Or is this a bit inappropriate?

[Mycatishere]

I was listening to an audiobook today, and I’ve already read the book - wanted something easy to listen to while I got on with other stuff.

So in the book, one of the characters is called Maggie and is half sister to a character named Bonnie. Bonnie is white British and is narrated with a slightly cockney accent (she’s Scottish in the book but anyway …) and she and Maggie have different fathers. But there’s no mention in the book, no hint, of Maggie having grown up anywhere other than uk.

Yet Maggie is narrated with a Jamaican accent am I alone in thinking that’s a bit off, really?

I'm Irish and I CONSTANTLY hear people do the leprechaun-sounding accent on tele, not once has it even crossed my mind to be offended. I don't care if the person doing the accent is white, black, pink, purple, or gold. There's no harm meant, and they're just having a laugh.

That's great for you.

But in this case, an assumption has been made by the narrator of the audiobook to perform a Jamaican accent for a British-born, mixed race character with no known connection to Jamaica.

It should have been picked up by the audiobook publisher. It's done the author of the book a real disservice and does not reflect well on the publisher, either.

Mycatishere

Because put simply, the inference is that mixed race people are not ‘really’ British

I think you have this backwards - you are inferring that people with accents are not ‘really’ British because you see it as problematic that a mixed race character has a Jamaican accent.

In my daily life I hear multiple voices and accents, some of which you have originated from across the world, including places in Europe, Africa, and Asia but they are all British people speaking in those accents.

Accent is a product of the accent a person hears around them in their formative years. That may or may not be an accent originally derived from the country they live in at that time. It depends on the community they live in at the time and what they see and hear in the media. There are way too many assumptions of all sorts on this thread. Some people spend too much time stirring and overthinking things rather than taking them at face value. Perhaps this is just clumsy story telling but racism in its true derogatory sense? Nope, not that I can see. Just have a laugh at the blunder if it seems incongruous to you and move on. No harm is meant by the story I'm sure.

@Mycatishere
There are millions of people in countries who don’t have accents native to that country. However many of them take out citizenship and are then “really” British or “really” American or “really” French etc. And very often their children take on some of their parents inflection and pronunciation but are still “really” whatever.

You have inferred from listening to this audiobook that the narrator and others
involved in the production were implying that this girl was inferior to her white half-sister. I believe you are doing them an injustice.

And the fact that she is mixed race does not come into it.

It's like a white character randomly being given an Australian accent when they are born and raised in Britain but had an Australian dad.

Er it’s not random to think that a child of an Australian would pick up a bit of an Australian accent. And this in the real world does actually happen as I have for example Polish friends with children born and raised here in Britain that have
Polish accents.

It would be random to give a German accent to a person born and raised in Britain by an Australian dad. That would be random.

This.
I don’t assume a persons nationality based on accent. I certainly do not think that all British people must have a British accent to be “really British” as I have met many British people in real life with varied accents from all over the globe. To think it’s problematic is to think that you have to have a British accent to be “really British”.

Well the narrator is Canadian woman, she isn't British either so all the accents she does are put on. All Brits are foreigners to her.

Also, I belive that book is a memoir so maybe it's likely the real life woman the chatachter is based on had a Jamaican accent and that is why the author asked for one.

I think you have this backwards - you are inferring that people with accents are not ‘really’ British because you see it as problematic that a mixed race character has a Jamaican accent.

Accent is a product of the accent a person hears around them in their formative years. That may or may not be an accent originally derived from the country they live in at that time. It depends on the community they live in at the time and what they see and hear in the media. There are way too many assumptions of all sorts on this thread.

There are millions of people in countries who don’t have accents native to that country. However many of them take out citizenship and are then “really” British or “really” American or “really” French etc. And very often their children take on some of their parents inflection and pronunciation but are still “really” whatever.

Er it’s not random to think that a child of an Australian would pick up a bit of an Australian accent.

They are maternal half sisters, raised in the same country, with vastly different accents. None of these excuses reasons make sense.

It would be random to give a German accent to a person born and raised in Britain by an Australian dad. That would be random. This is actually an incredibly close analogy of what you're all denying. I'm hoping you all just can't read properly and aren't desperately scrabbling for a way to excuse racial stereotyping.

They are maternal half sisters, raised in the same country, with vastly different accents. None of these excuses reasons make sense.

Of course these reasons makes sense because these half sisters were not raised together in the same household or even the same part of the country. Their blood relation is essentially meaningless because accents are not in our DNA but a result of our environment. You can be raised in Scotland by a Scottish parent and have a half sister in Northern Ireland raised by an Irish parent and have completely different accent from each other, but still both be in the U.K.

these half sisters were not raised together in the same household or even the same part of the country.

Where is that in the book?

You said this earlier: "Plus the book you are talking about says the character was raised by a large Jamaican family." I'm guessing you still haven't managed to read any part of the screenshot properly, let alone the book. You really are just scrabbling to excuse racial stereotypes. It's embarrassing at this point.

You’re right, I hadn’t read the book. I was confused by the screenshot thinking the “she viewed him as a proper dad” was referring to Bonnie having Leon as a stepdad.

But I am reading it now and lo and behold the OP lied:
”So in the book, one of the characters is called Maggie and is half sister to a character named Bonnie.”

Nope, Maggie is Bonnie’s aunt not her half sister:
“Having used the last of her money to buy the train ticket, and with no credit on her phone to call ahead and tell Maggie she was on her way, Bonnie planned to just arrive and hope for the best. All she knew of Aunt Maggie – apart from that she was married and liked kids – was that she was mixed race. She and Bonnie’s mother had shared the same mother, but Maggie’s father had been black.”

And as it happens, I was correct that Maggie and Bonnie were not raised together in the same household or part of the country:
“Bonnie had no recollection of Maggie, having not seen her since she was about three years old,”
”Bonnie wasn’t even sure what she wanted from Aunt Maggie, who was after all a stranger to her.”

So, it is quite plausible that Maggie and Bonnie would have different accents. It is also quite plausible that Maggie might have a Jamaican accent as she is married to a Jamaican and so could have been raised in a Jamaican community/neighbourhood. It was also pointed out that the author knows the characters in real life and probably told the narrator that the real Maggie has a Jamaican accent, so it seems highly unlikely to me to have been “randomly assigned based on race”.

Bonnie hadn't seen her Aunt Maggie since she was three. Why would that mean Maggie hadn't grown up with her own sister? I mean you said it yourself and still can't wrap your head around it - "Nope, Maggie is Bonnie’s aunt not her half sister" OP might have got a name muddled in her first post but you keep coming back again and again with mistakes and misunderstandings. Or as you call them, lies.

It was speculated that the author may have told the narrator what accent to use. Just as I may now point out speculate that you're actually just a swarm of ants that has suddenly developed the ability to collectively type nonsense on Mumsnet.

I thought Maggie and Bonnie were half sisters when I wrote that due to the OPs accidentally on purpose mistake that they were (which you also repeated in your post so obviously you haven’t read as much of the book as I just have).

The OP makes no mention as to Maggies’ actual half sister’s accent at all in the audio version. (Maggies half sister is Bonnies mother). We don’t know if Maggie and Bonnies mother were raised together or not, the book doesn’t say.

The OPs issue is that Bonnie has a different accent from Maggie. She has lied about their relationship calling them half sisters and implying that they were raised together in the same place and so should have the same accent. The OP even edited a section from the book she quoted accidentally on purpose deleting “Aunt” from where it said “Aunt Maggie”. Such a convenient misunderstanding don’t you think? To drop “Aunt”?

And she is assuming that that since Maggie is given a Jamaican accent, it must be only because she is mixed race. I think this whole thread is a dog whistle.

which you also repeated in your post so obviously you haven’t read as much of the book as I just have
Where did I do that?

I don't know why OP edited it, perhaps to save face after realising her initial mistake. It's interesting which assumptions we each jump to. A dog whistle to whom?

I agree with OP even if OP lied about the relationship. I've read the relevant parts and, Bonnie’s mother and aunt both have dialogue so both their accents would be heard in the audio book. It makes no sense to assume a Jamaican accent, maternal half siblings are rarely raised apart and I do believe if they'd been the same ethnicity they'd have been narrated in similar accents.

You've also read the relevant parts and instead made up a whole bunch of stuff, said it as gospel and then backtracked more frequently than me forgetting my mask in lock down. You haven't yet made a persuasive argument for why the sisters have different accents. I believe if there are any dog whistles here it is your posts.

There are not many of us mixed race or black children born in the UK that take on our family's Caribbean accents. My father didn't take on his parents' Caribbean accent and none of my cousins have taken on their parents' accents. That's not to mention any of my friends, or even my friend born in Jamaica but mostly raised in the UK. The accent you have is usually created by the area you're in, not by your family at home. That doesn't mean you can't do a very good impression of your family's accent, just that you most likely will learn to speak the way the majority of your classmates, teachers and friends do.

So please understand that even if your wild idea that Maggie was separated from her sister and raised with a Jamaican family is true (highly unlikely because the Gran seemed to be fondly remembered and part of the family until she died), Maggie probably would still not have grown to be an adult that spoke with a Jamaican accent.

Your continued effort to excuse racial stereotyping is very offensive and helps others to take an apathetic attitude to race issues. Even the little issues, when solved, can make the world a better place for everyone.

Write to Cathy Glass and share your thoughts and questions.

cathyglass.co.uk/contact/

There is no reason an audiobook narrator shouldn't do any accent that makes sense for the book.

The only other alternative that doesn't fall right into reductionst racism and classism is for all of them to use their own natural accent only.

If it doesn't make sense within the context of the story, that's just a bad choice by the actor or whomever made the decision. You could say it's an inappropriate artistic choice.

As for poorly done accents, some actors are better than others. It's annoying when they aren't very good.

I'm more uncomfortable with the underlying premise that it's acceptable for a white woman to do a fake Jamaican accent because 'it's acting'.

I've grown up in one of those extremely diverse areas. It's never been acceptable to sound like Jim Davidson circa 1978, even before you take into account that second generation children never sounded like their parents in the first place.

Can't we just ask Cathy Glass? We might be very upset about nothing.

Why? There are white Jamaicans don’t you know it’s prejudiced to assume that Jamaican=black. The narrator was Canadian so she was “acting” when she did British accents too.

@TwentyOneTwentyTwo

maternal half siblings are rarely raised apart
Thats an assumption you are making. It’s quite evident that you still haven’t read the book. Maggie and her unnamed sister are older in the book. Maggie’s sister is a grandmother as her daughter Bonnie has a daughter Lucy. And quite often two generations ago a white woman having a mixed race baby would not be allowed by her family to raise that child and the child would be sent to the fathers family. This happened in my DHs family and his mixed race aunt was raised separately from his father/her half brother.

This stigma still exists to a certain extent as a major plot point of the book is that a white family cannot adopt a mixed race baby. As Maggies great niece, Bonnies daughter Lucy is also mixed race. Lucy’s father is Thai.

So please understand that even if your wild idea that Maggie was separated from her sister and raised with a Jamaican family is true (highly unlikely because the Gran seemed to be fondly remembered and part of the family until she died),

Already established that it’s not a “wild idea” as such things did happen two generations ago. Also, the Gran wasn’t “fondly” remembered by Bonnies mother/the Grans white daughter so again you haven’t read the book have you?
“Her mother gave a cynical laugh. ‘You’re well out of touch. Gran’s in a care home. Lost her marbles and on her last legs.’ Bonnie was sad to hear that her gran was poorly, and hated her mother for being so callous.”

Again, you may know of children raised here that do not take on a parent’s accent, but I know of children raised here that do take on a parents accent. So neither your nor my scenario is “highly unlikely” they are both plausible. But, I guess if you are looking to be offended, you’ll lean towards the worst scenario.

I am not excusing racial stereotyping, I am stating I don’t agree that racial stereotyping is the reason why Maggie has a Jamaican accent. Especially as this is a memoir based on real live people. It’s not a work of fiction. So the author and narrator are most probably reflecting the actual accents of the real people mentioned in the book. Yes, if it were fiction you might have a point because that means Maggie is an imaginary character and the author could have built her using stereotypes but in a memoir, you are not fabricating characters you are literally reporting on real people and real events. It is highly unlikely in a memoir that the author would then randomly decide to change Maggies accent away from what it actually was to a different accent.

@Discovereads You don't know what you're talking about, don't understand probability and don't seem to understand the definitions of the words you are using. I don't wish to engage further with you.

www.theguardian.com/society/2008/jul/06/children.communities1

www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/mixed-race-babies-born-after-the-second-world-war/

theconversation.com/thousands-of-mixed-race-british-babies-were-born-in-world-war-ii-and-adoption-by-their-black-american-fathers-was-blocked-116790

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/30/pauline-black-the-selecter-adoption-memoir

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/relative-values-the-duke-of-richmond-and-nimmy-march-cd58qfqbnlq

www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/toddlers-more-responsive-to-accents-of-peers-than-parents

@TwentyOneTwentyTwo
Insulting me doesn’t really add to the conversation.

I think it’s hilarious that you think post WWII black American soldiers not being able to forcibly take their children born to British women to the US is in any way relevant to this memoir. 😂

🙄

"Just under half of these children were put into children’s homes. Few were adopted."

"The children grew up in predominately white areas – the sites where the GIs had been largely based: south and south-west England, south Wales, East Anglia and Lancashire, where they had little or no black or mixed race role models."

This. Shelby Steel would have a field day with the rubbish on this thread.

This is such a weird thing to be annoyed by.