book otherwise. It features a dysfunctional family with two daughters, Eona and Annette. Their father was a ship's captain who was lost at sea shortly after Annette was born. The father also had a son by another woman the same age as Annette, a fact tragically kept from her. Their mother sold the villa they lived in and all the furniture in it and soon dies herself leaving the two girls to fend for themselves. All this occurs just as Denmark sells the Virgin Islands to the U.S. and everyone has to struggle with a new identity.

I particularly loved the use of place names as they evoked childhood memories but at the same time I was aware of how I was one of those Americans who invaded the islands buying up land and setting up businesses (my father was an engineer who worked for the water and power authority and my mother was a teacher). One of the things we did as a family was sail and my dad always went for the more remote destinations, one of which was the island of Anegada. Not much more than an atoll, it is located north of and is part of the British Virgin Islands. As we approached the island, the only thing that stuck above the horizon was a palm tree. It was easy to see how it became a major ship graveyard. I loved the references to French Town since that is where our boatyard was located and was so familiar to me.

The author gave Annette a little of the local accent, Eona none, which made me wonder if she Americanized their language for her readers. One example is that the word "thing" is always pronounced "ting" even by the most educated. It would be like substituting "you" for "y'all" in a Southern novel. In her afterword she mentioned Herman Wouk's [Don't Stop the Carnival] which took place in St. Thomas and names some of the same locales but is from an "American" point of view. It is interesting to compare the two and if you are interested in this area I would recommend you seek out a copy of this 1965 novel. ( )

These women are their islands; their lives are surrounded by water and rooted in stories. This multi-faceted tale weaves in and out of the stuff of dreams. Dreams can lock us into a reality that we spend the rest of our lives trying to escape. Love is an anchor but also pulls us down – life seems to be the beach where we go to survive. ( )

The story of sisters, their secrets, their mysticism, their pride, their promises and their love and loves set in the breathtaking beauty (described to me by the author)of the Virgin Islands. I appreciated the way the author intertwined racism, women’s equality, poverty, American privilege and colonialism into the story, all of which along with family determined the why’s of this story.

There were many passages I shared in other places, but for this review I will share this passage spoken by Ronalda after she learns the history of saltfish and why she will never eat it again. It is so in tune with what is and has been given by the government commodity program to the Indigenous peoples of the northern hemisphere U.S. - “The history of the salted codfish, brought from New England cheap to feed the Caribbean slaves. She would think of how Caribbean folks ignorantly sought out the slave food as a delicacy and thought nothing of it”. ( )

Land of love and drowning is Tiphanie Yanique's first novel, and it's a fascinating one. The action follows the lives of two sisters, Eona and Annette, from their childhood (and the transfer of the Dutch Virgin Islands to the USA) through much of the twentieth century.

The sisters are over a decade apart in age, and consequently, their experiences and expectations are quite different. I quite enjoyed the differences in dialogue, the puzzle of what was “real” or “magically real” and particularly the development of Eona’s character over time.

The story touches on many themes and blends history and folklore into what I eventually found an enchanting and haunting tale. The book was a slow starter for me, and I am grateful to the Literary fiction by people of color group on Goodreads for helping me finally finish the story. ( )

in the author's notes at the end of the novel, tiphanie yanique references the quote from Derek Walcott, used earlier in the novel to begin a new section. when asked “What makes caribbean literature unique?” walcott’s full reply: “It may seem so simple to say that it is sea. But it is the sea”. it's an apt epigraph for this book, a caribbean saga anchored by the sea. also in the author's notes, yanique shares some personal background - her own family history appears to be very present in this, her debut novel. the problem? after reading her brief notes about her family, i wanted to read that book instead of this book.

things i loved about land of love and drowning:
* rebekah
* the historical importance and power of storytelling
* the dabbles of magical realism-light
* the setting - the look at st.thomas during this time in its history was great
* the way the island paradise was a bubble for a long time, and how that changed when it switched to american ownership - followed by WWII, the korean war, and then the racism and politics of the US getting to the island
* the potential of the story

things i disliked about land of love and drowning:
* the repetition - how many times do we need to be told, for example, that anette is a history teacher? that even though she teaches it, it is through a limited, censored lens?
* the disconnection/flatness of eeona
* eeona
* this scene: eeona's baby!?!? i felt it gratuitous
* the novel felt bloated, in need of better editing
* there was a lot of passivity
* oh. and this: the refusal of rebekah and eeona to tell jacob esau and anette they were half-siblings.

i was in the mood for a sweeping epic. i had hoped this would be a great read. i am left disappointed, unfortunately. it definitely had interesting moments, this story. but they only served to amp up my feeling bummed, as i slogged through the filler. most of the time, reading this novel felt like a chore, to which i was reluctantly returning just to get it finished. (sorry!!!) ( )

A sumptuous tale of two sisters and their half-brother entangled by magic, myth, and the pull of memory tinged with illicit love set in the Virgin Islands.

This intergenerational tale covers the years 1916 when the Danish West Indies was transferred to the United States to the 1970s as orphaned sisters Eeona and Annette, often at odds with each other, forge their identities from their legacies commingled with “Americanisms” as half-brother Jacob navigates the muddy waters of lineage secrets. I liked how the use of magical realism gives the story a more unique feeling as it builds tension and moods as readers wonder if the characters decisions are of free will or the pull of the destinies. The transition between first person narrators and the third person narrator seemed choppy at times but I enjoyed how the third person narrator gave their part the feel of oral storytelling.

I appreciated how the author effectively blended history, folklore, and family memoir into a spellbinding story. I recommend to readers of historical fiction, magical realism, and Caribbean history. ( )

AUTHOR: Tiphanie Yanique
TITLE: Land of Love and Drowning
DATE READ: 09/28/14
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Fiction/2014/Riverhead Books/350 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: S/A
TIME/PLACE: Early 1900's to 1960's, St. Thomas
CHARACTERS: Eeona & Annette Bradshaw -- sisters
FIRST LINES: Owen Arthur Bradshaw watched as the little girl was tied up w/ lace & silk. He jostled the warm rum in his glass & listened to the wind.
COMMENTS: This is a lyrical, magical family saga spread over several generations set in the US Virgin Islands. The main characters are Eeona and her baby sister Annette. Their parents are Captain Owen Arthur Bradshaw and Antoinette. Eeona is unusually close to her father, in actuality their relationship is incestuous altho' one that Eeona seems to favor rather than complain about. It has colored her perspective in later years and she never really can capture a loving relationship again. Ironically, she is hypersensitive to her sister becoming involved w/ Jacob Esau and tries to deter her from being around him. She will not tell Annette the reason why. Their father had a relationship w/ his mother and Jacob Esau is their half-brother altho' not acknowledged as such. There are many adjustments and transitions over the time span of this novel. In the beginning these girls are brought up in a villa w/ privileges and servants but when their parents both die, they lose the villa and are forced to live in another part of St. Thomas in much reduced circumstances. Eeona is in such denial she tells Annette the villa has burned down, she can't bear the thought that the villa is still there and inhabited by others -- it has become a hotel. Annette was much younger and does not have these attachments to a former way of life like Eeona does. Eeona continues to think she will regain her former stature in the Island community and eventually departs for St. John. Annette has 3 children from 3 different men, 2 of them married her and altho' she has her flighty side she is also grounded and studies history so she can be a teacher. I really enjoyed this book and will read another by this author. I really enjoyed reading the history of the island. ( )

A very enjoyable read that sucked you quickly to Yanique's story and heritage. Although not a bio, as she says in the Author's Notes a lot of it was taken from her roots, culture and wives tales passed from parent to child that became a fabric of Island culture. Some of the incest taken on its own can be disturbing, but you put it altogether and you can see the trap a small island community lives in that makes some relationships acceptable to them that would be found horrific on the outside, though one relationship goes too far. You got a sense of the beauty of the islands, not the beauty us tourists see in beaches and sunsets, but the beauty in living a very simple life where the littlest things are more greatly held and appreciated, including the stories passed down over time. There is a lot more to this book than just the culture treasure. It's a very good read. ( )

Land of Love and Drowning isn’t a plot driven novel. It’s a character study and a chronicle of the lives of two sisters. Eeona, the older sister, is prim and proper and very concerned with class and her place in society. Anette, the younger sister, is the complete opposite. This book also offers a history of the Virgin Islands from the time it was transferred from Danish to United States possession in the early 20th century up until the 1970s. It was interesting and troubling to read about how the Americans brought racism with them to the Virgin Islands where none had existed before. They also started putting up hotels and resorts and tried to make all the beaches private. The islanders were actually worse off as Americans even though we’re supposedly the greatest country in the world.

There is magical realism present in this novel. Several characters have magical physical attributes or capabilities. While it did require some suspension of disbelief, I thought it all made perfect sense in the context of the story. The islanders seemed like very superstitious people on the whole and a little bit of voodoo here and there seemed natural.

The only criticism I have of this book is that the pacing was slow. I wasn’t riveted when I was reading and therefore, it took me a long time to finish. However, the writing is beautiful and I liked how the narration alternated between several characters. Anette’s way of speaking was a little hard to understand but also charming.

I enjoyed this book and the fact that the setting was a place that I hadn’t read a book set in before. I feel liked a learned a lot. The author’s note at the end explains what is fact and what is fiction as far as the history of the Virgin Islands goes. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about this book and have a feeling it will win awards this year. Better read it so you can be in the know! ( )

This is the story of two sisters from the US Virgin Islands: their lives, loves, dreams, and realities over the course of several decades, presented with a touch of what I suppose you'd call magic realism. It's well-written and involving, with good characters and an interesting, vividly realized setting. (Frankly, it made me sorry and a little ashamed to realize just how little I knew of these islands when I started, but also extremely glad of the opportunity to spend a little vicarious time there.) While I recommend it, overall, for those to whom this sort of thing sounds appealing, I feel I should point out that it does deal with some potentially disturbing subject matter, including incest and pedophilia. Although, honestly, that makes it sound much darker than it actually is. ( )

A gorgeous story of the Virgin Islands and two sisters growing up Eeona and Annette. I really liked this book a lot and would recommend it highly it does live up to they hype. ( )

Liked this book, didn't love this book. I was entirely enthralled with the picture it painted of the Virgin Islands, but I was not taken with the Eeona and Annette. The story is told in alternating voices by the two sisters. I found it hard to get through the chapters told by Annette. I realize it is probably island speak, but I did not enjoy reading it. This is a family story told over several generations. I wish I would have been more interested in this family's history, but I found myself skimming over some parts. ( )

Told from different voices, Land of Love and Drowning draws the reader in . Quickly captivating, continuously engaging, and slightly elegiac, Land of Love and Drowning is a fascinating tale of a family and the transition of the Dutch West Indies as they become the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a tale not only of sisters Eeona and Anette, and of their forbidden loves (each loves an inappropriate man) but also of the class of cultures and the cultural shift that takes place in the Virgin Islands as American tourists start invading. ( )

Set against an half century of Virgin Islands' history, "Land of Love and Drowning" examines the personal and sociological impacts of becoming a US territory. The author juxtaposes the family histories of the Bradshaws and McKenzies against this backdrop of cultural change. The Bradshaws and McKenzies are what a contemporary American reader might call "screwed up" family. Misplaced passions, family secrets, grief, and a little bit of magic characterize how members of these families interact over the decades. For the purposes of the story, though, their strangeness, foreignness somehow feels right.

Upon finishing the book, I really felt a sense of a tiny slice of Caribbean history. "Land of Love and Drowning" put the Caribbean on my "radar" in a way it's never been. I've only ever thought of the Caribbean in terms of its place in the history of the slave trade, or as a vacation destination. Shame on me. But to read about an early to mid-20th Century Caribbean - one that was a blend of many peoples and cultures, one containing diversity between different islands, one where most islanders don't even swim, was revelatory. I especially appreciated the juxtaposition of the treatment of people of color in the United States versus the the Virgin Islands during that time.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. I took a lot away with me. Yanique's use of imagery and symbolism made for a visual mental feast. However, it wasn't always an easy read. Compelling, but at times an effort to get into. For folks interested in the history of the Virgin Islands, I would recommend this book. ( )