Caribbean: A Novel

Great stories of pirates, settlers, European aristocracy and the gruesome life of slavery. Will recommend to all friends and family this book!

The personal stories make the history come alive. The book motivated me to see the Islands and experience their cultural splendor.

Broad canvas of the Caribbean islands brought into colonial conquests - by Spanish, English, French. Thinking about colonialism. The power of mercantile trade - sugar from the islands even dominated European politics.Next I want to think about the colonial legacy as left on my country, the United States.Michener does an amazing job covering this region and the arc of history underlying the present reality. As he does with all his books.

A whirlwind of characters and events thru time that shaped the carrabeean .History brilliantly embellished. A highly recommend read for anyone interested in expanding their world view

Maybe 30 yrs between, have been to much of the Carib. Sometimes on cruse ships, the worst way.Some on small sail boats chartered local captained by self & wife usually 2 weeks some 3. Better way.Best would be wandering in on boat.Enjoy,

My interest in reading this novel by Michener was spurred by a former shipmate who served on a U.S. Naval Destroyer Escort with me in the Caribbean area a half century ago. As a matter of fact, much of my three and a half years on that ship I was called upon to plot courses and speeds through the Windward and Seaward Passages, stopping often at other major islands such as Cuba to take on fuel, pick up mail, etc. We were very much taken by the music and the day to day lives of the various peoples there. My last visit to the area was a year ago, as a matter of fact, when I traveled to the Island of Saba ( now an over-sea part of the Netherlands) with a grandson who is a geologist and a scuba-diver. I was interested to find out what the author of this novel had to say. The story lines are good, helping to "flesh out" the earlier histories through various family representatives of early characters and dynasties in the work. I found this to be a clever means by which the changes could be seen to have taken place over the centuries. I confess that I can not understand why Mr.Michener felt that it was necessary to "invent" an Island in his "All Saints",for even if it might show how a former French island could have become British, there is ample evidence of this in so many other instances. I admit that it provided the author with a means by which he could use the persona of an American Newspaper reporter to act as something of an alter-ego, but the author manages usually in such works to find ways in which to do this anyway and without further "invention". Perhaps the reference to a Pre-World War II British Governor General who was decidedly pro-Nazi served to save the author from making reference to the late Duke of Windsor (A.K.A. the King Edward VIII who had abdicated to marry an American divorcee' ) sent as Governor General to Nassau. I do not know. In fact, I was a bit disappointed that the author had not made reference to this. Mr.Michener makes some rather interesting observations regarding the various types of government under the flags of different European governments, zeroing in on mainly the Spanish, the French and the English, and while some of these evaluations might be written off as conjecture or generalizations, I felt that he had labeled them rather much as I would have done.His observations of Haiti, painful as they are to read, I found to be quite as I found them to be. Haiti was a Hell Hole fifty years ago ,when they still had some of their forests and today I cannot begin to imagine the poverty of that land. Yet, mention is made quite well in the person of Therese, a Haitian woman who is articulate, poised and well-read, and of what a superior human being she is. I too have met some Haitians who have come out of that pitiful land who are indeed quite spectacular. I had wondered for years how that could be possible. The author does not answer the question, nor does he attempt to do so, yet one comes away with the feeling: "There is always hope!". The same can be said of the assessment of Cuba, both before and since the revolution. As I recall, life under Batista was pretty difficult for Cubans, life under Castro might be grim, but one is left to wonder whether the Cuban exiles in Florida are not standing in the way of any real change between the governmental relations between the U.S. and Castro's Cuba. The Caribbean is a lot of ground ( and sea!) to cover : ethnically, historically and governmentally. It can only be approached in a limited way. We who would try to describe the region are not unlike the ten blind men in the Aesop fable, who go forth to meet with an elephant and then to describe its nature. Each individual may see a part, but never the whole. I would have to say that I think the author sees at least several parts of that whole

Definitely not a page turner. Each island story interesting but slow paced. Not as good as some other of Michener’s books.

I had never read this book before but loved every chapter. James Michener we miss you. I'm glad I discovered Caribbean.

I am reading "The Caribbean" by James Michener for the second time and enjoying it even more because my wife and I leave for a 14-day cruise of the Southern Caribbean on Dec. 4, 2022. We have found that if I research and read great Historical fiction before or on the trip, we will enjoy the journey at least twice as much.It started four years ago when my three daughters celebrated my 75th (April 2018) by taking me on a 7-day Alaskan cruise. I read "Alaska" by Michener for the 3rd time and had such an engaging cruise that now I search for a great author of historical fiction/nonfiction before taking a trip of more than a week.In May 2018, my wife and I planned a 14-day stay in New York. This time I read "New York"by Edward Rutherfurd and also did a 3D jigsaw puzzle of New York City. We had a fabulous time exploring New York physically and experiencing its history.

Michener triumph

Sent it back for two reasons firstly it had water damage as had been left out in the rain. But secondly and most importantly the print in the book wasn’t straight so obvs a cheap re printed copy! Not happy!!

James Michener has delivered another great story of a particular area and people. Although for many of his tales this revisit of Michener's is the second or even the third time around, this is the first reading of "Caribbean". It tells the story of race and hell and place and enchanting isle very well. My experience has been limited to Jamaica and a brief ownership on the island of Montserrat and everything in Michener rings true. It is an easy way to get some history and geography. In particular, his accounting of Haiti seems to accurately sketch the despair and inability of the natives there to come to grips with what is required.

This book was a history lesson for me. Although one of the most beautiful places on earth the Caribbean has nearly always known violence and brutality. From the early head hunters to the brutality and greed of the English, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch. Michener does a great job in building the characters and then taking the reader along on their journey to both success or in some cases their horrible demise. A great escape that was hard to put down and is now missed.