http://ca.geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/reviews/book_review_cornel_da_costa_new.htm THE SIXTH NIGHT by SILVIANO C. BARBOSA
I read this recent novel with intense interest, and reasonably quickly, because it held my interest throughout. Hopefully many others will share my enthusiasm for the novel and obtain it before the current print run soon comes to an end. The novel held my attention for many reasons. Chief of these were that there was an excellent continuous thread within a very human story. Secondly, it was informatively set against the political and social background in Goa from Portuguese times until 1961, and beyond to the UK and Canada. Thirdly, I felt that the warmth of the presentation of the material by the author was genuinely captivating. Many of the characters in the novel appear to be real ones but with some imagined ones. The central character is Linda from a relatively poor childhood background in Goa and how she was absolutely determined to do well educationally. Her tenacity paid off by dint of hard work and despite the many constricting traditions, customs, quirks, eccentricities and parochialism of Goa village life. Her motivation to succeed seemed to stem from an early awareness and experience of caste discrimination as well as her fathers stance against such a system that had historically bedevilled Goa. In time, Linda met and fell desperately in love with Carlos, a Portuguese young man working in the Goa capital city of Panjim. However, these were unpredictable political times, and in 1961, the two were painfully parted without being able to bid farewell to each other. Soon after, Linda discovers that she is expecting Carloss child and becomes helpless and very much on her own. She struggles on bravely by giving her child up for adoption and eventually continuing successfully career wise from Goa to London and then to Canada. Throughout this time, Carlos and Linda were thwarted in their many attempts to contact each other because a friend of Lindas intercepted both sets of their letters in her own desire to marry Carlos. Eventually, through a complex set of circumstances, Carlos discovers that he is the father of a daughter by Linda, locates the child in Goa and manages to take responsibility for her in Portugal initially. Later, quite unknowingly, both Linda and Carlos, with the young daughter, end up in Toronto and by sheer chance meet up after many years as a family. A quick account of the story, as above, needs to be understood in the fulsome context of the setting provided. The personal and the political are succinctly intertwined throughout. In particular, the ramifications of caste practice in Goa are exemplified with vivid and realistic illustrations of painful occurrences there. Perhaps, more could have been made of this, particularly, in Lindas reflections of racism initially experienced in Canada and some parallels with her experiences of caste in Goa. Clearly, the novel should appeal to a wide readership. There will be those with no first hand knowledge of Goa, either before or after being incorporated into India and they will discover how and why emigration from this little paradise has taken significant numbers of Goans to the far corners of the globe. Then there will be those who have themselves grown up in Goa and either left or remained there. They should be filled with so much nostalgia that is encapsulated in the Sixth Night. And of course, there are the many young people of Goan origin who should be delighted to learn about their roots wherever they may now live. Cornel DaCosta PhD, London, UK.