Review: The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
The crushing, powerful and moving story of a survivor of domestic violence in Trinidad and Tobago, The Bread the Devil Knead nevertheless manages to find glimmers of light, love and wit in the aggressively and painfully patriarchal world inhabited by our protagonist.
Forty-year-old Alethea Lopez lives with her partner Leo, a smooth-talking pianist who reserves his punches — and worse — for our protagonist at home. Her only escape is her work managing a clothing shop alongside her lively colleague Tamika, and her lover Bobby, who is married yet doting.
The novel flips between disturbing passages of violence (which impact the reader as much for what is described as for what is omitted), more whimsical (and even very funny) moments when Alethea is at work or on the bus, and flashbacks to her turbulent childhood.
Indeed, Alethea is traumatised by childhood abuse carried out by those close to her and from which it seems she has not found closure. Memories gradually seep to the surface over the course of the novel, and this non-linear approach gives context to the present-day situation for Alethea. Although she is encouraged by those around her — including by a police officer on a series of occasions — to denounce Leo, Alethea shuts down the prospect of doing so, and as the novel progresses, we come to understand how Alethea’s traumatic past is made manifest in her present insecurities.
Her small entourage of colleagues, acquaintances and friends — especially her estranged “brother” Colin with whom she reunites towards the beginning of the novel — lift the story up and bring an optimistic flavour to what is otherwise a bleak outlook. This cast of characters left me feeling hopeful that Alethea — or the countless women that she unfortunately represents — is not totally alone, and that recovery is possible when one is surrounded by those who truly care.
Work, too, provides an outlet for Alethea and we are left equally hopeful at the end of the novel that she can become independent by leading a career that empowers and fulfills her.
At just a little more than 200 pages and written in the Trinidadian voice, The Bread the Devil Knead is a disturbing yet strangely uplifting novel that uses a memorable central character to discuss broader issues at play in Trinidad and Tobago — and further afield — including gender-based violence, trauma, class and race.
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