Blue Bay Palace

#347
Title: Blue Bay Palace
Author: Nathacha Appanah
Translator: Alexandra Stanton
Year: 2004/2009
Publisher: Aflame Books
Country: Mauritius
106 pages

What I liked best about this novel were the descriptions of Mauritius and the articulation of the relationships between rich and poor. As a novel, it's not as interesting as it could be because it relies on the "then I went crazy" plot device. The descriptions of the beaches and towns are eloquent, but the emotional content is less well-rendered. As in so many accounts of thwarted love, both actual and fictional, the protagonist can't muster up the wherewithal to kill her estranged beloved, but instead destroys the object of her beloved's affections or marriage. This "kill the other woman" strategy always puzzles me, especially in situations where the other woman had no choice but to marry the man.