: Texaco Novel plot and novel summary. What is Texaco Novel about

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Texaco (novel)Texaco is a 1992 novel by Patrick Chamoiseau, a French author who was born and raised in Martinique. The book was awarded the Prix Goncourt in its year of publication.
It was translated into English from the original French and Creole by Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokurov and selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1997.

Plot
The novel presents a historical and personal perspective of Texaco, a shantytown suburb just outside Martinique's capital Fort-de-France. The main narrative of the story is told through the voice of Marie-Sophie Laborieux, daughter of a freed slave, who recounts her family history from the beginning of the 1820s through to the late 20th century. These recollections of her history draw both on her personal memory and the stories told to her by her father. The accounts begin after a man called Christ – an employee of the urban services bureau tasked to rationalize the shantytown of Texaco – is sent to Marie-Sophie. In describing his impact on her community, Marie-Sophie refers to Christ as "one of the riders of our apocalypse" and "the angel of destruction".

Texaco follows a non-linear plot line, with Marie-Sophie's personal narrative providing an account of history viewed from the perspective of her family. As Marie-Sophie puts it: "I began to tell him the story of our Quarter and of our conquest of the City, to speak in the name of us all, pleading our cause, telling my life." In addition to this complex story arrangement, Chamoiseau weaves in brief excerpts from notebooks, journals and letters. These small sections, which provide a historical context to the island of Martinique, are attributed to journals written by Marie-Sophie in the mid-1960s, as well as passages from a book called The Urban Planner's Notes to the World Scratcher.

Protagonists
Marie-Sophie Laborieux is the narrator and daughter of Esternome and Idoménée. She lost her parents at a young age, selling fish in the city and working as a housekeeper before building a home in Texaco and becoming a leader of her community.

Esternome (Marie-Sophie's father) is the focal point for half of Texaco. He was born on a plantation but worked as a house slave until being granted freedom after saving the plantation owner (béké)'s life.

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