“Powell depicts a community that, while
besieged by hatred, is confronting a mysterious and deadly new
disease. As in her first novel, Powell skillfully uses patois,
capturing the lilt and cadence of the dialect, while reinterpreting
it just enough for the language to be accessible to all readers.”
—Efua Morgan, Quarterly Black Review
Patricia Powell writes frankly and sensitively.
The emotional pace of the novel convinces you that the author
has found her own style, which subtly but surely locks you into
this engaging tale.”
—David Kelley, The Weekly Journal (London)
Patricia Powell’s novel, A Small Gathering of Bones,
is about homosexual friends living in Kingston, Jamaica in 1978
and their struggles with love and illness (AIDS) in a society that
is largely homophobic and religious. The story centers on Dale Singleton
and his complex and sometimes exasperating relationships with his
lover, Nevin Morgan, and his close friend, Ian Kaysen, who has come
down with a mysterious illness. Dale and Nevin have been living
together for five years and through Dale’s recollections we
learn that when their love began it was honest and intense. But
their relationship has become strained by jealousy, manipulation,
and Dale’s desire to become independent. Dale helps to care
for Ian and is witness to the deadly consequences of Ian’s
tragic relationship with his mother. Powell brings to life the strength
and dignity of friends determined to make a life alongside traditional
Jamaican society and against the ominous specter of HIV/AIDS.
Patricia Powell was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica in 1966.
She was raised by her great-aunt from the age of 3 months and immigrated
to Boston when she was sixteen. She wrote her first novel, Me
Dying Trial, while studying for her English degree at Wellesley
College. She has also received an MFA in creative writing from Brown
University. Her awards include the Bruce Rossley Literary Award,
the Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s
Digest Writers’ Award, and the PEN New England Discovery Award.
Powell has taught creative writing at Harvard University, Wellesley
College, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Currently
she is Martin Luther King Visiting Professor at MIT.
How does the community response to homosexuality in Powell’s
Jamaica compare with how homosexuality is viewed in American society
today? How is homosexuality viewed in your own community?
“Ian Kaysen, I don’t mean to interfere in your personal
prerogatives, but that rattle in that back of your throat not
any little play-play cold. You going to have to do something about
that coughing” (p.1). Ian’s illness progresses from
this point and we know that he is suffering from AIDS. Discuss
how the foreknowledge of HIV/AIDS shapes our understanding of
the novel.
“Nevin didn’t seem to mind the friendship at first…But
after him see how Ian get his own set of keys, how him sleep over
on the couch downstairs in the living room some nights…all
of a sudden Dale notice that every time Nevin come home and see
Ian, a scowl seem to always envelope his face…”(p.6).
What does this passage tell us about Nevin’s character?
Dale recounts his earlier experience of confessing his homosexuality
to a church elder on page 10. What does this passage reveal about
the conflict between his sexuality and religion?
“Dale wonder if Nevin was going to strike him. Grab his
head and ram it against the wall. Like the time him come home
sudden and find Alexander. Cause twelve stitches across the middle
of Dale’s forehead…If Nevin lick him one more time,
that was it” (p.24-25). This passage is the first example
of abuse portrayed in Nevin and Dale’s relationship. What
does this imply about their relationship? What does this foreshadow?
Ian’s blind devotion to his mother is an important thread
that runs through the novel, with tragic consequences. What does
this relationship tell us about traditional Jamaican culture?
Compare this relationship with the other parent/child relationships
in the novel.
Dale’s dream of a more equal life with Nevin, running
the store together, seems hopeless because of Nevin’s philandering.
Discuss Nevin’s need to hold the power in the relationship.
How does this recur throughout the novel?
“Nevin was dashing him aside. Like his mother had left
him. And his father before her…For if Nevin wasn’t
there anymore, who was going to believe in him? Who was there
for him to cling to? Who would make him feel safe?” (p.57).
What does this passage reveal about Dale’s character? What
affect might his earlier experiences have on his relationship
with Nevin?
How does Powell’s novel dispel or support homosexual stereotypes?
Discuss the symbolic significance of Dale’s dream on
pages 124-125.
Ian’s birthday party …was a small gathering
(emphasis added). Twelve, fifteen people. Bill paid a local poet
to recite a few poems. Somebody played the piano quietly in the
background. Ian was looking the happiest that Dale had seen him
in a while, except for fleeting moments when his eyes would begin
to glance inwards” (p.125). This passage could serve as
Ian’s living wake and it’s the closest the author
comes to using her title. Discuss why the author chose A Small
Gathering of Bones as the title.
Considering the society’s views of homosexuality in Powell’s
work, what would you expect the response to the discovery of AIDS
might be? What was the American response to the discovery of AIDS?
How does one’s culture or religion affect their perception
of AIDS?
Beacon Press is a department of the