The Art of Storytelling

Jun 28, 2020 Book Review…, News

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Book Review…

Book: Ernest Palmer’s Dreams and other stories
Author: Earl McKenzie
Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD

Earl McKenzie proves his salt as the consummate raconteur. In Ernest Palmer’s Dreams, every tale speaks to the human spirit, a spirit harangued by the complexities of life. No one is spared, but not everyone folds. Therein lies the existential quality of McKenzie’s writings.
In ‘Ras Baga,’ the protagonist is ever optimistic. To a question on his well-being, he responds, “Ever living, ever faithful, ever sure.” He is philosophically-minded and industrious, embracing the religious message of Rastafari. The artistic Ras Baga painfully recalls a chapter in his life. Very much in the vein of Helen Keller, he demonstrates that there’s light in every darkness. Always, he has sourced from the well of creativity, not unlike other pioneers in the art world. On the cusp of international recognition, though, he is felled by the ugliest side of fate, a victim of man’s spite.
In the eponymous, ‘Ernest Palmer’s Dream,’ a fool and his money is soon parted. Ernest pays dearly for his child-like innocence, his gullibility and, arguably, his illiteracy.
‘On Sylvan Hill’ is where the fate of Busha Brandon unfolds. He is a man of means, a father, and husband. But lonesome he is, stumbling through a beleaguered life. “His daughter Cynthia rejected marriage proposals from several prominent professionals and businessmen, and left the family home to live with a Rastafarian in a hut in the bush,” while his son succumbed to alcoholism. And of his wife, Busha conceded that “she married him, not for love, but for financial security and status.”
He longs for solace, for peace. In death, he hopes for salvation, but a vicarious kind. Heaven, he will find in his desired resting peace, a place of awe and mystique, a place of transcendence, away from life’s mockery. This place is Sylvan Hill, his final abode and redemption. It is a story of karma and a meed that awaits the selfless and the gracious among us. It’s a reminder of the inherent goodness in friendship and community.
In ‘She Knows his Body,’ Mass Boysie experiences the agony of time. In a world that pays lip service to eldership, he finds himself competing for relevance in a field where youth and brawn are valued. In this cold, self-serving world, he is now dispensable, a relic of his combative, robust past. But he toils for meaning and, predictably, falls short. A once thriving periodically-hired farmer in the United States, he boasts of his time there even donning its seasonally layered attire in the tropical heat. As his body wanes, so does the opportunity for overseas employment. The writing is on the fall despite his braggadocio. “No point sending young fellas who don’t know anything and have to learn from scratch,” he confidently reassures his wife. “They should send men who know the place and the language. Men like me.” He punctuates his comments by “flexing his biceps and throwing back his head.” But Boysie fails his physical. He returns home, crestfallen, a man vanquished, a mere shadow of himself.
Social toxicity brims over in ‘Miss Inez.’ The incredulity of a brutal sexual assault in plain sight and, uninterrupted, speaks to a patriarchy turned on its head.
Multilayered in its message, the story of Miss Inez explores mental illness and the prejudice and abuse that victims face.
Weighed down by personal pressures, Miss Inez cracks. With her ego defenses crumbling, her subconscious emerges exposing harrowing images of fear and anxiety. She is fair game for the system and the twisted fantasies of others. Of the cause and complexity of mental illness, there is no monolithic response, only probing questions. “Do you know that so far there is no general agreement on what it is exactly? Is it an inherited defect in the brain chemistry and therefore really a bodily diseases? Or is it a defect in the personality caused by faulty upbringing? Or is it simply socially deviant behavior?”
And the recurring response, “They used to think it was possession by demons, didn’t they?”
Only the munificence of Deaconess Dora can salvage Miss Inez. Despite a chorus of naysayers, the Deaconess accepts the challenge, arguably tempting fate in the process. The outcome is redemptive and a witness to humanity.
‘Hurricane Story’ is arguably the most provocative of McKenzie’s offerings. It is defined by its rich, vividly metaphoric language, best exemplified in a scene experienced by Patrick, the protagonist: “The following morning after breakfast he sat with his door open and watched the approaching storm. The disheveled trees were like distraught mourners bending in distress. He noticed a ripe passion fruit swinging on a vine which had almost covered a tree fall, but it held on tenaciously. Watching the tossing fruit, he remembered the peace and calm of the previous Saturday.”
In this tale, McKenzie raises perennial questions regarding the nature of God, boldly delving into the philosophy of religion.
As portentous weather bears down on the island, Patrick peruses a book by David Hume, his eyes capturing the most fitting of quotes. “Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”
Amid the unbridled fury of nature and God’s seeming insouciance, there is still “the impulse of religion.“
Of this striking paradox, Patrick seeks answers. “There was life and death on the earth and the two were inextricably linked…it was probably the basis for all world’s religions,” he reasons.
The delicate balance between skepticism and reality echoes in ‘My Mother’s Religion.’ Daniel, a physics lecturer raised in a devout home now questions the validity of church doctrine. Ironically, he is asked to deliver the homily at a Christmas service. His words are judicious. Negate the compassionate side of the Church, he can’t, nor can he dismiss the faith that feeds his mother’s strength, a faith that has served him well. But he is also pestered by the uncomely face of religion and makes mention of its indelibly dark history. His words are genuinely expressed, and are felt by the handful of congregants.
And in ‘Baba,’ the conflict of identity is a thorn in the side on a people tailored by Christendom. They must answer the call of ancestry. Here, in the chambers of the mind, Afrocentric traditions face off with Christian soteriology. It’s a battle oftentimes settled at the cusp of death, for the fear sown by Christianity, it seems, wins in the end.
Equally captivating are ‘The Ruturnee,’ and ‘Ancestors.’
No doubt, Ernest Palmer’s Dream showcases the art of storytelling. Seamlessly, McKenzie fuses levity and sophomoric bantering with the most complex of philosophical musings. And it works.

Publisher: LMH Publishing Ltd, Jamaica
ISBN: 978-976-8245-31-1
Available
Ratings: Recommended

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