888. "What the Wind Brings" by Matthew Hughes – 2 Stars

What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes – 2 Stars

Publisher: BrPulp Literature Press

ISBN: 9781988865171

If you want some Afro-Equatorial native history beginning around a Spanish slave ship that was stranded off the shore of Equator in 1533, this book brings it home by accounting for it in a story of Anton (the real African leader of the slaves aboard that ship), Alonzo (real Hispanic-Afro) who had the responsibility delivering the slaves to Lima, Peru, and a Shaman representing the original natives at the shipwrecked location. The history presented is real and meaningful depicting the Spanish discrimination in those times and the hardships facing the slaves as slaves and then as liberated founders of their future. Their strategies to form a mixed race embellished a strong loyalty and following to neutralize continuous Spanish invasions and dominance. The history was the Pro in this book.

How the history was presented was, in my opinion, a bit too elementary. I found it hard to come up with an adjective other than “elementary” and will stick to it to document the somewhat naïve and totally backward nature of the natives who were already advanced enough that some understood rudimentary Spanish, knew about the Spanish soldiers and their weapons, and already endured many encounters with the Spanish and forced to do slave work for them. Yet, they were so simple they knew no number system and could only converse about Spanish weapons via “simple-talk” words. I was not impressed with the story that wasn’t written to more adult-fiction standards. For me, the story was an enormously difficult read and dissatisfying.

So, I have two parts to consider to rate this book. If I couldn’t acquire the knowledge of Esmeraldas, Ecuador via the internet so completely including the history of the shipwreck in 1533, along with Anton and Alonso, I’d shout Bravo. But, what I read on the Internet in less than 10 minutes gave me more than I could retrieve from this book. As a matter of fact, I had to go to the Internet to determine real history versus fictional story. Thus, a good try in reporting history part of the book which deserves a 3 if you want history. However, I was immediately turned off by the Shaman hermaphrodite and his major role as a reliable “physician” and his mind trips with the spirits. This part of the book did not meet my expectations as an Adult fiction class novel. Since the events were logically contiguous and complete, I’ll push it’s rating to 2.

Would I recommend this? No. I’ll rate this as a 2 overall.

 

Reviewer: Rich