As is typical of Michener's work, one of the main strong points of this book is that it's hugely informative. I learned a great deal about the turbulent, often tragic history of the Caribbean. I found it interesting, as I've been to the region several times -- I'm even getting married there in a few months -- but was never really aware of its history, aside from what I learned from visits to the typical historic tourism sites like Tulum, Chichen Itza, etc.Rather than following the pattern of novels like Chesapeake and Hawaii, which follow a set of families more or less continuously over a certain time period, Caribbean tells the story in several discrete episodes: there's a story about a character in some region, then it moves on to something else, and we may see something about that character's great-great-great-grandchild in a couple of hundred pages. The episodes of this book are made even more separate by the fact that, in this novel, Michener chose not to restrict himself to any one Caribbean island, so the story jumps around in space as well as in time.Some people might object to the somewhat discontinuous nature of the story, but I thought that it mostly worked quite well. As a natural consequence of the way the story was told, some of the chapters were quite strong while others were weaker. The very first chapter dealing with the Arawaks and the Carib was excellent -- I would have liked to have more chapters dealing with the indigenous population, but this story only included two (the other one dealing with the Maya), at which point the indigenous people more or less disappeared from the story. The chapter about the Haitian slave revolt is outstanding: the book is almost worth purchasing just for that chapter alone. Personally, I felt that most of the chapters dealing with the Spanish domination of the Caribbean were a bit dry and overlong, and I thought that the chapter on the Maya could have been much more interesting than it was.The other problem I had with this book was Michener's decision to include a fictional Caribbean island, All Saints. The chapters taking place on All Saints weren't particularly interesting, and I just didn't quite understand what purpose the island gave to the story. All Saints was portrayed as having two defining characteristics to the story, namely racial segregation and love of cricket. My thought was that, if these are characteristics common to the Caribbean, then they could have been dealt with using one of the real islands as a backdrop, and if they AREN'T typical of the Caribbean, then they really don't have a place in a book whose main goal is to give readers an understanding of the Caribbean islands.Ultimately, though, this is a book I quite enjoyed. It had its flaws, but overall I thought it was very good.
This is the first Michener book I've read and I'll probably try another at some point. I enjoyed reading it and have a much better understanding of the Caribbean. The dialouge seemed forced at times (trying to give background like soap operas do with two characters discussing details that people in real life would never get into)and some of the situations seem unlikely, especially a couple of romances and multi-generational sagas. But I did enjoy the characters and their stories do weave together to provide a thorough history of the region. Michener lists which characters and events are factual and which are composites. I frequently turned to the inside cover map and marveled at my ignorance of many of these islands. The history covers natives to Columbus and then to the Spanish, English, French, Africans and others who created the colorful culture(I didn't know that East Indians have a large presence on some islands.), showing the differences between various colonial influences. Reading this during the earthquake tragedy in Haiti made the extensive Haitian history timely.Read it if you want a wide-ranging Caribbean history through historical fiction.
What do You think about Caribbean (2005)?
I love you James Michener! How can someone write a sweeping epic about an entire region that spans 700 years and yet still feels intimate? I loved reading about the ridiculous frivolity and also, glorious chivalry, of the battle of the Caribbean that raged for centuries between England, Spain and France. The tales of slavery and slave rebellion were heartbreaking, and I was relieved to enter modern times and the end of slavery. I learned about Rastafarianism, pirates, the ancient Mayans and so much more. James Michener is a literary genius. He lost the fifth star because the ending was a tad too cheesy when balanced with the rest of the book.
—Beth
How do you overcome political disadvantage? I've been thinking about this lately, and Michener's story has helped me fine tune my thoughts. He traces the history of the Caribbean islands from before "discovery" until the late '80s. I watched the stronger of the indigenous people exploit the weaker. I watched the Spaniards overwhelm the islanders. I watched the colonists capture and enslave the African people. I watched bloody uprisings and revolutions unfold. I watched hungry and destitute peoples strive for America. We like to congratulate ourselves on progress, but a streak remains with us like malevolent shadow. People in power always impose their interests on the disadvantaged. It's our nature. I have a couple guessed why this is, but I'd rather ask a question. How do you advance your interests against the power players? Freedom fighting? Revolution? Alliance with a stronger competing power? Acceptance of defeat? What say you? Incidentally, this was a good book. Not quite as good as Hawaii, but head and shoulders over Alaska. I might have given up on Michener, but I'll continue.
—Jacob O'connor
I quite enjoyed Michener's Caribbean. Michener certainly puts amazing amount of research into his writing. The book is comprised of 14 chapters covering approximately 700 years of Caribbean history. Some are interconnected, in that the narrative may follow a descendant of a particular character earlier in the story. Naturally, I found some more interesting than others, but overall, a well-told history.I knocked off one star because one of the islands where one (or more) chapters is set was fictional. Somehow, that just felt like cheating to me, as there were so many real islands that I would have liked to hear about than a fictional one. That being said, the fictional island is a compelation of others.
—Heather
