This cleverly woven narrative depicts the often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking moments that fashioned the tapestry of life in a family in Trinidad in the 1960’s. Through the eyes of a young girl, the author allows the reader to share the experience of this family. Though the book rests on the family’s relationships and values, it reaches beyond to draw attention to the superficial values imposed by colonialism and the adaptation of these values by persons to whom they were not relevant. With candor and good humor, the author reminds readers about life in a colonized community, controlled much more intimately and skillfully by the Catholic Church and the cascading tones of one’s skin than by its British imperialists. While the layers of the story and the textured lives of its characters make for an enormously funny and fascinating excursion, the relevance of the narrative as historical and socio-cultural document cannot be ignored.