Walk Good Guyana Boy

Kenrick E.A. Mose is an associate professor of Spanish Studies at the
University of Guelph.

Spanning the years 1945 to 1963, this novel traces the history of the
Sleighton family, which typifies the mixed-race families of Guyana. The
mother is Portuguese and the father is of African, East Indian, and
Dutch origins. As the family moves from Georgetown to New Amsterdam and
back to Georgetown, the reader is presented with descriptions of city
and town, river and forest, and with episodes in the life of a
lower-middle-class family on its way up in the world. The novel explores
the significance of color and class, and Guyanan ambivalence toward the
British colonial bosses and their heritage. Late in the book, we witness
the tragic consequences of racially motivated political division in
pre-independence Guyana. The novel’s evocation of a disappearing way
of life is compromised by weaknesses in structure and characterization.