PleasantView
Pleasantview ~ A Novel in Short Stories by Celeste Mohammed.
You are not immune to trials and tribulations as long as you are alive. When we navigate through life's challenges, we often act on emotion, ultimately making poor decisions. It often takes acknowledgment, grace and a whole village to rise above these challenges. In these stories, we see the characters' shortcomings and the unfortunate circumstances that make them desperate for change.
In the foreword, Rachel Manley stated, "It's my turn to suspect the mantle of Chekov, then Naipaul, has now fallen to Celeste Mohammed." Celeste Mohammed has written an outstanding novel in stories and should now stand proudly on the mantle alongside Chekov and Naipaul.
I had the opportunity to interview Celeste for Caribbean Heritage Month on This BrownGirl Reads. In a nutshell, it was litfantabulous.
Pleasantview is a novel in stories interweaving the lives of a multi-racial community shedding light on the vast differences of the have and have nots, revealing the great lengths that the characters took out of desperation to achieve their goals. Although the stories are fictional, it reads like non-fiction. I was immediately drawn into the lives of each character from the prologue to the epilogue. I felt the authenticity in the stories as I watched life unfold for every character. These stories mimicked real life in many villages in my homeland of Trinidad and Tobago and throughout the Caribbean.
Celeste effortlessly utilized humor and empathy giving the reader a cinematic view at every turn of the page. Celeste addressed the unpleasant issues that have historically plagued the lives of the underrepresented, giving them a platform to share their stories - stories that you can't ignore. Mixed into all that makes Trinidad and Tobago so beautiful - the Carnival, very diverse culture, multi-racial backgrounds, food, and ethnicity, there is the realism of things not so taboo - sex trafficking, corruption, classism, many forms of abuse and exploitation exist. This book was entertaining and encouraged the reader to challenge different perspectives and beliefs about choices we make in life when met with unbearable circumstances. Most importantly, this book brought awareness to issues that will need a collaborative effort to rectify, not only in Trinidad and Tobago but throughout the Caribbean.
One million thanks to Celeste Mohammed for such a litfantabulous contribution to the Caribbean literary community. I am very excited to see what follows Pleasantview.
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Anna Bella - Author www.authorannabella.com