Jamaica
News - Real Estate - General (June 18, 2004)
NO WOMAN NO CRY -
A review
A simply-worded but powerfully
impacting story of a woman's journey that included one of the world's most
intriguing human beings. The synchronicity of their lives that seem almost
predestined, and which transcended the experience of marriage.
No Woman No Cry, Rita Marley's story of her
life and her relationship with Bob Marley is a tale that is set in different
areas of Jamaica, different decades and musical styles.
The book is a historical story of Jamaica from
post-colonial days through to the 1970s (the Michael Manley era), the 1980s (the
Edward Seaga era) through the eyes of this underestimated, but tenacious spirit.
The books takes you from Rita's foundation as a
poor but proud urban girl, with a strong mother figure in her aunt, who had high
expectations of her young charge; becoming a teenaged mother, which then, and
even now, seems to be one of the greatest causes of shame on any Jamaican
family, to her meeting with "Robbie", known to the world as Bob
Marley.
No Woman No Cry explores the courtship of Rita
and Bob and their eventual marriage. It also delves into their struggles for
independence, their ambitions, and their intimacies that still burned bright
even through some difficult challenges.
Here was a young couple in love, and dedicated to
each other in keeping their growing family together with music being their other
love and their hope for a brighter tomorrow.
We see Robbie embracing the Rastafarian faith
and becoming a man conscious of his Africanness, teaching and convincing others,
and eventually converting his young wife to his new lifestyle.
The book shows a sensitive and caring husband
(Robbie), who grapples with his own issues of abandonment and self identity and
Robbie - a young father having his manhood questioned because of his then
inability to provide sufficiently for his family.
We see the evolution and growth of both Rita
and Robbie, their struggles and sacrifices, "to put food pon table"
with migration seemingly the only way to make a better life for their family,
which was a typical reality for a lot of West Indians at the time. We discover
that some of Marley's "suffering tunes" were experiences inspired by
these tough times.
Music as they both dreamt was the passport to
economic independence. No Woman No Cry follows Bob Marley's career, his
successes as a song writer, and then with the Wailers and the exploitation of
his naiveté by unscrupulous music industry sophisticates and his eventual solo
career with Island Records.
But with his successes came their growing
separation, especially with Rita facing the challenges of Bob's constant
absence.
Because of his long absences from home Rita
became the more dominant parent figure in her children's lives and at the same
time she had to deal with the painful realisation of his flagrant womanising.
This seems to have motivated her in defining her own individuality. It was then
that Rita discovered her strong entrepreneurial spirit, and an independent
streak emerged.
Sympathy for her is felt as the story unfolds,
but it is not filled only with Bob's infidelity that paints her as a martyr and
him as a monster. It is balanced with her growth as a woman as a result of it,
and her growth as a performing artist with the forming of the I Threes, and her
evolving different friendships.
Their relationship changed from romantic, it
appears, but it was obvious that Bob's trust in Rita was cemented from when he
was "Robbie" and they struggled together at a time when hunger and
pain was all they knew and shared..
We see Bob growing beyond musical star to
world and national political figure through his lyrics and his charisma, and we
get a rare insight into the attempted assassination of Bob and Rita and the
trauma experienced by them after the incident.
As Bob's world grew, the parasitic elements
emerged, reaching uncontrollable levels at times.
Through all of this Rita was the rock that
centred their children, keeping them away from some of the drama that was now a
part of her husband's life, and it appeared that whenever he needed solace from
the madness of his celebrity life, her presence and opinions were the refuge
which Bob sought.
Bob's short and mysterious illness and transition
through her eyes, revealed their spiritual and strong connectivity. Before the
madness of a high-profile celebrity life it was Rita and Bob, sharing the highs
and lows of life. In the end it was still Rita and Bob.
The spirit of Rita was tested following Bob's
transition, but in the end she was victorious over the numerous sharks who felt
they deserved the supposed fortunes that her husband left behind.
There were countless challenges of keeping it
together and proving her innocence from the attacks and accusations that
surfaced as a result of the possibilities of her deceased husband's estate. But
in all of this, true to form and to love, she took on the challenge of keeping
his work alive. And the records are there to prove that she surmounted this
challenge with Bob Marley being bigger in death than in life, the machinery
prospering as a result of her vision.
This book is a must-read, It's her story but
it is also our story.
Men and women alike, from every corner of the
world can relate and will be inspired by her tale, myths will be dispelled, and
truths will be revealed.
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