SAILING TO NOON
by Hoyt Rogers
A tropical island hosts a plethora of colorful characters in this first installment of Rogers’ Caribbean Trilogy.
Set in the lush fictional Caribbean island of Canuba in the early 1980s, a time when “ethnic, appearance, and gender sensitivity had not even reached today’s low standard,” the novel introduces Chiara Trigona, an outspoken yet bookish semiretired journalist. Considered lovely by the local islanders (with her “pink epidermis and ‘good hair’”), Chiara is originally from Sicily and is an ex-New Yorker. She is taken with the island’s rich colonial history, the bronze statue of Sir Francis Drake in the center of town, and the spacious house and circular belvedere tower she rents. Infrequent writing jags whisk her away from the island, populated by Canubans who speak in a “springy, expressive” hybrid of Spanish, pidgin English, and French and are a polite if quirky community of artists, families, recurring tourists, and mavericks. The Canubans’ island is a sensual wonderland where “time is elastic” and the streets are filled with historical monuments and peopled by kooky locals. Complicating matters for Chiara is the turbulent love-hate dynamic she shares with Amado, a young, hunky, insatiably amorous man who, despite being married to Reina, keeps Chiara as his secondary lover. (The arrogant, womanizing Amado also unapologetically courts a coterie of girlfriends on the side.) Though Amado, Chiara, and Reina casually intermingle, Reina becomes furious when she finds out about his other affairs and violent fights ensue, attracting the attention of Amado’s brother-in-law, Sigfrido, who’s a cop. Chiara’s hyperactive friend, Lamia; her spiritual housekeeper, Luz Divina; local Voodoo priestess Diana; and Catulo, another of Chiara’s part-time, pansexual lovers also populate Rogers’ imaginative, overstuffed saga. Amado’s confession of a love affair outside of Chiara’s and Reina’s orbit escalates the novel’s climax into a frenzy of suspicion, disastrous melodrama, and sorcerous revenge.
The author confides that the inspiration for his novel was drawn from notebooks he’d received from a Sicilian journalist who was preparing to permanently withdraw and disappear into “an unnamed country in Asia” in 2016. The sparsely plotted story he concocted from this starting point derives its greatest appeal from the characters and their gritty dialect as well as the amount of intricate detail Rogers stuffs into these pages. The author excels at depictions of the lush, atmospheric island features, Chiara’s sexual conquests, and her daily dress-code decision-making process. Rogers is also masterful at building and elaborating upon a community of salty islanders, suspicious wives, lusty lovers, and recreational acquaintances all set in melodramatic motion or caught in moments of erotic impulsivity. The narrative benefits greatly from multiple narrators who offer vibrant perspectives on the misadventures and mishaps surrounding these tropical misfits—though at times, the flashy pageantry of Rogers’ vigorous and frequently rambling prose does become wearying. By the time the rollicking conclusion arrives, it’s evident there are many more tales to tell of this island; Canuba becomes a character in and of itself. Rogers employs satire, sex, and drama in wondrous ways.A shaggy, oddly engrossing Caribbean epic powered by a vivacious cast of frenetic islanders.