南飛烏鵲 Tainan, Taiwan

Sampath 逃家至一番石榴果園，棲息於番石榴樹上。本以為從此逍遙自在，誰知陰錯陽差，竟給當成智者，還上了地方報紙：he is one of unusual spiritual nature, his child-like ways being coupled with unfathomable wisdom (67). Sampath的父親Mr. Chawla腦筋動得快，推波助瀾，前此一事無成的小夥子，遂搖身一變成為大聖人，信徒絡繹不絕，而其避世的果園也成了信徒的聖地與資本主義的樂園：【Mr. Chawla】opened a new bank account and approached business in the area that might be interested in advertising about the orchard, a place that would not only ensure their products a large audience but also endow them with a sanitized glow of purity (91). 神棍斂財，瞞天過海，更有愚夫愚婦執迷不悟，可笑亦復可哀。

聖經記載，上帝命亞伯拉罕獻祭其子以撒，臨祭，天使傳音，言帝知其誠，活人祭祀可免。事見創世記第22章。作者將亞伯拉罕和以撒父子並列，作為主角名姓 (AbrahamIsaac)，別有深意：And even though Isaac's life was spared by God, had not Abraham already betrayed his son?” (124)。

父子矛盾，是小說主題之一。Abraham年輕時頗有抱負，執鞭之外，熱心政治活動，最後因此喪失教職。年老，看著兒子無意承繼自己的理想 ([quite] uninspired by my dreams, my old-fashioned ideas, 1)，難免子不類父之嘆。

Abraham 心中還藏著一樁過往婚姻的醜事。原來，Abraham的妻子有婚外情，連帶使他懷疑自己兒子的生身之父或為妻子的情夫。

父子疏離，髮妻出牆，今昔苦痛交煎，Abraham終在古稀之年，與兒子起了衝突，直指其為孽種：“You are the unclean fruit of an unholy union” (169)。

末了，Abraham 緊緊抱著兒子，懇求原諒。這象徵放下，象徵和解，也代表Abraham雖至暮年，長日將盡，未始不能和親人有個新的開始。

印、巴分裂之際，動亂四起，惟Mano Majra 地處邊陲，起初尚能維持和諧，村民不論種族，無分宗教，共存共生：[The mullah at the mosque] has a quick wash, stands facing west toward Mecca and with fingers in his ears cries in long sonorous notes, "Allah-ho-Akbar." The priest at the Sikh temple lies in bed till the mullah has called. Then he too gets up . . . and intones his prayer in monotonous singsong to the sound of splashing water" (4). 一村之內，居民信仰雖異，但各得其所，作息相聞，可惜如斯景況不常。

亂中，印、巴人民傷亡皆重。種族仇視的腥風，隨著逃離巴基斯坦的難民，吹至Mano Majra，使錫克教徒對同村的回教徒漸生嫌忌。終於在狂熱份子鼓吹下，若干錫克教徒有意伏擊駛向巴基斯坦的火車，將搭車的回教徒－哪怕這些人有好多是村鄰故舊－如數屠滅。眼看慘劇將添一樁，地方官吏、錫克長老、知識份子全都無能為力，最後隻手回天的，是 Mano Majra裡的流氓地痞。

流氓賭上性命，讓火車順利駛向巴基斯坦，為的是車上那名，懷了他孩子的姑娘。

本書取名自傳，却是作者採小說筆法，雜糅虛實，為自己的母親代言。Literature Online 收錄的作者評傳說Kincaid 寫的是 “ a loosely-fictionalised account of her mother's life”，又說 “Kincaid imagines what her mother's life would have been like, had she decided not to have children”，足供讀者參考。

就作品本身來說，敘事者Xuela出生即逢喪母之痛，「無母何恃」於是成為其生命中無以彌補的殘缺： “My mother died at the moment I was born . . . I came to feel that for my whole life I had been standing on a precipice, that my loss had made me vulnerable, hard, and helpless” (1-2). 全書不下十處提及失恃處境，可見傷痛之深。Xuela能做的，惟有睡夢之中，企盼母親的降臨— 雖然始終盼不見母親的臉龐： “I lay down to sleep and to dream of my mother. . . . She came down the ladder again and again, over and over, just her heels and the hem of her white dress visible . . . I would have loved to see her face, but I did not long for it anymore” (31).缺乏母愛，使得她不願承擔母職，胎兒遂成性愛歡愉後最沉重的負擔，墮胎遂成她唯一的選擇（“burdens I did not want [my womb] to bear, burdens I did not want to bear, burdens that were a consequence of pleasure,” p207）。