SECRETS

By Kelvin Christopher James
Villard Books (1993)

In "Secrets", Trinidad-born Kelvin Christopher James' first novel, the characters all talk in West Indian patóis, and part of the richness and fun of this book for me was recreating the accents in my head as I went along. But if you think that a phrase such as "How you want she cooking we dinner, Paps?" is clumsy or unintelligible rather than lyrically beautiful then you're going to have some problems with "Secrets". That's a shame. Those that don't read this book to the end are going to miss what Kelvin Christopher James has to say about some very important subjects: misogyny, child abuse, incest, and teenage pregnancy.

"Secrets" does not feel like a first novel. There is no awkwardness to James' writing, no sense that he's just learning the craft. His characters fill out in form and walk away from the page as if they had lives of their own. His words are rich and frothy: the phrases tumble out like hot, new milk squirting from a cow's udder, and you cannot get enough of it. But by far, what is most impressive about "Secrets" is that James has told his story of an adolescent girl's difficult path to sexual awareness from the point of view of the girl herself. For a male writer, that's an accomplishment.

Uxann (pronounced oo-shan) is a West Indian girl being raised in an island village by her single-parent father. She suffers from all sorts of growing-up angst: she is overweight, she's an excellent student, her father is the overseer of the estate where most of the local men work. All of this causes the village children to draw a line of distinction between themselves and Uxann. She is different. They mock her, talk about her, keep her out of their inner circles. Much of the time, Uxann is left alone with her own thoughts. And it is her imagination, her rich interpretation of her world, that forms the magic and beauty of "Secrets".

While taking a shortcut home through the woods, Uxann discovers a couple making love in the bush. She runs away, but can't shake the memory. It makes her think of Keah, her best friend, who has been put out of school for being too "fast" with the boys:

"Amongst the quiet hum of forest's sounds, memory's invasion sameway came: the woman's drawn-out sigh, her neck thrown back submitting with a moan. The man's clasping arm, his pose untender, cocksure of compliance. The thought of such surrender, the mystery of it, triggered a sluggish flow that melted her marrow, making her weak... Then a flash of happening unfurled untidily in tangled swirl. A moment of silver--a pocket of brilliance, her mind peaceful, her body a-tingle all over. Insights knotted, fragments cross-matching, flooding her. Was this the nectar Keah sought, sip by sip, sip by sip? a slippery at her fancy she knew without recognizing, and so sweet! with a splash of guiltiness to this feeling too; a torture tempting, even as she shifted clothes and lipped a curled finger to the swamp, then slipped it up and tongued the tangy soak she sharply breathed in, as came a subtle fear this fire would pounce again, destroying her like now, as hope it would, and take command, as suddenly she knew a common female sharing with, maybe, even Keah? It was all too much to bear. This too-swift descending drum-bolt throbbing compulsion from her fancy. A new ruling realm that must diminish her."

"Secrets", like Uxann's life, is dominated by the actions of Uxann's father. Like Mister in the early pages of Alice Walker's "The Color Purple", Paps fills every crack and crevice of this little world. While the women of the book can maneuver and curry favor, it is Paps who holds the power. He is the provider. He is the judge and the punisher. It is a portrait of man as God and woman as servant. Women will nod their heads in recognition...it's an old tale, though freshly-told. Men, if they pay attention, will learn some things about themselves that should have been obvious all along.