Anthony C. Winkler's hilarious 1997 novel The Duppy comes back in print on NY's Akashic Books this March 2008 -- but you can buy it now online at their site.
The verdict? A wickedly funny view of what heaven might be like from a stubborn Jamaican shopowner's point of view.
Written in a perfect blend of patois and standard English everyone and everything in Jamaican (and Western) society gets roasted and skewered -- with plenty jerk sauce applied for good measure. Now, don't screw up unno face -- gwine guh read dis nuh!.
"Every country (if she's lucky) gets the Mark Twain she deserves, and Winkler is ours, bristling with savage Jamaican wit, heart-stopping compassion, and jaw-dropping humor all at once." - Marlon James, author of John Crow's Devil
Preview:
Baps, a Jamaican shopkeeper, drops dead unexpectedly one Saturday morning and finds himself being transported to heaven via a crowded minibus. Everything about Paradise that he had been raised to expect and believe, he finds to be utterly and completely wrong. For one thing, Paradise suspiciously resembles Jamaica.
Baps has much to learn: about the afterlife, about God, about the distortions of established religion, and ultimately about humanity . . . Does Baps "get a good grind" in heaven? You'll have to read and find out!
