Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release in the US on February 20, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
River Mumma is the debut novel of Canadian author Zalika Reid-Benta. The novel is a modern fantasy novel dealing with Jamaican folklore, as our protagonist Alicia is given a task by River Mumma, a Jamaican deity/spirit/mermaid with a connection to rivers and waterways, to find and return her magical comb before a deadline....and features Alicia and two of her friends, Heaven and Mars, searching around Toronto while being pursued by duppies and monstrous beings out of Jamaican folklore. It's a short novel, but one that is pretty packed and feels longer than it is.
And it's a novel that is really really enjoyable. Alicia is a really relatable and understandable protagonist - working in menial work after her masters and professional degrees failed to get her a job like some of her (probably White) classmates, struggling with socializing with friends and feeling lost, etc. And so her journey is really easy to care for as she gets swept up along with her two friends, who are also pretty well done. And the characters are all, even in the seriousness of it, pretty quirky and amusing and genre savvy and nerdy, even if the story never ever verges into comedy. It's a well rounded really enjoyable novel with some solid themes.
Disclaimer: This reviewer is a White Ashkenazi Jewish American, and as such my cultural knowledge of the culture that forms the backbone of this book is slim to none. So take this review for what it's worth (and you may want to see what people with more connections to this culture think in their own reviews).
Plot Summary:
Alicia only came to her work friend/co-worker Heaven's holiday party because Heaven lived close and it would've felt awkward if she didn't go to some holiday party. Alicia doesn't socialize well and has felt rather lost since her graduate studies and degrees failed to get her any real job...and left her stuck in a retail shift. So she planned to go to the party for like ten minutes and bounce...only to get drawn to another woman, Oni, who gives her a card reading suggesting she's about to undergo a big change from destiny. And soon thereafter, after she leaves the party, Alicia finds herself facing supernatural occurrences and being drawn into a body of water by River Mumma herself.
And to Alicia's shock, River Mumma shows her a vision of her ancestors' connection to River Mumma and gives her a task: find River Mumma's comb and return it to her within a day. The consequences of failing this task River Mumma warns could be dire...and the fate of all the waterways may depend upon it.
But when Alicia wakes up in her bed the next day, she thinks she only dreamt this vision....until she begins receiving new visions on the bus and gets attacked by a being right out of Jamaican folklore along with her friends Heaven and Mars. Soon it becomes clear that the River Mumma's task was real and that if the three of them don't figure out a way to find the comb and return it, the results will be utter disaster. But how can Alicia, a young woman who has no path in life and knows little about her ancestors, accomplish such a task?
This book stars as its protagonist Alicia, who is an increasingly relatable protagonist these days. Alicia went to college, graduated with what seemed like a prestigious degree in English...and found, unlike many of her colleagues, no job waiting for her. Now she's stuck living at home (fine) and working a boring retail job (ugh) with seemingly no hope of finding anything better or a greater direction in life (the worst). Alicia is a lost soul through no fault of her own, and while she has a few work friends - especially Heaven, the rich girl who's studied Jamaican and other folklore and is also stuck in retail, and Mars, the boy she feels a strange but not quite romantic connection with, she doesn't really have a life outside of work as she doesn't really socialize well with others.
So when the River Mumma appears, shows her visions that connect her to her ancestors, and demands that Alicia find and return River Mumma's missing magical comb within 24 hours or the world will suffer consequences, Alicia is even further lost. Why her? And so a large part of this story, as Alicia, Heaven, and Mars go from place to place to try and find the comb, is Alicia coming to terms through her visions and experiences with her own place in her Jamaica heritage and what that heritage means, and how accepting it isn't a "debt", but rather a continuing on of a recognizable legacy. The side characters have their own minor journeys in a similar way (Heaven has to realize her academic knowledge of Jamaica culture and her pride in it is preventing her from listening to those who know and belong in it and Mars has to realize that he's connected as well as Alicia, even as he struggles with money and supporting his family) but really that's the core of this story.
And this book tells this story in a really strong way that's mixed with both drama and comedic moments. The quest that we see here features beings of Jamaican folklore pursuing our heroes, with duppies of various types coming out to cause grave danger to Toronto. We also have serious themes about appropriation, wealth and privilege, and diaspora life mixed in as well. And yet our main trio are kind of geeky and self-aware (and very Toronto/Canadian) in ways that feel entirely natural and often result in some really amusing moments among it all, aided by a plot that occasionally turns to the absurd (an unnamed Toronto celebrity is a major part of the last act and just envisioning who I think it was meant to be made me crack up). It's just a really nice package that keeps this story highly readable and entertaining even as it deals with serious things.
In short, River Mumma is an excellent short novel that should absolutely be on award radars. Really good.
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