Me Dying Trial Reviews
“One of the most gifted voices among the new generation of writers from the English-speaking Caribbean. With her flawless ear for the poetic vernacular of her native Jamaica and her in-depth understanding of the complexity of island society, Powell continues to affirm the Caribbean’s rightful place on the literary map of the world.”–Paule Marshall, author of Praisesong for the Widow
“In its appropriation of the singsong accent of Jamaicans, its vivid portrayal of landscape, and its stark portrayal of the trials of womanhood/motherhood, Me Dying Trial is a remarkable first novel.”–World Literature Today
“Powell weaves a compelling plot . . . developing a whole cast of characters worth caring about. A bold writer, she takes on economic and political issues.”–Belles Lettres
A Small Gathering of Bones Reviews
“In Powell’s hands identities that we try to keep separate become intimately entwined . . . the living within the dying, the foreigner within the native born, the male within the female. Her tales unfold like dreams spread out on a table.”–Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia
“Powell combines the same lyrical imagery, piercing insight, and confident narrative sense that made Me Dying Trial one of the most impressive debuts . . . Powell writes with subtlety and craft.”–Boston Phoenix Literary Section
“A Small Gathering of Bones is a rare portrayal of literary fiction as an artistic whole. No other work of fiction presents the trauma and triumph that AIDS engenders. After Powell’s first novel, Me Dying Trial, this is a second step off into the universe of a rising new talent.”–New England Review of Books
The Pagoda Reviews
“Saturated with kaleidoscopic, erotic description and driven by a keen awareness of race and class, this lush historical work opens a door to an exotic, imaginary world.” –Publishers Weekly
“A haunting, almost hallucinatory work that seems destined to propel Powell to wider recognition.”-Chicago Tribune
“Brilliant writing and the careful sculpturing of characters enables us to experience the crossing of boundaries. . . . Powell has achieved something wonderful-a postmodern tale and a darned good yarn.” –Ms
“An exotic, richly-told tale…As the truth unfolds, it becomes clear that none of the characters are what they seem.” –Phoenix Literary Supplement
“Powell has achieved something wonderful…Her brilliant writing, her careful sculpturing of Lowe and Miss Sylvie as ‘passing’ figures–one across gender, and the other across race lines– enables us to experience the crossing of boundaries until the classifications become meaningless. –Mariana Romo-Carmona, MS magazine
“An author of exceptional artistry and insight whose writing is extremely rich in sensual imagery.” –Booklist
“An astonishing novel…a novelist of great talent and strength…an intricate, intimate, constantly surprising plot…a nuanced exploration of racial and sexual identity that transcends any specific time and place” –Jonathan Wilson, Boston Sunday Globe
“Luminously rendered…Impressively conceived…Like actors who wear masks not only to hide their identities but also to create new ones, the characters are not what they seem.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Sumptuously written and imagined…Vivid, disorienting & strange…A vastly unusual novel” –Rikki Ducornet
The Fullness of Everything Reviews
“The Fullness of Everything is one of those rare novels that can be read for a well-told story, expertly plotted and developed, and which will leave you feeling good, not just because of the seemingly effortless resolution of the essential conflicts, but also for Powell’s masterful strokes of characterisation that lull the reader into identifying with the main characters, or at the very least into thinking that she knows people like the ones in the novel.” –Geoffrey Philp
“In Powell’s latest offering we have a novel of complexity, of necessary breaks with fantasies of wholeness, new beginnings, and neat uncomplicated endings. The Fullness of Everything adds to Powell’s ongoing exploration of the effects of historical processes of colonialism on the contemporary diasporic subject, and out of that exploration she finds hope.” –Tzarina T. Prater
Patricia Powell 