I read this novel about a year ago. Like all of Roy Heath's novels, it is a dark work. The slow deterioration of the protagonist Galton Flood into madness. The clomax when it comes is a surprise, but you realize that you should have seen all the signposts along the way. The author writes with an understanding of the dark places in the human spirit, and with considerable sympathy. This story will stay with you for a long time. It is a masterpiece.

How about that author? Isn't she great? Such style! Such poise! Such an Un-Simplotonian command of words.

This book is the bomb. It has the same standards as all the other Phoenix Force books, which I highly recommend. Just think five different guys from around the world come together as one team. The only thing that is missing is the fact the Yakov is no longer the leader of the team. Oh well C'est la vie.

A parade of comic and unusual characters are presented in hilarious and dramatic episodes. Set in New Amsterdam and Georgetown, Guyana, the stories are written in colourful creole. Kite flying, medicine taking, school days and more, are presented against the backdrop of rapid political changes. Guranteeed to make you laugh and cry - Toronto Star. It might make a charming film - Margaret Watts Lecturer, The University of the West Indies. This novel evokes a disappearing way of life - Canadian Book Review Annual. Heydorn has used the comic mode to achieve the trgic vision which is the sociolinguistic richness that is Guyana - Amena Gafoor, Guyanese Literary Critic

The scholar-activist Walter Rodney (1942-1980) was born in Georgetown, Guyana and died a tragic death in Guyana as a result of a car bomb assassination designed to mute his political activity. Rodney was an activist in Caribbean islands other than Guyana (especially Jamaica), Africa (especially Tanzania), and the United States (especially Atlanta). Rodney made it a life project to produce scholarship that would remain linked to working-class and progressive movements. He joins Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James, and Sylvia Wynter as one of the leading twentieth-century Caribbean revolutionary intellectuals whose work brings together concerns for the Caribbean, North America, and Africa. Unlike the theoretical works of Fanon and James, the works of Wynter and Rodney have not received yet the critical attention they deserve. Rodney is best known for his political activism and text HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA. However, like Wynter, Rodney's oeuvre extents in space and time well beyond one period of life or one text.
Jamaican theorist and leading Marcus Garvey scholar Rupert Lewis has outdone himself by composing this first single-authored biography of Rodney. This book is a breathtaking account of Rodney's life as it relates particularly to his political activity in Tanzania, Jamaica, and Guyana. Lewis attended the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica) while Rodney was a professor there and thus is able to provide firsthand accounts of Rodney's life in conjunction with other political activities occurring in Jamaica at the time. Lewis devotes a powerful chapter to discussing Rodney's involvement with the cultural politics of Rastafarianism and rude boys. In addition, Lewis provides detailed accounts of Rodney's investigations into African history, Caribbean Marxism, Pan-Africanism, and Caribbean politics.
A central objective of Lewis remains highlighting the contributions of West Indians such as Rodney to the struggles of African societies fighting against colonialism and the interconnectedness between Africa and the Caribbean. As Lewis writes in the Introduction, "It is to this task of understanding the unity of his [Rodney's] African and Caribbean concerns, in the early years after political independence, that this study is dedicated." I urge all of you reading this review to get this amazing political biography whether you are familiar with Rodney's work or are encountering Rodney for the first time. What a read!!!

Sony Armstrong is greedy, dishonest, a philanderer, a social climber, and a generally unpleasant person. His wife Gladys, who is better born, is dim, and more than a little superstitous. Their son Rohan the subject of the second part of the trilogy is self indulgent, and pays for it. The daughter Genetha the subject of the third part of the trilogy takes after her mother, but with everything amplified. All together you would avoid these people if you ever met them. Having said that, the novel does present a picture of British Guiana in the 1920's-1940's with all it's colonial and class related problems, which I found of great interest, and which I believe to be accurate. Having grown up in BG during that period, I was more than a little curious to read how someone else saw life there. I was not disappointed. Roy Heath did a fine job, I'm just sorry he didn't include a character that you could maybe like.

In brief, I picked up the first of these books about ten years ago after reading a review in the Christian Science Monitor. It literally changed my life. Heath's descriptions of life in Guyana delivered to my imagination the details of my Mother's childhood. These three books inspired me to travel to and eventually live in Guyana where I met the love of my life, my wife. During my travels, I was just as knowledgeable and often times more informed about the sociocultural history of this beautiful country and it wonderful people. Recommended for all of all ages.

I really enjoyed this book.I like the way the book brings you into focus about what was going on and holds you there till the end.There are some good photos in this book and copies of letters that are interesting to read in the back of the book.

Kerns' book gives the reader insight into what it was like to be a part of the Jim Jones cult. His personal experience is moving, and the documents contained in the book make it even more interesting. What a tragedy these deaths were, but by reading this book, one gets a profile of the type of person who is susceptible to this kind of sick cult.

Metegee is a metaphor for the people of Guyana, and for this book by Ovid Abrams, both are a mix. Mr Abrams has a very lucid and plane spoken style, and his collection has much to offer. I did find it enjoyable and informative, and would certainly recommend it.
I do take issue with a few things Mr Abrams said.

(1)Secondary education was readily available in Georgetown, and was not so costly as to be exclusive. It was also better, or at the very least as good as anything I've seen in both Canada and the US.
(2) I don't think that the British ever considered the "indentured" Portuguese their equals. The Portuguese came mostly from the little island of Madeira, either because of famine or political instability, I don't really know, however I do know that both commerce and agriculture were well developed there, and I'm sure that when they came their intention was to work out their contract and go into bussiness for themselves. This is what they did, and they prospered.
(3) As far as Obeah is concerned I never knew it as a religion, but rather as something akin to witchcraft. In fact in the late forties there was a famous case in which three people were tried and hanged, because they had sacrificed a young child in an Obeah ceremony.

Evidently Mr Abrams is very keen on language and folklore, and that's fine, but there's too much. I didn't find the proverbs and saying so interesting, and many of the customs, beliefs, superstitions I wasn't familiar with. I do wish he had spent more time saying something about other ethnic groups like the Portuguese and Chinese. I also wish he had said something about the cattle ranchers in the Rupunnuni District.
Lastly though I know there was nothing altruistic about it,it should have been mentioned that but for Dutch engineering, Georgetown and the entire Atlantic coast would have been uninhabitable. Further though British colonialism was thoroughly detestable, it is worth noting as Mr Abrams points out that the exchange rate on the BG$ was 2 per US$ in 1960, and that after the Jagan-Burnhasm nightmare it stood at 140 BG$ per US $.

The book badly needs editing, but that is a minor distraction

Required reading by all Guyanese Children, and by the children of Guyanese resident abroad.

Ovid paints a factual, accurate, enthralling, entertaining and enlightening picture of Guyana, our Eldorado.

An easy book to read, well researched and written.

Exceptional! A metegee is a traditional Guyanese dish with everything included and that's exactly what this is. As a daughter of Guynana, I was blown away. This will be my gift to all family members for the next year. Metegee includes culture, politics, sayings and was a fascinating study of life in a British post-colony. I was never bored reading it and suggest not only that all Guyanese families own one, but all Caribbeans. For a self-publishing volume, this book was very well done. I would love to take a class with the creative and gifted author.

Jim Jones onetime "daughter" tells her inside story of People's Temple. She tells of the chaos, the shams, and the doctrine. I learned a lot, in the gripping short story (about 154 pp.)Basically, Jim Jones created a micro-communist society, and got so puffed up, he believed he was God.

This woman was involved in it, but got out before they left to Guyana. She does a good job at telling a fascinating story, but I felt she left out the explanation about how they ended up in Guyana, and their reasoning for having a mass suicide. But then, she didn't have a first hand account of the final days. So for that side of the story, I will have to go to another book.

She does write about some of the bizarre events and doctrine that were taught, and her relationship with the Jones.'

I read this book in high school when I chose to write my term paper on Peoples Temple. I found it again while I was moving and read it again with a much more appreciative attitude. I finished reading it today. This is THE book to read if your simply looking to learn all about the Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, and the tragedy at Jonestown. I have read several other books on the subject, but they lacked the amount of insider knowledge and first-hand accounts of the events that took place. This book is entirely based on FACT, without speculation. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 simply because I did not particularly like the way the book ends. Over all, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It is the most informative source for Peoples Temple facts that I myself have come across. It is the perfect source for research about the Temple, Jim Jones, Jonestown, or even just cults in general. It gives a great perspective from various Temple defectors who came forward and spoke of what life with the Temple was like. George Klineman deserves a lot of recognition for his work on this book.