A review by bookofcinz
Me Dying Trial by Patricia Powell

3.0

In Me Dying Trial we meet Gwennie, a primary school teach in rural Jamaica in an unhappy marriage with six children. Gwennie can not seem to catch a break, she works for a really low salary and is constantly tired with little or no help. With the help of her Mother and her Aunty, Gwennie was able to leave her children to pursue higher education in the form of a teacher's certificate. With her new found empowerment Gwennie wants to do and be so much more but ends up getting pregnant with another child. Overcome with a sense of hopelessness with no end in sight Gwennie finds a light through her brother who sends her a visa to the US.

Gweenie is faced with the hard decision, should she leave her 6 children in the care of her family and husband who is constantly drunk? Should she run away and carve a life out for them? What will happen if she leaves? With such a hard decision to make Gweenie decides to visit the US for three months but three years later her children only hears from her through letters and barrel sent every Christmas. How does Gweenie bridge the gap of resentment building in children and family?

Me Dying Trial is a truly authentic Jamaican novel that give us a unique look into country life and life in the 1980s. I liked the story of Gweenie but I did not LOVE it. I felt the story was a bit all over the place and a lot of issues were left unresolved. I felt Gweenie was a character was a bit once dimensional and so was her husband. While I felt for Gweenie in someway I didn't believe her. For a debut novel it was very interesting and I love the dialect and authentic Jamaican feel, something was just missing for me.