Pictures of a Dying Man
Reading Group Guide

When Gladstone Belle is found hanging from a beam in his own house, everyone in the village tries to understand who he really was, and why he killed himself. In this novel, the voices of Gladstone’s past accumulate, complement and contradict each other, trying to arrive at an understanding of Gladstone’s true identity and the circumstances that complicated his life and his death.

Is a human life merely the sum of other people’s perceptions of it, a compilation of rumors and hearsay? What happens if those views are erroneous? Continuing in the vein of his critically acclaimed novel Flickering Shadows, Agymah Kamau weaves a colorful story full of regret, deception, love, and loss, around a community’s remembrances of Gladstone Belle. We discover the intricacies of living in a small Caribbean community by seeing things through the eyes of an array of vivid characters, including Isamina, his wife; Esther and Sonny-Boy, his mother and father; Carl, the suspicious husband of his former lover; PeeWee, the village gangster; Theophilus Bascombe, a disgruntled co-worker; and Marie Antoinette LaSalle, the histrionic clairvoyant.

In a political world riddled with rumors of murder and disappearance, Gladstone’s humble beginnings and honest manner win the community’s trust. He quickly moves up the political ladder. But his life is cut short when he decides that he can no longer look the other way. He realizes that everything around him has suffered from this corruption: his marriage, his friendships, and his dignity. The narrative of Gladstone Belle’s life and death illumines the complexity of class distinctions within a post-colonial community. And, by examining the legacy of colonialism, Kamau underscores the lesson that corruption can come from within as easily as it can from the outside.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. The characters in Pictures of a Dying Man have very different ideas about who Gladstone Belle really was. Did these varying opinions have an effect on his life? What effects do others’s views have on your own identity? What effects do the views of others have on the identity you form of another person?

2. How does traveling to the United States affect the lives of these village dwellers? What is the fate of someone who returns versus someone who never steps foot in the village again? Who receives more respect? Why?

3. Pictures of a Dying Man is written from the viewpoints of many different villagers. How does this contribute to the theme, as well as stylistic effectiveness of the overall story? How does it relate to real life?

4. Which character from Gladstone’s life seems to have had the greatest influence on him and why?

5. How does gender affect life in this Caribbean village? Have men and women resigned themselves to certain roles, or do these roles seem to be in flux?

6. Gladstone crosses many class barriers in his life. What significance does this hold for a man so conscious of status? Which class crossovers are the most influential? How was he able to do this? Was this the cause of his ultimate demise?

7. Was Gladstone’s life a success?

About the Author

Agymah Kamau, originally from Barbados, moved to New York in 1977, where he worked as a senior economist for the state government. He earned his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He divides his time between Uniondale, NY, and Richmond, VA. His first novel, Flickering Shadows, was published in hardcover by Coffee House Press, and in paper by Holt.

Praise for Pictures of a Dying Man:

"Kamau, originally from Barbados, conveys lyrically and simply the lifestyle of an unnamed Caribbean village and the complexity of a single human life."

—Booklist, starred review

"Kamau writes in a lilting, unaffected style with real compassion for his characters. This is a haunting, powerful, beautiful story; highly recommended for public and academic libraries."

—Library Journal, starred review

Praise for Flickering Shadows:

"Brimming with magic. . . "

—New York Times Book Review

"Dazzling in its playful, poetic language; haunting in its authentic evocation of place; and totally original in narrative voice, Flickering Shadows is a gem, a work of pure enchantment. To read it is to fall under an island spell. Tragic yet uplifting, this is fiction at its best."

—Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace

"People have been asking for some time now: where are the Bajan griot voices to succeed George Lamming, Paule Marshall, Austin Clark? Well, look in vain no further. Here, fresh & young in the spirit-fields of that nearest-to-Africa Caribbean island, is my namesake Agymah Kamau’s first novel, Flickering Shadows, continuing the great coral/choral-calling tradition of Barbados."

—Kamau Brathwaite