are often viewed as Jamaican religions, are not exclusive to Jamaica and are actually found in other parts of the Caribbean as well. These practices developed as a result of British colonialism and slavery in the British West Indies in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Obeah and Myal allowed slaves to connect to their religion to gain spiritual peace and strength. These forms of spirituality play a huge role on the female characters in the novel. The female slaves are portrayed as strong-willed and intelligent, while the male slaves are often portrayed as weak, thoughtless, and even traitorous. “Rape, torture, murder and other dehumanizing acts propel the narrative, never failing to shock in both their depravity and their humanness. It is this complex intertwining that makes James’s book so disturbing and so eloquent”. The novel "defies hegemonic notions of empire by pointing out the explosive and antagonistic relationship between colonizers and colonized." The antagonizing women in the novel are also complex—for example, Isobel, the master's white love interest and expected future wife, challenges the traditional, European ideals for womanhood. When she is acting in a manner contrary to those expectations, she is described as "Creole" and implying that she is something lesser than a European woman because she has lived in Jamaica. Therefore, the novel shows how, at this time, "hypersexual [was] synonymous with being Caribbean and inextricably related to being African." Marlon James explores how enslaved women and Caribbean women dealt with the constant sexualization and fetishization of their bodies and how they used their sexuality as a means of escapism. The novel not only explores the colonized/colonizer relationship, but also the power struggles involving other marginalized populations. Reception Critical reception for The Book of Night Women has been predominantly positive. The New York Times praised the novel highly and stated that while its themes can make it difficult to read at times, this works in the book's favor as it is both disturbing and eloquent. The Los Angeles Times, who also praised the novel, commented on the scenes of brutality: "The novel can be unrelentingly violent, and the litany of terror, torture and revenge is long and horrifically detailed. But if that seems rather grim, it's nothing in comparison with how it must have been to the slaves." "Writing in the spirit of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker but in a style all his own, James has