SOURCE: "Like a River in Summer," in Books and Bookmen, No. 364, February, 1986, pp. 35-36.

In the following review, Maja-Pearce pans A State of Independence, faulting its "appalling prose style and indifferent characterisation."

For some time now writing by 'black' authors has been extremely fashionable. We know this because last year the Greater London Council, giving its seal of approval to current fashion, instituted a number of annual awards exclusively for young 'black' writers. It was a case of never mind the quality, feel the ethnicity. The most lucrative of these prizes, the GLC Malcolm X Prize, was awarded to Caryl Phillips, once upon a time from the West Indian island of St Kitts, for his novel The Final Passage. It wasn't a good novel, but who cared? The organisers had been able to pat their little black brother on the head. Now Caryl Phillips has published a second...