Review: In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming

In the Castle of My Skin [1953] – ★★★1/2 G is a boy growing up in a fishing village in colonial Barbados in the 1930s. Living in poverty with only his mother, who is the sole provider, he spends his days causing mischief around the village with his friends: Bob, Trumper and Boy Blue. At the centre of this world is an English landlord who resides in a large brick house surrounded by a high wall. He represents the strict divide between the two different “worlds” of the village: G’s world of poverty, where people live in shacks, and the realm of “the Great” or white people, who live on clean, well-trimmed avenues patrolled by overseers. The days pass unnoticeably for the residents of the village, but trouble may soon be brewing as Mr Slime, a popular ex-schoolteacher, is gathering around himself a crowd and has revolutionary ideas on how to improve the lives of “small people”. There isn’t a single strong narrative thread in the story, but Lamming is still observant and captures poetically the rhythmic life of the village, from its bathhouses to its markets, dotting his story with references to the injustices stemming from colonialism. This is a compassionate, nostalgic account and a g...