Martin Fischer’s Review

“How does it feel to live in a world in between? Not as an imaginary creature but as a real human being living in a real world, with a multitude of identities and challenged with the question “where do I belong to?” The author of “Duppy’s Word” is a true cosmopolitan who moves fast across changing theatres in his first volume of Flash-Fiction short stories. Born in Kenya, raised in Switzerland with Scottish background, P.J.Huwyler is used to changing language, role and location as well as altering moods and modes in his narrative. A style which suits Flash-Fiction a lot, a subgenre of short-stories, restricted in length, allowed to leave out things or leave it up to the reader’s interpretation.

Referring to the title, a Duppy is a kind of an malevolent spirit of Afro-Jamaican origin, rootlessly wandering, sometimes quite menacing and scary in its behaviour. Huwyler’s identification with the “twisted” Duppy-personality is part of his game, as well as his characters, seemingly close friends of his, share the ability to switch identities, roles and sometimes even forms. Settled mostly in some Nairobi neighbourhoods, Duppy, Poppy, Dready or Bunny enjoy themselves playing tricks on each other, having fun and mostly being awfully ordinary young people.

But this kind of banality is tricky, especially when leaving out phrases or even essential details in the Flash manner. So a second reading may produce a very uncomfortable change of the narrative, as you learn from a short conversation between Duppy and Kaya during a night drive, when all of a sudden the car hits someone who turns out to be Duppy himself.

Travelling is like a thread through all the stories; travelling between worlds, between life and death, another reference to the Jamaican ghost Duppies. But most of the super-short stories are funny, sometimes with a slightly bitter taste about the feeling of being lost somewhere or having lost something. Cu Cu who runs a taxi business, is a notoriously speeding grandmother, who always manages to weaken the cops if caught in the act. Then she continues her drive at an elevated speed, only stopping to collect the catch for her dinner, if she happens to hit a animal crossing the road.

“Duppy’s World” is a wonderful read for all those who aspire to the way of living between a multitude of worlds instead of a single one, with a wide-angled view of things.”

A copy of Duppy’s World can also be borrowed from the ETAS Library (English Teachers Association of Switzerland) – Catalogue Number 12134