In 2004, while on a cruise aboard Navigator Of The Seas, we made a stop in St-Thomas, US Virgin Islands. I had never been before and only had one day to explore, so I opted for a half day bicycle tour of Water Island and then the afternoon walking around historic downtown Charlotte Amalie. I figured that visiting the sights on a tight schedule was more inviting than a day at the beach, as tropical as they could be.
So after docking, a group of us met our tour guide who then took us all to Water Island by water taxi. A few minutes later, we boarded a small bus that took us to the top of the highest hill where our bicycles were awaiting. It was going to be easy, bus us to the top and we’d let gravity take us back down while enjoying some of the best vistas the area had to offer. Every now and then, we’d stop and the tour guide would give us some information about the sights and then we’d move on again.
At one point, we stopped at what used to be a hotel, now all in ruins. The guide started telling us the story about this American that came from New York and bought the place but after many adventures lost everything. I can’t really remember what she told us about the place except that the American in question had written a book about his experience and that is was a fascinating read. Judging by the size of the ruins and the fact that tennis courts had been built on top of a swimming pool that had been filled with dirt during some “owners” in-fighting, I thought I’d probably like to read this book. I asked for the title and author’s name and wrote it down so I could look it up when back at home. She said that the local bookstore in Charlotte Amalie would most likely carry the very popular Don’t Stop The Carnival by Herman Wook, if I wanted to check it out later.
The tour was fun and finished in the most enchanting beach I had ever been too: Honeymoon Beach. Calm turquoise water in palm tree filled beach, totally secluded and with only our little group enjoying the location, it was truly paradise:
Honeymoon Beach, October 2004
Later on that day, while walking downtown Charlotte Amalie, I did find the novel at the local bookstore and bought it right away.
Now let’s Jump ahead 5 years, it’s summer 2009 and DR and I are walking through Cabbagetown’s famous garage sale weekend looking for fun stuff or more specifically for me, a copy of Song Of The South on video. While rummaging, I saw “Don’t Stop The Carnival” amidst a pile of book for sale, I turned to the owner of the house and asked when had he been to St-Thomas while pointing at the book. He laughed and said that he had bought it while on vacation in St-Thomas and had really enjoyed it. He asked if I had read it and I told him how I came about to buying it and then had just put it in my “pile to read” and had never gotten to it. When I got home later that day, I immediately went to find the book and plucked it out for my next novel to read.
Well, weeks later, I finally took the book with me to work and started reading it and I was really loving every second of it. I’ve read many really good books in my life, but this one might just be the very first one that I actually re-read in the future. It was that much fun to find out about Norman Pepperman buying this little hotel in the Caribbean and laughing out loud at all the adventures the poor man goes through during the first few days of owning the place. The author really painted a tropical picture that made me want to be on the beach with him, I could feel the heat and humidity he was living with. I was almost scratching my legs with him because of all those damn sand fleas he had been attacked by, same happened to me while I was working in St-Lucia for some months in my younger years. I wanted to have one of those Planter’s Punch he was constantly drinking… I wanted to be there… again.
The book was written more than 40 years ago and in today’s standards is quite homophobic and racist, but that didn’t bother me at all, that’s just the way it was then. The author does use the word “gay” from time to time but it’s only to describe the mood of the main character when he is actually happy or drunk… For his gay characters, the authors opts for names not so well liked these days such as fags, faggots, fairies, fruits, and some other fun things… The author also decided to write phonetically when writing speech for the local islanders, which I must admit made me laugh quite a lot, and if you read the book you’ll understand why “who de fot porson” is so funny to me.
I spent a few of my lunch breaks reading at the Starbucks close to the office and gotten many strange looks from other guests when I’d burst out laughing like an idiot. But as funny and entertaining as the book was, the ending was somewhat drastically different and depressing… But, now, one day after finishing it and thinking about it some more, I realize it was the only true way to end this crazy story.
The author, Herman Wook, did base the book on his experience of running a hotel in the Caribbean while he was doing research for some of his other more famous novels (War and Remembrance, as well as The Hope and The Glory) but Don’t Stop The Carnival is a work of fiction and that tour guide on Water Island did sell me a bill of goods while visiting the hotel ruins… It just fell apart because no one took care of it after some hurricane… end of story, goodnight.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go dreaming of the Caribbeans for a few minutes. And maybe even make a Planter’s Punch. With a paper umbrella in it.
Aaaaaaaaahh.
