‘Beyond the Islands’

James Mitchell has a way with words. I found the early chapters enthralling, especially his descriptions of a student’s life in ICTA – the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture that became part of UWI St Augustine. Reading this part of the book today the average UWI student would be, by turns, amazed and rolling in the aisles at the thought of dressing up for drinks with their tutors. Ah, how times change, and we change with them.

I admit to getting a bit bogged down, a shade impatient with the politicking, the backstabbing, the pettiness of island politics. I know it happens, I just find it so depressing and infuriating that, after reading a dozen or so of the next pages past the bookmark, I deemed it wiser to spare my ageing blood pressure by relaxing with a video tape of ‘Allo, ‘Allo or the DVD of Die Fledermaus or a chapter or two of a Terry Prachett Discworld paperback before tackling any more.

Nevertheless, having got almost half way through this 465-page soft cover book, which is far too heavy to read in bed, I know I’ll read the rest when I’ve ample leisure and no deadline to meet for a book review. In fact my problem in approaching this as a book to review is that I really wanted to take it slowly, to absorb all the information, to follow the twists and turns of Caribbean politics – and for that one needs time and leisure.

This is a book to be savoured, to be dipped into from time to time, put aside, then picked up again to follow the author’s career as Prime Minister of St Vincent AND the Grenadines (he was born in Bequia) and entries from his diary, the pumpkin vines of politics, his accounts of globetrotting to Conferences of (among others) Heads of Commonwealth Countries, … finally his reflections on religion and politics.

Interwoven with politics is his career as a hotelier or – surely it must have been his family’s – involvement with tourism and the family hotel, Frangipani, his stories of hobnobbing with the Great – the late Princess Margaret on the island retreat of Mustique, with Margaret Thatcher on the right and Fidel Castro on the left — oh yes, there’s more than politics in this book to keep the curious following the fascinating career of Sir James Mitchell.

For the Caribbean reader this book is a feast of well-known names and events close to home. For some it will be an eye-opener on the world of politics and international diplomacy. Others close to the corridors of power may find much to quarrel with – or otherwise.

You’ll find this intriguing book, which should be required reading for anyone who takes the Caribbean seriously, at Nigel Khan Bookseller, and selected bookstores nationwide.