Frying Plantain

By Zalika Reid-Benta

A thrillingly universal portrait of a young woman caught between two cultures

Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a ‘true’ Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too ‘faas’ or too ‘quiet’ or too ‘bold’ or too ‘soft’. Set in ‘Little Jamaica’, Toronto’s Eglinton West neighbourhood, Kara moves from girlhood to the threshold of adulthood, from primary school to high school graduation, in these twelve interconnected stories. We see her on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great aunt’s freezer; in high school, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with the ongoing battles between her unyielding grandparents.

A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. In her brilliantly incisive debut, Zalika Reid-Benta artfully depicts the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation children and first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity and predominately white society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribe Publications
• Release date: Aug 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781925693966

Zalika Reid-Benta

ZALIKA REID-BENTA is a Toronto-based writer whose debut short story collection, Frying Plantain, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Frying Plantain was also nominated for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award presented by the Ontario Library Association; appeared on must-read lists from Bustle, Refinery29, and Chatelaine to the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and more; and was listed as one of Indigo’s Best Books of the Year. Zalika is the winner of the ByBlacks People’s Choice Award for Best Author, was the June 2019 Writer in Residence for Open Book, and was named a CBC Writer to Watch. She received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, was a John Gardner Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and is an alumnus of the Banff Centre Writing Studio. Zalika is currently working on a young-adult fantasy novel drawing inspiration from Jamaican folklore.

Reviews for Frying Plantain

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did some volunteer work in Jamaica in my younger years. I grew to love the Jamaican accent so it was lovely to listen to this book which is about a Jamaican-Canadian family and for which the narrator often lapses into that accent.Kara Davis lives in Little Jamaica in Toronto with her mother and sometimes with her grandmother. We first meet her when she is on a young girl. On a visit to Jamaica she finds a pig's head in a refrigerator. Back home in Toronto she embellishes that story to her class-mates to tell them she killed the pig with a knife. She will go on to develop her story telling ability but on this occasion it gets her into trouble in school and subsequently with her mother and grandmother. We follow Kara through interconnected stories as she grows up. She is full of love for her mother and her grandmother but there are often conflicts between all three of these females. It is also difficult for Kara to negotiate between being Jamaican and being Canadian. Which is she? Is there some way she can be true to her roots and also a productive citizen of her new home? I enjoyed following Kara's coming of age. Maybe we will get more about her adulthood from Ms Reid-Benta???

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read an oddly formatted digital galley of this book, so did not realize it was connected short stories until I got to the acknowledgments. It makes more sense now. I'm These coming-of-age stories all feature the narrator Kara, during her teen years. She has been raised in Toronto and environs by her single mother Eloise, who had Kara when she herself was 17. Kara's father left when she was about 5. Eloise's mother, Kara's grandmother, is from Jamaica and has played a huge part in Kara's upbringing.This book felt very much YA to me (high school though, not middle school). Just as Kara struggles with her mother's expectations regarding dress, grooming, behavior, dating (none), and schoolwork, Eloise struggles with her own mother's expectations. Kara also struggles with her identity as a Jamaican-Canadian , whether within her old heavily Caribbean neighborhood or at her new largely white "better" school. Kara's problems are true for most teens, and even more true for teens with immigrant parents or grandparents. I enjoyed this book, I knew nothing of the Canadian Caribbean community, and it was interesting to find our about it in this book. Though it was a little too YA-ish for me, I think those that love YA books (teens or not) would very much enjoy this book. An author to watch.

[paradiseporch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This came to my attention because it was long-listed for the 2019 Giller Prize. I'm always interested in the lives of people of other cultures living in Canada, and particularly so in Jamaican because my grandson's father lives in Jamaica.Set in a Toronto suburb, these stories provided insight but no surprises. Maybe there was something in the water I was drinking the month I read this, but I found many books that month fairly forgettable, including this one, although perhaps a little less so.