Impressive ... The writing, resplendent with streetwise Jamaican-English, illuminates a gritty urban realism ... McKenzie’s prose, especially the dialogue, wrestles with a conundrum: how to navigate the tension between instances where the language is heightened by a vernacular that lifts it above the ordinary, and the majority of exchanges, which have a soap-opera banality. It succeeds, largely, in being closer to The Wire than EastEnders, though at times the author betrays his inexperience by telegraphing future dramatic turning points ... An Olive Grove in Ends is a fable, peppered with biblical and Qur’anic epigraphs, and with Jamaican proverbs that inform its spiritual tone. Announcing the arrival of a promising 23-year-old author whose work is wise beyond his years, the novel is both a tale of redemption and a guide for how young, disaffected Black Britons – especially descendants of the enslaved – might, as Bob Marley advises, emancipate themselves from mental slavery.
Sayon’s world turns upside down, and is so rich to inhabit. His family and conflicts are alive and dynamic on every page, a testament to Bristol-based debut novelist McKenzie’s electrifying sense of voice.
Beautiful ... Exhibits both a tenderness for the residents and an unflinching examination of their struggles ... McKenzie renders the neighborhood’s rich and complicated social and familial networks as a study in contrasts, where violence and betrayal coexist with generosity and kindness. It’s a gorgeous debut that nurtures an unlikely sort of hope that’s predicated on countless losses.
Shakespearean ... Recalling Zadie Smith's masterpiece White Teeth (2000), published when she was 25, this is the most exciting U.K. debut in years ... A gritty coming-of-age tale for the ages.
