Introduction 

Born in Antigua in 1949, Jamaica Kincaid is a writer of novels and nonfiction. At age 17, she moved to New York City and, for the next 20 years, wrote for The New Yorker. There, the chapters of her first novel, Annie John, were initially published. 

Over her career, Kincaid has won numerous awards, including The Paris Review’s prize for lifetime achievement, and has twice been shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Her writing is often autobiographical and explores themes such as colonialism and family relationships.

Published in 1997, My Brother is a memoir about Kincaid’s family, her brother, Devon, and her return to Antigua due to his illness.

Plot Summary

The book begins as Kincaid visits her younger brother, Devon, who is sick with AIDS in an Antiguan hospital. Kincaid has spent so many years in the United States that she struggles to understand Devon's Antiguan version of English, yet they communicate anyway. Staring at the sick man, whom she has grown so distanced from, she recalls her love for her long-estranged brother.

Kincaid’s mother brings food to Devon every morning and bathes him every day. Despite her mother's dedication, Kincaid thinks her mother's love for her children is self-serving—that love is only spectacular when they are small or sick; it is no good for strong adults. 

As AIDS medication is unavailable in Antigua, Kincaid gets an American doctor to prescribe Devon what he needs. Due to the improved quality of care, Devon's condition improves by the time Kincaid leaves Antigua for New York City; soon, he is released from the hospital to stay with their mother.

Kincaid’s children are surprised to hear she has a mother. To give them insight into that part of her life, she brings them on her next trip to Antigua. However, she is bothered by their immediate love for her mother.

Devon is doing well, even doubting that he has the virus anymore. He conceals his condition from women, whom he frequently has unprotected sex with, risking their health and lives. 

Disgusted by his actions, Kincaid wonders what kind of a person her brother has become—and who she would have been if she had not moved away. 

Kincaid remembers her mother withdrawing her from school just before an important test. She thinks her mother hates this memory and resents Kincaid’s willingness to retain and share uncomfortable truths about their family. For instance, Kincaid explains that Devon never knew the wonderful person their mother was before his birth, an experience that irreversibly changed her. 

When Devon dies, it has been two months since Kincaid last visited him. His death came as no surprise, as he looked long dead already. Seeing him, she had felt sick of his presence and had wished he would just die or go away.   

Kincaid remembers being asked to care for Devon when he was two and she was 15. She preferred to read and neglected to change his diaper all day. When her mother noticed, she burned all of Kincaid’s books as punishment.  

Kincaid thinks of the boy who used to visit with the excuse of borrowing a book—that is until her mother stopped him. There was a man of the same name sick in the hospital, and Kincaid wonders whether he was the same person or if she just wants events to fit together.

At a Chicago reading, Kincaid sees a woman she met at an AIDS support group. The woman says that she hosted gay men in her home because they could not live their lives openly in Antigua. She adds that Devon...