My thoughts on “Lucy” by Jamacia Kincaid

I finished reading “Lucy” by Jamacia Kincaid today. I found out that this is her pen name in a Youtube video. I loved the book. I knew of this book for some time but I had never read it. Other books by other African Caribbean authors were less compelling than Jamacia Kincaid’s partly autobiographical “Lucy”. I am writing my memoir Memories of Me about my life from about the age of thirteen or fourteen up to the present. I’m turning 34 next week. My memoir tells my story and of course the story of my life. Lucy is partly about Kincaid’s life. Kincaid was a nanny and did other jobs before establishing herself as an African Caribbean writer. I really admire her. I thought to myself this could be my grandmother’s prose even my mother’s (prose). I have probably read Caribbean authors unknowingly but this is the first time I have done so knowingly. I was impressed with Jamacia Kincaid’s writing style. When I go back to writing Memories of Me my memoir I will have “Lucy” nearby when I write parts of my memoir that are difficult to tell but necessary to telling my story. Kincaid tells her story the good the bad and the difficult in precise prose. I want to do the same. I also plan to have five chapters to my memoir just like “Lucy” has five chapters in the book.