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The New Moon's Armsis a mainstream magical realism novel set in the Caribbean on the fictional island of Dolorosse. Calamity, born Chastity, has renamed herself in a way she feels is most fitting. She's a 50-something grandmother whose mother disappeared when she was a teenager and whose father has just passed away as she begins menopause. With this physical change of life comes a return of a special power for finding lost things, something she hasn't been able to do since childhood. A little tingling in the hands then a massive hotflash, and suddenly objects, even whole buildings, lost to her since childhood begin showing up around Calamity.
One of the lost things Calamity recovers is a small boy who washes up on the shore outside her house after a rainstorm. She takes this bruised but cheerful 4-year-old under her wing and grows attached to him, a process that awakens all the old memories, frustrations and mysteries around her own mother and father. She'll learn that this young boy's family is the most unusual group she's ever encountered — and they want their son back.
Review:
"When an abandoned toddler appears on the shore of her Caribbean island home, Chastity Theresa Lambkin, aka 'Calamity,' becomes a foster mother in her 50s. Years previously, a one time, teenage experiment with a best friend unsure of his sexuality resulted in daughter Ifeoma. As Calamity, who narrates, now freely admits, Ifeoma bore the brunt of Calamity's immaturity, and their relationship still suffers for it. As Calamity relates all of this, things that have been missing for years inexplicably reappear, including an entire cashew tree orchard from Calamity's childhood that shows up in her backyard overnight. It could be island magic, or something much more prosaic. The rescued little boy's origins do have some genuinely magical elements (Calamity names him 'Agway' after his foreign-sounding laughter), and Hopkinson's take on 'sea people' and how they came to be adds depth and enchantment. Agway's presence, however, ratchets up the tension between Calamity and Ifeoma (who has a lovely son of her own, Stanley). Calamity proves emotionally adroit and winningly frank in a variety of situations (the men in her life have a preponderance of issues), and Hopkinson (The Salt Roads) gives her story a sassy, loving touch." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"Unusual things happen to Calamity Lambkin. A cashew orchard sprouts in her backyard overnight. Toys she played with as a child drop from the sky. A half-drowned toddler washes up, tangled in seaweed, on her stretch of beach. Is it magical realism Caribbean-style, or is it menopause? Before each event, Calamity feels flushed and feverish. She gets that itchy-fingertip feeling she used... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) to get as a kid right before she found something that had gone missing. It's like the bumper sticker says, 'These aren't hot flashes, they're power surges.' In Calamity's case, that might be true. Hot-tongued and hot-tempered, she has spent most of her adulthood vigorously not living up to her birth name, Chastity. Why should things change now that she's in her 50s? Menopause or no menopause, she has no plans to mend her ways, much to the chagrin of her grown-up, oh-so-serious daughter, Ifeoma. At least Calamity's grandson, 9-year-old Stanley, approves of her — not that she minds anybody's disapproval in the slightest. 'You cuss like a sailor, you have a temper like a crocodile, but you more honest than any judge I know,' a new love interest, Gene, tells her. In fact, she has her eye on two younger men: Gene, a Coast Guard officer whom she meets at her father's funeral, and Hector, a marine researcher who helps with the rescue of the little boy on the beach. Calamity takes the lost boy under her wing until someone figures out where he belongs. But nobody on the big island of Cayaba can figure out what language he speaks, so Calamity borrows one of his own sounds and calls him Agway. On her Web site, the Caribbean-born Hopkinson tells readers that she writes 'speculative fiction,' which she defines as 'fiction in which impossible things happen.' Her first novel, 'Brown Girl in the Ring,' dived into a dystopian, near-future version of Toronto, the city she now calls home. Her next book, 'Midnight Robber,' went off-world to tell an island-inflected story of Carnival, incest and the outlaw life. Although Hopkinson has invented Cayaba — along with Blessee and Dolorosse, two smaller islands that play cameo roles — 'The New Moon's Arms' makes the most of the sea-meets-sand world of the author's own childhood. It's a pleasant place to hunker down for a while, and Calamity is good, salty company. She gets drunk, calls people names and manages to be a good soul despite it. On these islands, rumors of murder seem less real than rumors of mermaids. Even the local monk seals have a mystery about them, revealed in a folktale that intertwines, seaweed-like, with the main story. 'The New Moon's Arms' is a dance of lost-and-found: A lost boy helps a woman find elements of her past and herself that she hadn't even missed. 'More of my rediscovered treasures,' Calamity thinks, 'come sailing back to me on the seas of a night sweat.' Hopkinson knows not to get too sentimental about any of it, thanks in large part to her heroine's unsinkable sense of humor: 'I rubbed the itchy hand. What was going to appear out of thin air this time? My first training bra with its pointy, itchy cups of white cotton? ... Some things need to stay lost.' I can't say I expect this novel to come back to me, years from now, like one of Calamity's lost treasures. But for a while, anyway, it let me hear the mermaids singing. Jennifer Howard writes about the humanities for the Chronicle of Higher Education and is a contributor to the anthology 'D.C. Noir.'" Reviewed by Bing WestKai BirdJennifer Howard, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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Review:
"Award-winning Canadian author Hopkinson...deftly blends Afro-Caribbean folk themes throughout this magical realist tale of love and loss, personal transitions, and family." Library Journal
Review:
"[A] historical narrative from slave-trading days lays the foundation for the contemporary story. A winningly told tale filled with regional color." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"Hopkinson's novel doesn't resolve every mystery. But Hopkinson has answered the essential questions...and she's wise enough to know we need nothing more." Seattle Times
Synopsis:
The acclaimed author of The Salt Roads and Skin Folk pens a breakthrough, mainstream novel about the wrath of love and family relationships.
Nalo Hopkinson's novel Brown Girl in the Ring won the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. She has taken second place in the Short Prose Competition of the Writers Union of Canada, and is the recipient of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for Emerging Writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the Locus Award for a first novel.
Elizabeth Grimsrud, December 15, 2009 (view all comments by Elizabeth Grimsrud)
I think this book is Nalo Hopkinson's best. Sharp-tongued, firey-tempered Calamity keeps things lively, and the totally unexpected story line was a delight to read as it unfolded.
Lori.Anderson, March 21, 2007 (view all comments by Lori.Anderson)
I want to believe in Mermaids and The New Moon's Arms makes it possible to believe. Nalo Hopkinson is a wonderful author that always has alot of truth and reality mixed with something a little of the mystical. I love the main character, Calamity who in addition to having "special" qualities is also having hot flashes. It also provides insight into a women's thinking about so many things, children, lovers, work, and a host of other issues. Love It!!!
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (6 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
Product details
323 pages
Warner Books -
English9780446576918
Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"When an abandoned toddler appears on the shore of her Caribbean island home, Chastity Theresa Lambkin, aka 'Calamity,' becomes a foster mother in her 50s. Years previously, a one time, teenage experiment with a best friend unsure of his sexuality resulted in daughter Ifeoma. As Calamity, who narrates, now freely admits, Ifeoma bore the brunt of Calamity's immaturity, and their relationship still suffers for it. As Calamity relates all of this, things that have been missing for years inexplicably reappear, including an entire cashew tree orchard from Calamity's childhood that shows up in her backyard overnight. It could be island magic, or something much more prosaic. The rescued little boy's origins do have some genuinely magical elements (Calamity names him 'Agway' after his foreign-sounding laughter), and Hopkinson's take on 'sea people' and how they came to be adds depth and enchantment. Agway's presence, however, ratchets up the tension between Calamity and Ifeoma (who has a lovely son of her own, Stanley). Calamity proves emotionally adroit and winningly frank in a variety of situations (the men in her life have a preponderance of issues), and Hopkinson (The Salt Roads) gives her story a sassy, loving touch." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review"
by Library Journal,
"Award-winning Canadian author Hopkinson...deftly blends Afro-Caribbean folk themes throughout this magical realist tale of love and loss, personal transitions, and family."
"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews,
"[A] historical narrative from slave-trading days lays the foundation for the contemporary story. A winningly told tale filled with regional color."
"Review"
by Seattle Times,
"Hopkinson's novel doesn't resolve every mystery. But Hopkinson has answered the essential questions...and she's wise enough to know we need nothing more."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
The acclaimed author of The Salt Roads and Skin Folk pens a breakthrough, mainstream novel about the wrath of love and family relationships.
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