Brown Girl in the Ring
Book description
The rich and the privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways -- farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Brown Girl in the Ring as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Hopkinson’s stunning debut plunges the reader into a wildly inventive future Toronto. She seamlessly weaves together the politics of race, class, and gender, inflected with the rich culture and history of the Caribbean diaspora.
Despite the grim post-apocalyptic setting, the characters are part of a community, surviving through solidarity and mutual aid. There are no easy answers or neat resolutions to be found here—the fraught, tenuous connections between families and lovers are messy and grounded.
Sadly, many of the elements of this 1998 novel have proven prophetic, and this book is still a clarion call 25 years later.
From Rachel's list on Canadian dystopia (that aren’t The Handmaid’s Tale).
Nalo Hopkinson's first novel swept a bunch of awards when it came out in 1999. At the time, there was nothing else like it. The novel puts structural racism and the systemic abandonment of urban Black people in the 20th century front and center, framing them against a struggling, post-collapse future inner city Toronto drenched in West African myth and magic. I think of it as an ur-text of modern solarpunk. This book opened my eyes to the repressed history of environmental injustice in North American cities; it got me started on the research quest that would one day give…
From Michael's list on community-building amid the ruins of capitalism.
Want books like Brown Girl in the Ring?
Our community of 10,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Brown Girl in the Ring.
Browse books like Brown Girl in the Ring
5 book lists we think you will like!
Interested in dystopian, capitalism, and Toronto?
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about dystopian, capitalism, and Toronto.