Kevin Jared Hosein takes us to 1940s Trinidad and the lives of struggling people at the edges of society. His book focuses on themes like survival, betrayal, and the idea that the past shapes who we are. What’s interesting about the book is how it opens each section with short stories like “A Gate to Hell,” “A Small Sacrifice,” “A Father’s Sins,” “A Clean Break,” and “Deadwater.” At first, these stories might feel disconnected from the main plot, but they do a lot to help us understand the bigger picture and the characters.

Each of these stories is about some wrongdoing or moral choice and how it haunts the people involved. Whether it’s a literal gate to hell or someone’s past catching up to them, these intros remind us that actions have consequences. They hint at a critical aspect in the book, which is that the sins of the past don’t just go away. They stick with you, and sometimes, they affect future generations, too.

These stories also have a lot of spiritual and symbolic meaning. They talk about fate, sacrifice, and whether you can be redeemed. They create a supernatural feeling throughout the book. It’s as if the characters aren’t just dealing with their problems and grappling with more considerable forces. 

Like the main story, these intro sections highlight the lives of people who don’t usually have a voice. These characters often deal with poverty, colonialism, or being on the fringes of society. They help set the tone for the rest of the novel. They do a lot to set the stage for the novel’s main plot. Before we even dive into the main characters’ lives, we get these snapshots of life in Trinidad that give us a sense of the world Hosein is building. They show us that this is a place where suffering and injustice are part of everyday life.

These stories also help us get into the right mindset for the rest of the book. They aren’t just random; each deals with themes like sin, sacrifice, and what happens when people are pushed to their limits. They prepare us to look at the main character’s actions in a more symbolic way. We start to see that this isn’t just a story about individuals; it’s about the enormous forces that shape people’s lives.

These intro stories change the way we understand the characters and their choices. For example, the story “A Father’s Sins” is about how the past affects the present, directly connecting to many main characters. Whether it’s about literal fathers or more abstract ideas of authority, the notion that people are paying for the mistakes of the past comes up again and again. In the story “A Father’s Sins,” Mr. Hosein says “every place is the wrong place and every time is the wrong time” and “death was always waiting” ever since he killed all of his crew.  

In conclusion, the short intro stories aren’t just there for show. They’re crucial to understanding the themes and the world of the novel. They give us a sense of the larger, sometimes mystical, forces in the characters’ lives and help us see that this story is about more than individuals. The intros prepare us to examine the characters’ struggles and see how their challenges are part of a much bigger, more complex story. By the time we get into the main plot, we’re already thinking about how past sins, sacrifices, and injustices affect everything and everyone in the novel.

Hosein, Kevin Jared. Hungry Ghosts Kevin Jared Hosein. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2023.