Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Patsy
Nicole Dennis-Benn
eview by Priscilla Comen
Patsy
Nicole Dennis-Benn
eview by Priscilla Comen
Patsy, by Nicole Dennis-Benn, is about Patsy who lives in Jamaica and wants to go to America. She plans to leave behind her daughter, Tru. Patsy’s mother, Mama G., is an ultra-religious woman. Patsy’s friend, Cicely, has written her from America, telling Patsy how wonderful it is there. When Patsy arrives in America, she is shocked by Cicely’s American accent, her bleached blond hair, her husband, Marcus. Her son takes violin lessons, but he’d rather play the trumpet. Cicely has not told Patsy the truth about her life.
In Jamaica, Tru is taken to her father’s home where she runs outside and climbs a tree. When she falls, she lands in her father’s arms. Roy is a policeman working toward a promotion. Meanwhile, Patsy is comfortable in Cicely’s basement apartment. On the weekend, Cicely takes Patsy on the subway into Manhattan where all the white people live. Cicely tells her to be polite and invisible there. Patsy calls Tru on the phone, but hangs up before Tru comes to talk. At Cicely’s house, Cicely and her son, Shamar, are quiet when Marcus is home. They laugh and talk a lot when he is away. Patsy notices this.
Patsy tells the job agency she’ll take a job as a nanny, although she knows she’s good at numbers. The author shows us how hard it is for immigrants to the U..S. to find a job, to survive, to get to the dream everyone wants. When Patsy and Cicely were little girls, Patsy would brush Cicely’s long hair like she would a doll’s. Marcus hears Patsy and Cicely in the basement and tells Cicely he wants Patsy gone. He hits Cicely and ruins her beautiful face, knocks out a tooth. She agrees to make Patsy leave.
Tru is beaten at school by her teacher and wishes her mother would call again. Author Dennis-Benn uses Jamaican patois to enhance the dialogue of Patsy and Cicely to show they recall their past lives together as children. After Patsy finds another place to live and walks all around Brooklyn asking for work, she finally finds a job at a restaurant handing out towels in the bathroom and cleaning the toilets. She and the other worker, Fionna, become good friends. She is still lonely. Fionna tells her, “Come on, girl. We got life to live and rent to pay.” Patsy finds a job with Magic Maids and goes to people’s homes to clean and do laundry. After her employer, Esther, has two babies, Patsy becomes a nanny to them and feels the love she never felt for Tru.
Tru becomes closer to Roy, running with him in the early mornings. She is good at soccer, and he calls her “Champ.” Cicely’s husband, Marcus, is a city council member and realtor transforming Brooklyn into a gentrified place, removing those who can not pay the higher rents. Patsy fears she will be one of these. Roy has gambled, and brings gifts for his wife, Marva, and the children. Marva throws him out for gambling. But he has given Tru the PUMA soccer shoes she has coveted. He returns all the other gifts to the store. Patsy meets Claudette who owns a shipping business. She prepares a barrel of gifts to send to Tru. Tru meets and likes Saskia. Now both mother and daughter have a special friend. Tru wants to play soccer on the Pope’s team. She is good at it. She begs a chief man of the neighborhood. Will she get to play? Will she forgive her mother for her ten year absence? Will Patsy find happiness in the U.S.? Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
In Jamaica, Tru is taken to her father’s home where she runs outside and climbs a tree. When she falls, she lands in her father’s arms. Roy is a policeman working toward a promotion. Meanwhile, Patsy is comfortable in Cicely’s basement apartment. On the weekend, Cicely takes Patsy on the subway into Manhattan where all the white people live. Cicely tells her to be polite and invisible there. Patsy calls Tru on the phone, but hangs up before Tru comes to talk. At Cicely’s house, Cicely and her son, Shamar, are quiet when Marcus is home. They laugh and talk a lot when he is away. Patsy notices this.
Patsy tells the job agency she’ll take a job as a nanny, although she knows she’s good at numbers. The author shows us how hard it is for immigrants to the U..S. to find a job, to survive, to get to the dream everyone wants. When Patsy and Cicely were little girls, Patsy would brush Cicely’s long hair like she would a doll’s. Marcus hears Patsy and Cicely in the basement and tells Cicely he wants Patsy gone. He hits Cicely and ruins her beautiful face, knocks out a tooth. She agrees to make Patsy leave.
Tru is beaten at school by her teacher and wishes her mother would call again. Author Dennis-Benn uses Jamaican patois to enhance the dialogue of Patsy and Cicely to show they recall their past lives together as children. After Patsy finds another place to live and walks all around Brooklyn asking for work, she finally finds a job at a restaurant handing out towels in the bathroom and cleaning the toilets. She and the other worker, Fionna, become good friends. She is still lonely. Fionna tells her, “Come on, girl. We got life to live and rent to pay.” Patsy finds a job with Magic Maids and goes to people’s homes to clean and do laundry. After her employer, Esther, has two babies, Patsy becomes a nanny to them and feels the love she never felt for Tru.
Tru becomes closer to Roy, running with him in the early mornings. She is good at soccer, and he calls her “Champ.” Cicely’s husband, Marcus, is a city council member and realtor transforming Brooklyn into a gentrified place, removing those who can not pay the higher rents. Patsy fears she will be one of these. Roy has gambled, and brings gifts for his wife, Marva, and the children. Marva throws him out for gambling. But he has given Tru the PUMA soccer shoes she has coveted. He returns all the other gifts to the store. Patsy meets Claudette who owns a shipping business. She prepares a barrel of gifts to send to Tru. Tru meets and likes Saskia. Now both mother and daughter have a special friend. Tru wants to play soccer on the Pope’s team. She is good at it. She begs a chief man of the neighborhood. Will she get to play? Will she forgive her mother for her ten year absence? Will Patsy find happiness in the U.S.? Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.