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{"id":6812117401659,"title":"Frying Plantain","handle":"frying-plantain","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSet in the neighbourhood of “Little Jamaica,” \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain \u003c\/i\u003efollows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her North American identity and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” In these twelve interconnected stories, we see Kara on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great-aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with ongoing battles of unyielding authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/i\u003e shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-03-22T16:03:57-04:00","created_at":"2022-03-22T11:22:02-04:00","vendor":"House of Anansi Press Inc","type":"","tags":["Adult Audiobooks","Adult Award Winning","Adult Bestseller","Adult BIPOC Voices","Adult Course Adoption","Adult Short Stories","Adult Starred Reviews","Astoria","Book Club Pick","By (author) Reid-Benta Zalika","pub date: 2019-06-04"],"price":1695,"price_min":1695,"price_max":3499,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":40195615555643,"title":"trade paperback","option1":"trade paperback","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487005344","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Frying Plantain - trade paperback","public_title":"trade paperback","options":["trade paperback"],"price":1995,"weight":280,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487005344","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40195791650875,"title":"epub","option1":"epub","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487005351","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Frying Plantain - epub","public_title":"epub","options":["epub"],"price":1695,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487005351","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40195792666683,"title":"mobi","option1":"mobi","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487005368","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Frying Plantain - mobi","public_title":"mobi","options":["mobi"],"price":1695,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487005368","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40195794436155,"title":"Digital Audio, MP3","option1":"Digital Audio, MP3","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487008178","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Frying Plantain - Digital Audio, MP3","public_title":"Digital Audio, MP3","options":["Digital Audio, MP3"],"price":3499,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487008178","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40195796074555,"title":"Lossless Format Audio, WAV","option1":"Lossless Format Audio, WAV","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487008185","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Frying Plantain - Lossless Format Audio, WAV","public_title":"Lossless Format Audio, WAV","options":["Lossless Format Audio, WAV"],"price":3499,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487008185","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_a972a6d5-347e-493a-9815-efe07e7ac7b5.jpg?v=1683465558"],"featured_image":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_a972a6d5-347e-493a-9815-efe07e7ac7b5.jpg?v=1683465558","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":"This image is a series of scenes. The scene above is a yellow photograph of a strip mall and a stoplight. Signs read, ÒDonuts, Muffins, CakesÓ and ÒGrocery StoreÓ. Two sections, one red and one yellow, with black polka dots, show the title. The scene below is a black and green image of the Toronto skyline on a red background. Text: Frying Plantain. Zalika Reid-Benta. Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist. ÒAn unforgettable debut.Ó Ð Paul Beaty, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sellout.","id":23455967739963,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"width":1575,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_a972a6d5-347e-493a-9815-efe07e7ac7b5.jpg?v=1683465558"},"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/BNCImageAPI_a972a6d5-347e-493a-9815-efe07e7ac7b5.jpg?v=1683465558","width":1575}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSet in the neighbourhood of “Little Jamaica,” \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain \u003c\/i\u003efollows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her North American identity and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” In these twelve interconnected stories, we see Kara on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great-aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with ongoing battles of unyielding authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/i\u003e shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. \u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_2":"9781487006075","AlsoRecommendedISBN_3":"9781487006440","AlsoRecommendedISBN_6":"9781770892026","BASICMainSubject":"FIC000000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"FICTION \/ General","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZALIKA REID-BENTA\u003c\/strong\u003e is a Toronto-based writer whose debut short story collection, \u003cem\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/em\u003e, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. \u003cem\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/em\u003e was also nominated for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award presented by the Ontario Library Association; appeared on must-read lists from \u003cem\u003eBustle\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRefinery29\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eChatelaine\u003c\/em\u003e to the \u003cem\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/em\u003e, and more; and was listed as one of Indigo’s Best Books of the Year. Zalika is the winner of the ByBlacks People’s Choice Award for Best Author, was the June 2019 Writer in Residence for \u003cem\u003eOpen Book\u003c\/em\u003e, and was named a CBC Writer to Watch. She received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, was a John Gardner Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and is an alumnus of the Banff Centre Writing Studio. Zalika is currently working on a young-adult fantasy novel drawing inspiration from Jamaican folklore.\u003c\/p\u003e","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"FICTION \/ General","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"FICTION \/ Literary","BISACSubjectLiteral_2":"FICTION \/ Cultural Heritage","BISACSubject_0":"FIC000000","BISACSubject_1":"FIC019000","BISACSubject_2":"FIC051000","ContributorBio_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZALIKA REID-BENTA\u003c\/strong\u003e is a Toronto-based writer whose debut short story collection, \u003cem\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/em\u003e, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. \u003cem\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/em\u003e was also nominated for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award presented by the Ontario Library Association; appeared on must-read lists from \u003cem\u003eBustle\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRefinery29\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eChatelaine\u003c\/em\u003e to the \u003cem\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/em\u003e, and more; and was listed as one of Indigo’s Best Books of the Year. Zalika is the winner of the ByBlacks People’s Choice Award for Best Author, was the June 2019 Writer in Residence for \u003cem\u003eOpen Book\u003c\/em\u003e, and was named a CBC Writer to Watch. She received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, was a John Gardner Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and is an alumnus of the Banff Centre Writing Studio. Zalika is currently working on a young-adult fantasy novel drawing inspiration from Jamaican folklore.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Reid-Benta, Zalika (CA)","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSet in the neighbourhood of “Little Jamaica,” \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain \u003c\/i\u003efollows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her North American identity and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” In these twelve interconnected stories, we see Kara on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great-aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with ongoing battles of unyielding authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, \u003ci\u003eFrying Plantain\u003c\/i\u003e shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. \u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781487005344","excerpt_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487005344\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=excerpt\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Height":"8","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"Astoria","MetaKeywords":"diaspora; little Jamaica; immigrants; black culture; black identity; intersectionality; race and gender; coming of age; blacklivesmatter; single parent; Eglinton; Toronto; Raptors; friendship; first romance; debut; Caribbean; inclusivity; diversity; female protagonist; first-person narrative; women's studies; creative writing; Canadian fiction; Giller prize; well read black girl; girl woman other; such a fun age; red at the bone; zadie smith; Short stories; urban fiction; book club","NumberOfPages":"272","OtherText_Accolades_0":"Sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, Frying Plantain is written in the indelible ink of memory. Zalika Reid-Benta is a masterful storyteller with a light touch, a photographic recall, and a pitch-perfect ear for the ephemera we’d like to think of as youthful, but just can’t seem to shake. This is an unforgettable debut.","OtherText_Accolades_0_Auth":"Paul Beatty","OtherText_Accolades_1":"Zalika Reid-Benta announces herself as an enormous voice for the coming decade (and one that is desperately needed). Not all must-read books are this enjoyable.","OtherText_Accolades_1_Auth":"Gary Shteyngart","OtherText_Accolades_2":"Each story in Frying Plantain is achingly poignant, insightful, and funny; each a gem unto itself. Ms. Reid-Benta’s fully sympathetic protagonist, Kara Davis, is a girl who belongs to neither Canada nor Jamaica, despite the fact that both places are ‘home.’ Her family — loving, flawed, and wickedly at odds with one another — all demand her loyalty, and her loyal friends aren’t friends at all. As a collection, these stunning stories create a multi-faceted jewel of a book.","OtherText_Accolades_2_Src":"Binnie Kirshenbaum","OtherText_Accolades_3":"Zalika Reid-Benta’s first book — by turns effortless, vivid, funny, sad, and genuinely like being there — is as shiny as they come. Her spot-on capture of youthful aspiration, folly, and how family members tend to understand one another only in fragments make these stories a real pleasure — full of recognition, humour, and keenly observed lives in the here and now. Frying Plantain, a window into the world of growing upward and onward inside and outside family ties, is an absolute gem.","OtherText_Accolades_3_Auth":"Janice Galloway","OtherText_Back_cover_copy_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAN EXCITING EMERGING AUTHOR WITH STRONG CONNECTIONS IN THE U.S. AND CANADIAN LITERARY COMMUNITIES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eThis is Zalika Reid-Benta’s first published book, but she has already made a name for herself as a writer. The author has an M.F.A. from Columbia University, where she was mentored by Paul Beatty, author of the Booker Prize–winning novel \u003cem\u003eThe Sellout\u003c\/em\u003e; Victor LaValle, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Changeling\u003c\/em\u003e; Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Scenic Route\u003c\/em\u003e; and Gary Shteyngart, author of \u003cem\u003eSuper Sad True Love Story\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eLake Success\u003c\/em\u003e. In Canada, Governor General’s Literary Award–winning poet George Elliott Clarke named her a “Writer to Watch.” At the Banff Writing Studio, she worked with Greg Hollingshead and Janice Galloway, and she became close to Caroline Adderson.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSTRONG INTEREST IN STORIES ABOUT DIASPORA COMMUNITIES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eRecent hits such as David Chariandy’s \u003cem\u003eBrother\u003c\/em\u003e, Mohsin Hamid’s \u003cem\u003eExit West\u003c\/em\u003e, and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s \u003cem\u003eThe Sympathizer\u003c\/em\u003e have shown that there is a strong interest in stories set among diaspora communities.\u003cem\u003e Frying Plantain\u003c\/em\u003e’s evocation of the Canadian Caribbean community is another strong contender in this field.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Description_for_R_0":"\u003cp\u003eFrom “Pig Head”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e On my first visit to Jamaica I saw a pig’s severed head. My grandmother’s sister Auntie had asked me to grab two bottles of Ting from the icebox and when I walked into the kitchen and pulled up the icebox lid there it was, its blood splattered and frozen thick on the bottles beneath it, its brown tongue lolling out from between its clenched teeth, the tip making a small dip in the ice water.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e My cousins were in the next room so I clamped my palm over my mouth to keep from screaming. They were all my age or younger, and during the five days I’d already been in Hanover they’d all spoken easily about the chickens they strangled for soup and they’d idly thrown stones at alligators for sport, side-eyeing me when I was too afraid to join in. I wanted to avoid a repeat of those looks, so I bit down on my finger to push the scream back down my throat.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e Only two days before I’d squealed when Rodney, who was ten like me, had wrung a chicken’s neck without warning; the jerk of his hands and the quick snap of the bone had made me fall back against the coops behind me. He turned to me after I’d silenced myself and his mouth and nose were twisted up as if he was deciding whether he was irritated with me or contemptuous or just amused.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Ah wah?” he asked. “Yuh nuh cook soup in Canada?”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Sure we do,” I said, my voice a mumble. “The chicken is just dead first.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e He didn’t respond, and he didn’t say anything about it in front of our other cousins, but soon after they all treated me with a newfound delicacy. When the girls played Dandy Shandy with their friends they stopped asking me to be in the middle and when all of them climbed trees to pluck ripe mangoes, they no longer hung, loose-limbed, from the branches and tried to convince me to clamber up and join them. For the first three days of my visit, they’d at least tease me, broad smiles stretching their cheeks, and yell down, “This tree frighten yuh like how duppy frighten yuh?” Then they’d let leaves fall from their hands onto my hair and laugh when I tried to pick them out of my plaits. I’d fuss and grumble, piqued at the taunting but grateful for the inclusion, for being thought tough enough to handle the same mockery they inflicted on each other. But after the chicken, they didn’t goad me anymore and they only approached me for games like tag, for games they thought Canadian girls could stomach.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e“What’s taking you so long?” My mother came up behind me and instead of waiting for me to answer, leaned forward and peered into the icebox, swallowing hard as she did. “Great,” she whispered. “Are you going to be traumatized by this?”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e I didn’t quite know what she meant — but I felt like the right answer was no, so I shook my head. My mother was like my cousins. I hadn’t seen her butcher any animals, but back home she stepped on spiders without flinching, she cussed out men who tried to reach for her in the street, and I couldn’t bear her scoffing at me for screaming at a pig’s head.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Eloise!” Nana called. My grandmother came into the kitchen from the backyard and stood next to us, her hands on her hips. The deep arch in her back made her breasts and belly protrude, and the way she stood with her legs apart reminded me of a pigeon.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “I hear Auntie call out she want a drink from the fridge. That there is the freezer yuh nuh want that. Yuh know wah Bredda put in there? Kara canna see that, she nuh raise up for it.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “I closed the lid,” said my mother. “Anyway, it was a pig’s head. It’s not like she saw the pig get slaughtered. She’s fine.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Kara’s a soft one. She canna handle these things.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e I felt my mother take a deep breath in and I suddenly became aware of all the exposed knives in the kitchen and wondered if there was any way I could hide them without being noticed. We were only here for ten days and my mother and Nana had already gotten into two fights — one in the airport on the day we landed, the other two nights after — and Auntie had threatened to set the dogs on them if they didn’t calm down.\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Mi thought Canada was supposed fi be a civilized place, how yuh two fight like the dogs them? Cha.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e I wondered if all daughters fought with their mothers this way when they grew up and started to tear up just thinking about it. Nana looked at me.\u003cbr\/\u003e “See? She ah cry about the head.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “It’s not about the head,” said my mother. “She just cries over anything.”\u003cbr\/\u003e\u003cbr\/\u003e “Like I say. She a soft chile.” \u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Previous_review_q_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW COPIES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBooklist\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Review_0":"Frying Plantain . . . brims with wit and compassion.","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Foreword Reviews","OtherText_Review_1":"Reid-Benta is a natural storyteller . . . This splendid collection marks her as a writer to watch.","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"Booklist","OtherText_Review_2":"These stories are readable and relatable. They hit the sweet spot between having something to say and still being the kind of read you can immerse yourself in, a rare combination.","OtherText_Review_2_Src":"Globe and Mail","OtherText_Review_3":"Frying Plantain deftly chips away at white dismissals of privilege, obscuring the lines between short story and novel . . . It documents a unique and complex cultural space that’s under threat, while acknowledging the challenges of living a hyphenated life. It reminds us that individuals remain bound to their cultural experience — their quirks and fixations stubbornly wrapped up as metaphorical leftovers.","OtherText_Review_3_Src":"Literary Review of Canada","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"Frying Plantain follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates Black identity in a predominantly white society.","PrizeCodeText_0":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_1":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_2":"Long-listed","PrizeCodeText_3":"Runner-up","PrizeCodeText_4":"Runner-up","PrizeCodeText_5":"Long-listed","PrizeCodeText_6":"Commended","PrizeCode_0":"01","PrizeCode_1":"01","PrizeCode_2":"05","PrizeCode_3":"02","PrizeCode_4":"02","PrizeCode_5":"05","PrizeCode_6":"03","PrizeName_0":"Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction","PrizeName_1":"Danuta Gleed Literary Award","PrizeName_2":"Scotiabank Giller Prize","PrizeName_3":"Trillium Book Award","PrizeName_4":"Forest of Reading Evergreen Award","PrizeName_5":"Toronto Book Awards","PrizeName_6":"A CBC Book of the Year","PrizeYear_0":"2020","PrizeYear_2":"2019","PrizeYear_3":"2019","PrizeYear_4":"2019","PrizeYear_6":"2019","ProductFormDescription":"trade paperback","PublicationDate":"2019-06-04","Publisher":"House of Anansi Press Inc","ShortDescription":"Frying Plantain follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates Black identity in a predominantly white society.","Width":"5.25","WidthCode":"in"}