It was advertised as a humorous Jamaican novel and so it is. ‘Grandma Nuh Easy at All’ is a bellyful of good clean literary fun that anyone from sixteen to sixty can enjoy. Author Josephine Gooden has provided a rich slice of Jamaican life situated for the most part in the deep rural community of Rosetta where time stood still for one spritely senior citizen affectionately known to all as Grandma Hazel or ‘Hay Hay’.
‘Hay Hay’ is a typical Jamaican grandmother not only because she is set in her ways, but also because she stubbornly refuses to change how she has being doing things all her life. Her mischievous great grandson Timothy is constantly trying to introduce her and her neighbours Miss Dasssa and her husband Maas Freddie to modern gadgets much to his amusement and their dismay as for the trio of old people, all these new fangled sinting’ were the devils works and a clear signs that God is coming for his world.
Determined to drag his great grandmother from the early 20th century when slate, ‘pussboot’ shoes, guinea and shilling, suspenders, flour bag dress, needle work, ackee skin soap and butter pan were everyday items that made country life nice for her, Timothy coaxes Grandma Hazel despite her unwillingness, to know about email, skype, internet, Moneygram and other inventions that we now take for granted. Can you imagine how a woman who was nurtured in a rural district all her life without even the use of electricity must find 21st century contraption mind blowing?
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Funny beyond belief, ‘Grandma Nuh Easy To All’ demonstrates how what is old fashioned to some, is god send to others and how not everything modern is as great as we may think. The novel perfectly illustrates though why the elderly appreciate the simpler life and how resourceful and hardworking they were at a time when they had no choice but to be.
‘Grandma Nuh Easy at All’ took me on a delightful journey down memory lane which is exactly what it will do for readers over a certain age as no matter where you are in life now, it evokes that feeling of nostalgia for a time when life was freer, easier and less complicated, Many great childhood memories are visited within its pages, hence Gooden has a true gem on her hands as she pays homage to all those extraordinary grandmothers across the length and breadth of this nation who helped to shape us in to the individuals we are today.
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It was advertised as a humorous Jamaican novel and so it is. ‘Grandma Nuh Easy at All’ is a bellyful of good clean literary fun that anyone from sixteen to sixty can enjoy. Author Josephine Gooden has provided a rich slice of Jamaican life situated for the most part in the deep rural community of Rosetta where time stood still for one spritely senior citizen affectionately known to all as Grandma Hazel or ‘Hay Hay’.
‘Hay Hay’ is a typical Jamaican grandmother not only because she is set in her ways, but also because she stubbornly refuses to change how she has being doing things all her life. Her mischievous great grandson Timothy is constantly trying to introduce her and her neighbours Miss Dasssa and her husband Maas Freddie to modern gadgets much to his amusement and their dismay as for the trio of old people, all these new fangled sinting’ were the devils works and a clear signs that God is coming for his world.
Determined to drag his great grandmother from the early 20th century when slate, ‘pussboot’ shoes, guinea and shilling, suspenders, flour bag dress, needle work, ackee skin soap and butter pan were everyday items that made country life nice for her, Timothy coaxes Grandma Hazel despite her unwillingness, to know about email, skype, internet, Moneygram and other inventions that we now take for granted. Can you imagine how a woman who was nurtured in a rural district all her life without even the use of electricity must find 21st century contraption mind blowing?
`
Funny beyond belief, ‘Grandma Nuh Easy To All’ demonstrates how what is old fashioned to some, is god send to others and how not everything modern is as great as we may think. The novel perfectly illustrates though why the elderly appreciate the simpler life and how resourceful and hardworking they were at a time when they had no choice but to be.
‘Grandma Nuh Easy at All’ took me on a delightful journey down memory lane which is exactly what it will do for readers over a certain age as no matter where you are in life now, it evokes that feeling of nostalgia for a time when life was freer, easier and less complicated, Many great childhood memories are visited within its pages, hence Gooden has a true gem on her hands as she pays homage to all those extraordinary grandmothers across the length and breadth of this nation who helped to shape us in to the individuals we are today.
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