Sketcher by Roland Watson-Grant

Sketcher

Roland Watson-Grant

Skid lives in the Lousiana swamps, east of New Orleans. His father expects to make a killing when the property developers move in. His mother is a Voodoo priestess of Taino Native American extraction. His brother has magical healing powers, sketching with his left hand. And just when you think it cannot possibly get more bonkers than that, the alligators move into the shack. This is a ride into the American psyche that you will not forget.

Extract
The job to clean the floor went to me and Fricozoid. Moms went into an old shippin' barrel and took out a few ounces of some red powder, and we mixed it with water and washed the wood floors with it until they were blood red. Then we started on the porch. She called the red powder 'annatto'. We called it 'weird'. She was grinnin' and sayin' she 'hadn't seen a floor so pretty since ...' - and when she trailed off. I got brave and finished her sentence 'Since San Tainos?'.
Parallels
  • Dirt Road by James Kelman
  • The Famished Road by Ben Okri