Calypso: Stories of the Caribbean

General Fiction, Humor, Romance

By Richard Daybell

Publisher : Caribe Books

ABOUT Richard Daybell

Richard Daybell
I have been a writer/editor for most of my adult life, working at various times for a public library, a multinational corporation, a university, and state government. My wife Linda and I also spent seven years as owners/chefs of Churchill House Inn, a nine-room country inn in central Vermo More...

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Description

Love and loss, sex and skullduggery, conquests, failures, foibles – these are the elements of calypso, the stories in song that personify the islands of the West Indies. Calypso’s origins and rhythms are African, but somewhere along the way they were seduced by the innocence of the Caribbean. Originally a medium of communication among the poor, calypso stories were originally sung by the chantwell, a sort of town crier who provided information spiced with social commentary. Over the years, the commentary became the driving force, and the story-songs sought to entertain, amuse, and poke fun at everything from errant spouses to jaded northern tourists attempting to step out of their button-down world into the leisurely pace of the islands. These stories also seek to entertain, amuse, and poke fun, particularly at those of us who think we have a corner on reality.
I loved everything about Richard Daybell's Calypso--its Caribbean vibe, its linguistic rhythms, its gently swaying booze hounds, expats, and pirate wannnabes, all with wobbly teeter-totters where most people keep a conscience and a sense of ethics. Calypso is jammed with what the world needs more of--characters. But most especially, I liked the comeuppance-with-a-wink that Daybell dishes out in every tale. Hilarious!
Think P.G. Wodehouse, swimming in jerk sauce...   --Paul Brigadier