Bare Attitude Review by Ayeola George

When I saw in a recent Facebook post that Anthony Bernard Frampton had just released his first novel, my expectations were high. For one, he has a PhD and a first degree in Communication; second, he is the son of Dominica’s broadcasting legend Ferdinand Frampton.  And if that’s not enough, for the love of fig and callaloo, his sister is Ferdina Frampton, a corporate communication expert and media personality extraodinaire! Sorry, I was trying to escape the perverbial he-is-so-and-so-chile, what’s-his-surname-again? The small-island method of immediately assessing one’s capabilities by his or her familial stock. But alas, so it is oui, Bernard.

To be fair, Frampton is no stranger himself to the local limelight having been a television journalist, radio host, and actor on the island for several years.

Interestingly enough, social standing was a recurring theme in the novel as the male and female protagonist each struggled with choosing between commitments to family and societal pressures versus their own personal needs and desires.  Perhaps it was his intent to highlight this aspect of our culture in attempts to get us to reflect on the way we judge persons or how we offer praise to some who are hardly close to deserving it.  In his female lead Nathalie, Frampton created a character who tested our preconceived beliefs. Her surname was Etienne. A ‘Dominican’surname. She’s a good girl, just going through a rough period.  You get to like her and then you find out she’s Haitian. Hmmm.  She’s from a middle-class family, light-skinned, cultured. How do we see her now, considering the typical attitudes shared on the subject of our new residents from across the sea?  Her roommate Alicia, was a carefree, gold-digging opportunist from the Dominican Republic. Don’t even go there, because I know a few Dominicans who fit that description oh so well.

I asked Frampton why he introduced these two characters into the novel and he responded that he wanted readers to “contemplate the intricacies and complexities of intraregional migration and the impact it has on regionalism and Caribbean identity, especially when the smaller islands are the host countries.”

So basically, he reversed the usual thought of migratory pattern from island to mainland (US or UK), to island to island. In “Bare Attitude,” a chance meeting in an angry river brought together Chester Detouche, the respected Dominican judge of good family stock who seemed to have it all, and Nathalie Etienne, a Haitian immigrant who wants to pursue her talents, but is challenged by lack of finance to support it.

While alternating between the voice of Judge Detouche (Chester?) and Nathalie, Frampton weaves in characters such as Kyle, the judge’s eccentric and ever-reliable assistant; Miguel the scumbag lawyer and Debbie the  I’m-to-focused-on-my-business-to-act-like-I-need-a-man-but-I-really-want-a-man-so-I-send-mixed-signals-that-confuse-the-heck-out-of-them ex-girlfriend; to add some juicy details or throw me for a loop just when I thought I had things figured out.

In the end, it would take more than the wagging tongues of family and foe to derail Chester and Nathalie’s blossoming relationship.  If fact, it all came down to the choice of if they were going to be their own worst enemies or would they rescue each other?  Get the book to find out.

I have to admit, I approached “Bare Attitude” with caution– conscious of my need to be neutral and read this as if Frampton were any other writer (as if there is such a thing) and not getting too excited that he’s  a fellow Dominican making his mark in the literary world.

Fortunately by the end of the first chapter, I was thoroughly captured by Frampton’s easy writing style, and by the end of the book I was surging with pride at his accomplishment as well has his showcasing of my little piece of earth, our Waitukubuli. Granted, there is no Voss University or Nature Island Bank in real life (well at least not here), but the names make for easy guessing of the corresponding landmarks.   Smiles of recognition- of familiar, phrases, names, customs dotted my reading experience. The immigrant story was familiar to me as well, as like Nathalie, I lived in another Caribbean island, where I may have been judged prematurely just because. I believe that all readers will be able to connect with these characters and at the end will be asking as I did, “when is part two coming out?”

Ayeola George is a graduate of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication. The founder and former editor of CaribbeanCelebs.com enjoys songwriting and singing having performed with several bands to include Byron Lee’s Dragonaires. She currently resides in Picard and is employed as Sales & Marketing Coordinator at Secret Bay Resort.