#BookReview: When the Sun Goes Down - Gwynne Forster

"When the sun goes down on my life, you'll all come apart like ripped balloons."   The wealthy Leon Farrell spoke those words to his three children before he passed, but, as always, he underestimated them.  While his oldest, Edgar, does seem to be falling apart at the seams, Shirley and Gunther are doing just fine.

Shunned by their father after the death of their mother while they were still children, the younger Farrell siblings worked their way through college and into successful careers.  Shirley handles PR on board cruise ships and Gunther has built a computer software company that's growing by leaps and bounds.  Their oldest brother, Edgar, is the only one that seems to be struggling in the wake of his father's death.  It's not that he misses their father, he misses the inheritance that he's sure is coming to him.

In his final thumbing of the nose at his kids, Leon died without telling anyone where his will was, including his attorney of over 20 years.  Pressed for money to pay off gambling debts, Edgar hires private investigator, Carson Montgomery, to locate the missing document.

What did you like about this book?
It was a quick and easy read.


What didn't you like about this book?
Some of the conversations seemed so unnatural.  For example, at the beginning of the book instead of giving a narration about the siblings, the author has them speaking to each other and describing their jobs to the other as if they're strangers meeting for the first time and not brother and sister.

I was also troubled by the dialect in which the author had the maid and nurse speak.  It was almost as if because they were the hired help, they weren't capable of speaking in grammatically correct sentences.  Every time I read their words, I cringed just a little.

What could the author do to improve this book?
There were whole chapters that served no purpose and, because of that, the book dragged at some points.  I also question the nice, neat ending of the book.  It's okay to not have a fairytale ending all the time.

320pp
Published October 2010
Disclosure: Received from publisher through LibraryThing.



Theme: Family from Dreamgirls

#BookReview: THE FALL OF ROME by Martha Southgate

The Fall of Rome really is a play on words.  The opening character is Jerome Washington, the only African American faculty member at a prestigious, predominantly white, all boys boarding school, The Chelsea School, in Connecticut.  Jerome firmly believes in pulling one up by one's own bootstraps without reaching back to help anyone else that might be struggling along the way.  Thanks to his hard work and his Harvard training, he's been on staff at The Chelsea teaching Latin for numerous years.  One of his greatest passions is studying Rome.

...but I share the view of those scholars who have argued that ancient Rome was a place of racial egalitarianism.  I am not so naive as to believe that this country's long history of racial prejudice has been eradicated.  But I do believe that those of us whom Du Bois called "the darker brothers" could profit from accepting the values that Chelsea at its best espouses.   And while I see this school's standards softening under the relentless onslaught of preferential treatment, I want to continue to uphold the values that the school's founders held dear.

Mr. Washington can barely disguise his contempt for Rashid Bryson, the young freshman from New York.  Rashid has come to Connecticut after the death of his brother, a death that has left his parents shells of their former selves.  Adapting to Chelsea, and its student body, will be difficult for a brown boy Brooklyn.  When he notices that the Latin class is taught by Mr. Washington, he takes the class in hopes that he'll find an ally or mentor in him.


There are so many factors at play within this story.  Rashid is looking for acceptance in a world in which he's unfamiliar.  Mr. Washington is haunted by the ghost of his past and is determined to keep boys that don't belong at a place like Chelsea out of it.  Jana needs a chance to redeem herself from her last failure to save a promising student.

What did you like about this book?
I absolutely loved this book!  Any time you find yourself talking back to the pages and wanting to punch a character in the throat, it's got to be a great book.  Martha Southgate has done an exquisite job of creating such a character in Jerome Washington.  From page one I hated him and, while I kept hoping he would have at least one redeemable quality by the end, he had none.

At one point Rashid gives a speech that sounds like something straight from the mouth of President Obama.  Given that the book was written in 2002, either the author is psychic or it's just a coincidence.  In either case, the speech he gave is just as applicable to the present day real world as it was in the fictional world in which Rashid resided.

What did you dislike about this book?
Nothing. I'm only sorry that more people haven't read it.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Not a thing.

224pp
Published January 2002




Theme: Can't Truss It by Public Enemy

#BookReview: A Taste of Honey: Stories - Jabari Asim

When Jabari Asim rolled through St. Louis earlier this year, I didn't attend the book signing because I hadn't yet read the book.  Now I really wish I had gone just to hear him read.  Billed as a set of sixteen short stories, A Taste of Honey is so much more than that.  It would be impossible to tell just one story and not wonder where it leads to or how the characters in that particular story affect characters in other stories.

Set in 1967 Gateway City, residents and those familiar with St. Louis will immediately recognize street names and neighborhood distinctions sprinkled throughout.  With a healthy cast of characters who could all be the main character, it is young Crispus that grabs my attention.  Though all stories are told in third person, when reading this I felt as if they were being told through the eyes of this young man.

There is the story of Rose, a young woman with the voice of an angel who lives to sing at church on Sundays, but spends the rest of the week pretending that her husband isn't as bad as he seems.  There's the friendship between the Reverend Washington and the notorious gangster, Ananais Goode, that no one can figure out. The neighborhood is rounded out with Guts Tolliver, the hit man with a sense of humor; Ray Mortimer, a white cop patrolling the beat; and several others that make this an absolutely delightful read.

What did you like about this book?
The author is a master of language and uses it to set the backdrop for an absolutely fascinating take on what life in St. Louis must have been like for African Americans, especially a nine year old boy.

What did you dislike about this book?
At just a little over 200 pages, I could have used a bit more.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Nothing.  If J. California Cooper were to decide to stop writing tomorrow, Jabari Asims could easily step into her role as the master of the short story.

205pp
Published March 2010




Theme: People Make the World Go Round by The Stylistics

#BookReview: Life on the Color Line - Gregory Howard Williams

Billed as "the true story of a white boy who discovered he was black", Life on the Color Line is the story of the author and his brother. Initially raised by their white parents in Virginia, the boys are surprised to find that the father they were always told was Italian is, in fact, biracial.

Upon their parents separation, the two boys are left with their father, Buster, while their mother takes their younger siblings. Realizing that he cannot raise the boys without help, and because he's lost all of the families' money, Buster moves the brothers to his aunt's home, and the black family members they never knew existed, in Muncie, Indiana.

It is in 1950s Muncie that the brothers learn that even passing is not an option. As in many towns there is a black section and while both boys are white by all appearances, living with their father's family guarantees that no one in town will mistake them for being anything other than black.

Though their race is indeed a hindrance, their father's alcoholism coupled with their mother's abandonment seems to be just as detrimental to the lives of the brothers.

What did you like about this book?
The author rarely blames either parent for his lot in life, though he would be well within his rights to do so.

What did you dislike about this book?
It seemed to have ended abruptly and without a clean break.

What could the author do to improve this book?
The author wrote in detail about his life up until high school, but glossed over his college years and beyond. I would be interested to know how he faired in the world beyond Muncie and if he still identified as black.

304pp
Published February 1996



Theme: Everything Must Change by Oleta Adams

#BookReview: Gather Together in My Name - Tracy Price-Thompson

Ignorant, backwoods, hateful...the mother in Gather Together in My Name is all of these things. Three brothers are born on the same day, a set of twins and a separate birth. Della loses her husband Bo while in childbirth, as a result of him fainting and hitting his head. She decides that it's the birth of the unexpected third baby that actually kills him and from that point on, she wants nothing to do with him. She puts all of her efforts into the first twin until he dies.

Believing that Shyne, the child she's shunned, has killed the twin, she continues to push him even further away while now focusing her attention on the remaining twin. It's no surprise that 20 years later Shyne is on death row for the rape and murder of an ex-girlfriend and her child. What is surprising is that he's given up all appeals and is prepared to die. In the meantime, his brother is preparing to run for mayor, unless someone finds out the secrets he's held all these years.