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Book Review: A Million Aunties

Alecia McKenzie 

The beauty and brilliance of Blackness in the diaspora take centerstage in Alecia McKenzie’s “A Million Aunties,” showcasing the intricate textures of identity, place, and connection to survive loss. McKenzie masterfully paints the interconnected and intergenerational stories that revolve around Chris, an artist based in New York. He travels to Jamaica to connect with family after enduring a personal tragedy. The Jamaican sun delivers Chris out of his mournful isolation to learn about his people and their individual pains and triumphs.

A Jamaican writer based in France, McKenzie brings us along on a journey familiar to transnational, “third-culture kids,” children of immigrants intent on creating spaces in their parents’ adopted home while also maintaining connections to the homeland. “A Million Aunties” spans the continents to reveal both heart-rending and joyful truths that speak to the lived realities of Blackness in the U.S, the Caribbean and Europe. McKenzie deploys the power of vernacular, shifting dialects almost effortlessly from the islands to the mainland.

At its core, “A Million Aunties” tells the story of overcoming despair. Told through different points of view, it is a lesson in how staying connected to community and culture can offer the ultimate salve to a broken heart. Chris and his art dealer friend Stephen share not only their passion for art, but also their diasporic identities. Both are in constant motion, even as they yearn to firmly plant their lives and livelihood in one place. Through their lens, we get a glimpse about what Miss Pretty lost in America, the stories behind the paintings that Uncle Alton can never – will never – sell.  Why Aunt Della’s house brings all manner of people together. Spending time in Jamaica, both find healing amid the warmth and love of the aunties, of people who care for nothing else but one’s happiness, often served in a bowl of rice and peas.

About the Author

Alecia McKenzie is a Jamaican writer currently based in France. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, and her novel, Sweetheart, have both won Commonwealth Book Prizes. The French edition of Sweetheart was awarded the Prix Carbet des Lycéens. Her other books include Stories from Yard, Doctor’s Orders, and When the Rain Stopped in Natland. Her writing has also appeared in a range of literary magazines and in anthologies such as Stories from Blue Latitudes, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, Bridges, Global Tales, Girls Night In, and To Exist Is to Resist. She has edited two collections of contemporary short stories, and her poetry has been published in various international journals including The Caribbean Writer and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. Her most recent novel is A Million Aunties.

A Million Aunties
Published by Akashic Books, 2020
Paperback: 202 pages
Published: 11/17/20
ISBN: 9781617758928
e-ISBN: 9781617758959

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