The loan is due, this book really pays off
Caribbean Life, July 10-16, 2020 25
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The officer at the bank said
“yes.”
And there you were: the
proud owner of something big,
something you’d wanted your
entire life. That’s thrilling, on
one hand, and scary on the
other: you’ve achieved your
dream, but you’ll be contributing
toward that loan for many
years. And as in the new novel
“One Year of Ugly” by Caroline
Mackenzie, payback is no fun.
Wasn’t it bad enough that
Aunt Celia died?
That, alone, was a shocker:
her ex-husband, Mauricio,
found her on the floor of his
house, as dead as his dream
of ever getting back with her
again. But then, the first weekend
the Palacio family gathered
without Celia, a greasy
man showed up in Mauricio’s
back yard with a gun, saying
his name was “Ugly,” claiming
that Celia had borrowed money
from him for things like private
school enrollment and fraudulent
papers that allowed her and
her family to stay in Trinidad
and not be deported back to
Venezuela. And now that she
was dead, Ugly said, Aunt Celia’s
debt was Palacio debt.
Twenty-four-year-old Yola
could hardly believe it. She held
her Aunt Celia in the highest
regard. She wanted to be like
Celia. How could her father’s
sister, her beloved mentor, do
such a thing?
The clues were in Celia’s
hand-written memories and,
feeling as though the words
kept her aunt alive a little
longer, Yola resisted finishing
the manuscript in one sitting
– a resistance that wasn’t
hard because Ugly had decided
that the Palacios would pay
off Celia’s debt by temporarily
sheltering other Venezuelans
that he‘d sneaked in-country.
Yola’s parents home suddenly
had a constantly revolving
door, strangers in and strangers
out, brought there by Román,
Ugly’s henchman who made
Yola drool.
She couldn’t explain it, but
yes, she’d fallen in love with her
family’s captor and she trusted
Román with their lives. Right
in the middle of everything
else, somehow, she knew that
if Ugly didn’t kill someone Yola
loved, the stress of his payback
plan surely would.
Believe it or not, “One Year of
Ugly” is a somewhat of a comedy.
It’s also a ludicrous romp
with a hairbrained plot that can
get too outrageous. It’s also a
romance. It’s also a dark look at
the assumptions we incorrectly
attribute to family members.
Really, this novel is somewhat
like the kind of stew you make
when everyone in your friends’
circle is broke: everybody brings
something and it’s all put in the
same pot, boiled until one thing
or other bubbles over, and then
it’s ready to serve.
It’s pretty tasty, too, come to
think: author Caroline Mackenzie
tells this tale enough, but
not so much that the mystery
of key characters is destroyed.
We know them – but we don’t,
which adds to what is also a
thriller-aspect of this novel.
Beware that there is a high
abundance of profanity in this
book, and a couple of righteously
silly scenes that fit. If you can
get around that, “One Year of
Ugly” is fun you can bank on.
“One Year of Ugly” by
Caroline Mackenzie
c.2020, 37 Ink, Simon
& Schuster $26.00 / higher
in Canada
335 pages
Book cover of ‘One Year Ugly’ by Caroline Mackenzie.
‘One Year of Ugly’ author Caroline Mackenzie.
Marlon James