REVIEWS
Praise for On the Way Back:
“Aside from the diligence required for infusing his plot with the requisite business detail, however, there is Kobbé’s more fluent and visible perception of the idiosyncrasies and pitfalls of Anguilla’s human side that equips him well to convey all the tension, humor, passions, and heartbreak of this tale of two worlds and more”.
Hal Peat for Potent magazine
“We are drawn to the quixotic appeal and intensity of this colourful Venezuelan [Arturo Sarmiento]. And it is here that we are treated with the most riveting prose about his birthplace. And Kobbe is at his literary best. The darkness of Caracas disables the most valiant among us. Yet, the city’s macabre spirit is alluring. Our senses are scrabbled, searching for meaning in a place that Sarmiento calls a ‘hellhole’…
“With lines and paragraphs that surge with vivid originality, Kobbe’s authenticity as a writer is without question.”
Glenville Ashby for The Jamaica Gleaner
Praise for Tales of Bed Sheets and Departure Lounges:
“These 50 bilingual stories (English and Spanish) take the reader on along the outer edges of convention […] These interludes and momentary glimpses provide brief snapshots into lives that intersect briefly, capturing the contemporary fragility of human connection.”
Hal Peat for Insights (Insel Air’s inflight magazine)
Praise for The Night of the Rambler:
“With tremendous humanity and humor, the novel articulates these themes [of man versus man and man versus nature] through the power of the relationships and the urgency each character demonstrates in this quest for self-determination.”
Terry Butcher for The Caribbean Writer (University of the US Virgin Islands)
“Vivid […] funny, and thoughtful. Much like the revolution it covers, it’s compelling.”
Ben Kramer for The Review Lab (Columbia College Chicago)
“This is a book about revolution and the underdog, about a small, isolated island fighting for recognition, opportunity and justice; it is a compelling tale about a curious historical episode, but also a vital look at priorities, perspective and the right to live in dignity, issues that, much like Anguilla’s rebellion of 1967, are all too easily forgotten.”
Jethro Soutar for The Island Review
“[Readers] will be rewarded with deeper insight into the political and economic turmoil engulfing that region.”
Waheed Rabbani for the Historical Novel Society
“Kobbé creates still shots for study as often as he presents the sequence of actions and reactions readers often associate with novels […] The Night of the Rambler is the work of a writer of considerable talent.”
Rita Celestine Carty for Anguilla Life
“However unusual this revolution is, it is a prelude to Anguilla’s eventual divorce from St. Kitts and Nevis, before becoming a separate British territory; its unconventional LOL factor could diversify an elective college course on revolutions with something bloody peaceful.”
Michael Caylo-Baradi for New Pages
“[A] really good fictional story behind some real events that I never knew took place […] some of the best work here is the author’s focus on his two main characters Alwyn Cooke and Rude Thompson.”
“Colorful detours into native lore, such as a rich Dutchman’s fabled courtship of a local beauty, strike graceful notes that echo Marquez… [Readers] will be rewarded with the little-known tale of how the underdog country demanded its own place in the 20th century.”