My Own Dear People is a stunning, unflinching debut that follows Nyjah Messado, a Jamaican teenager haunted by his silence after witnessing a brutal assault. Set in Montego Bay, the novel charts his journey from youth to adulthood as he grapples with guilt, masculinity, and identity within a world shaped by colonial legacies, religion, and gang violence. Dwight Thompson's lyrical prose--infused with poetic patois--brings depth and nuance to a story that examines the complexities of sexual predation across both queer and straight experiences. Bold, emotionally resonant, and ambitious, this is a vital coming-of-age story that leaves a lasting impression.-- "San Francisco City Book Review"
Thompson's novel is an intense . . . examination of personal guilt, contrasted against the pressures of a machismo that keeps secrets well-hidden.-- "Trinidad Express"
Manhood, masculinity, what it means to grow up in a world where who you are and who you are expected to be exist in powerful, soul-deep struggle . . . Dwight Thompson's My Own Dear People tackles all these issues and more, in an important, beautifully written novel about a young man's struggle to come to terms with the actions (and inactions) of his own past. This is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time.--Jerry Stahl, author of Nein, Nein, Nein!
A single experience can offset a planned trajectory, and a single experience can doom the most favored among us. Such is the haunting lesson of Death Register. Amid childhood chivalry, bravado, and adventurism there persists a macabre 'spirit' poised to unleash unspeakable madness.--Glenville Ashby "Kaieteur News, on Death Register"
Conveyed primarily through richly imagined dialogue and extracts from Chauncey's writing, one young man's attempt to come to terms with his own deficiencies is the beating heart of the book. Dwight Thompson is to be commended for such an unflinchingly honest portrait of a character striving not only to be a better writer but-- crucially--a better person.-- "New International, on Death Register"
Like Naipaul in A House for Mr. Biswas, Dwight Thompson takes on what seems to be the autobiographical, or memoir, but gives it contextual relevance as it places it in one of Jamaica's 'hottest' cities . . . Death Register is a weighty book in its ambition and themes, also because it is a mirror of the Jamaican society, with its misogyny and growing culture of scam. It is weighty because it speaks to us and shows us how crippling childhood trauma is and how cruel we can be to each other--the adult to the child, lovers to lovers, etc. There is much in this book for critical discussion and introspection.-- "Jamaica Gleaner, on Death Register"