The story is centered around Mrs. Sweet, an immigrant from the Caribbean. Her life is told through multiple perspectives--through her own thoughts, and those of Mr. Sweet and their two children, Heracles and Persephone. Throughout the story we learn of a woman's desire to be true to herself--a self that's been lost over the years as she struggled to adapt to a new country and new roles.
Kincaid's work reminds me of Virginia Woolf's later works, especially in her use of stream-of-consciousness, so if you like a linear narrative, this is not the book for you. Because it's told through memories, the Now and the Then of the title, Kincaid's characters weave their stories into one another, often overlapping narratives, sometimes repeating events, and jumping time periods. This book requires concentration, but as the strands of the family begin to fray, the tragedy of Mrs. Sweet's life comes through. Her children both love and despise her, her husband hates her with a passion, and her only sources of refuge, her tiny writing room off the kitchen and her garden, are targets for ridicule for the family. She has found her "room of one's own," but it causes as much pain as it brings relief.
As I said, this can be a challenging read, but Kincaid's character development and use of mythology make it worth the journey.
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