Fire Rush | Jacqueline Crooks

_{One o’clock in the morning. Hotfoot, all three of us. Stepping where we had no business to be.}

Firstly, I am seriously disappointed that Fire Rush did not win this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Yes, I know I’ve only read one of the six shortlisted books, so my ability to compare is limited…but when did that ever stop one from having an opinion! I am not a Barbara Kingsolver fan and I tend to be hit or miss with Maggie O’Farrell. I’m halfway through Trespasses and really enjoying it, but so far it doesn’t compare to the energy and intensity of Fire Rush and Jacqueline Crooks’ mesmerising writing. POD could be interesting if I was up for a book written from the perspective of a spinner dolphin and I am keen to read Black Butterflies with its Sarajevo setting, but honestly Fire Rush stands head and shoulders above everything else.

It took Crooks sixteen years to write this very personal story about growing up Jamaican in Southall, London during the early 1980’s. She describes it as a ‘fictionalised account of my life‘ which she ‘recreated from memory and imagination‘. It comes complete with an extensive reading list and the almost obligatory playlist. On her meet the author interview page, Jacqueline Crooks was asked by the Women’s Prize team to ‘describe your novel in one sentence as if you were telling a friend. Her reply:

_{The quest of a woman within the male-dominated dub-reggae underworld to use supra-watt dub music power to find sites of safety for her mind and body.}

From page one you are in this world: Yamaye’s world. It’s fast, urgent and vibrant. It’s also a rather scary place to be. Politics, violence and exploitation are part of daily life. This could and did make for some tough reading in places, but it was worth it.

_{She speaks in scalding undertones, and I realise that Oraca suppresses her anger, like me. Because nowhere’s safe – not the streets, governed by police with barbed-wire veins; not our homes, ruled by men with power fists as misshapen as their wounds. The only place to live and rage was in our hearts.}

Southall at this time was the heart of the Windrush community. Yamaye and her friends are second generation migrants, living in a city that doesn’t really want them there, “Don’t feel free in the city. You know how it is. Having to stick to the places my Black face is known. Moving careful everywhere else“.

But home isn’t always safe either in this male-dominated world, “Protector and predator. Mind-fuck. My body says no. Fears says: stay.”

For Yamaye, the only safe place is music. When she is dancing and spinning tunes with her friends, she is in charge of her body and her mind. She falls in love with Moose on the dance floor, “he’s looking down at me as if he’s known me from beyond time“. She is wary, but gradually allows herself to trust in this man and to feel safe. When tragedy strikes, Yamaye’s life spirals out of control.

Crooks’ recreates the events and mood in areas like Southall around the election of Margaret Thatcher as PM in May 1979. Yamaye’s description of Thatcher made me laugh out loud. “Blue Lady is on the TV outside Downing Street, ready to go in and take charge. She’s standing there, stoosh with her white-powdered face, pearl earrings, long-arsed vowels.”

Riots are never far from erupting in this atmosphere of hostility, fear and repression. Yamaye makes some poor choices, before finding herself beholden to a rather nasty gang leader. It takes a trip back to Jamaica to spend time with Moose’s family before Yamaye confronts her past and takes control of her life. “Gotta be as gentle with ghosts as with newborns. Sing them songs in return for their truths.”

I’ve deliberatlely included several examples of the patois used by Yamaye and her friends. It’s what makes this book sing. The vibrant rhythm and cadence of their dialogue was completely immersive and exhilerating. I felt that I was there, watching and listening, spellbound and horrified in equal measure.

Jamaican history (including Cockpit County, the Maroons and Queen Nanny that are referred to throughout this book), plus the wider Caribbean is a part of the world I know very little about. Fire Rush has convinced me I should change this. This article by Carole V. Bell over at NPR on the 17th June 2023,  ‘Debut novel ‘The God of Good Looks’ adds to growing canon of Caribbean literature‘ provides ten more possibilities. Also on 17th June over at The Guardian, ‘Windrush at 75: books that shaped the black British experience‘ recommends an ‘exhilarating range of stories‘ from 19 contributors.

If Kate @Books are my favourite and best read Fire Rush I feel sure she would have a field day with the food. From ‘a pan of plantain and dumplings sizzling on the stove, Moose singing as he grates cocoa pods and nutmeg‘ to ‘cocoa tea, fried dumplings, ackee and saltfish…a pot of red peas…breadcrumb coated chicken wings, sprinkled with little dots of red chilli sauce‘, Crooks’ includes the aromas and flavours of her childhood whenever she can.

_{You can forget how a place looks, but smell and sound stay in your memory box.}

It was Liz @Adventures in Reading who first alerted me to how good this book really is. We both recommend this compelling story that explores female power in the face of patriarchy, post-colonialism and police brutality. ‘Man preach revolution, but woman carry its sound.’

Epigraph: Olive Senior | Cockpit County Dreams in Talking of Trees (1986)

I had thought of walking far from the terrible
Knowledge
Of flames. Spathodea. From ghost-ridden
Trumpet Tree. From personal
Disaster. God's binding judgement. Drunken mystery

And wisps of smoke from cockpits crying lonely
Lonely

But walking in the woods alternating dark with
Sunshine
I knew
Nothing then of cities or the killing of children
In their dancing time.

Facts:

• Jacqueline Crooks also has a short story collection, The Ice Migration (2018)

Favourite Quote:

_{People stare at us. We don’t dress pop. We spin our garments different, wear our music on our bodies. Whipcrack pleats, spliced textures, rewind old-time swing skirts, turned-up bling.}

Favourite Character: Yamaye

Favourite or Forget: Unforgettable. It’s the reason why I love shortlists and longlists – discovering a hidden gem that I may not have found if not for the nomination.

And with this review I am finally caught up on all the books I read during May! Now onto 20 Books of SummerWinter reviews.

Title: Fire Rush
Author: Jacqueline Crooks
ISBN: 9781787333642
Imprint: Jonathan Cape
Published: 28 February 2023
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 352
Dates Read: 19 May 2023 - 21 May 2023 (Palm Bay Resort, on Long Island, Whitsundays)
Origin: ARC

This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life recognises the continuous custodianship & connection to Country of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the lands, seas & skies on which we live. They are this nations first storytellers.