#BookReview: MUDBOUND by Hillary Jordan

I can't imagine that taking on racism and prejudice in a story is an easy task for any author.  As an author, you have to know that each person reading your novel is going to approach it with their own opinions shaped by their reality.  I would imagine their reality would be colored by their experiences, this particular case as they relate to prejudice and racism, and their history, specifically as it relates to this book.

As a black woman, I'm very hesitant to read books along the line of Mudbound because I don't want a sugar-coated, holding hands, singing Kumbayah version of the story.  In reading Mudbound, I also realized that I can't necessarily stomach the hardcore, in your face version of a story either.  I trudged through it, but I have to say that I enjoyed Jordan's When She Woke far more than I did this story.

Set in the 1940's Mississippi Delta, Mudbound is told from the points of view of Laura, a confirmed spinster who finally marries in her thirties; Henry, her by the book, engineer turned farmer husband; Jamie, Henry's fun loving brother who comes back from the war with his light dimmed just a bit; Florence, the McAllan's housekeeper and  wife of a tenant farmer; Ronsel, the son of Florence, who has also recently returned from the war.

When we first meet Laura, she's a spinster teacher in Memphis who lives with her parents.  She's resigned herself to the fact that she'll never get married.  She seems likable enough.  Her brother brings home Henry, a friend of his who works for the Army Corps of Engineers.  He's older than Laura, though no one seems to have a problem with him being a confirmed bachelor, and the two begin to court.  When he proposes marriage, Laura agrees and is under the assumption that they'll take up residence in Memphis.

Henry has always longed to own a farm and without discussing it with Laura, buys one in the Mississippi Delta.  I was already side-eying him for moving his wife and two small daughters down there, but then his outspoken racist father comes as part of the package and I was screaming at Laura to take her babies back home to Memphis and leave those two in the delta by themselves.  But like a dutiful wife, she went with him.

Up until this point, there hadn't been any real interaction with people of color, so I wasn't aware of how the McAllans felt about them.  Their arrival in Mississippi changed all of that.  It became all too obvious that Henry, his father and Laura, to a lesser extent, had no compassion for anyone that didn't look like them.

“Damn niggers,” Orris said. “Moving up north, leaving folks with no way to make a crop. Ought to be a law against it.”

“In my day we didn’t let em leave,” Pappy said. “And the ones that tried sneaking off in the middle of the night ended up sorry they had.”

Orris nodded approvingly. “My brother has a farm down to Yazoo City. Do you know, last October he had cotton rotting in the fields because he couldn’t find enough niggers to pick it?

Did I really read that right? Did you read that right? Yes! These men were actually mad that black people moved up north in search of a better life instead of staying in Mississippi to pick their crop and make them money while living as sharecroppers that could never hope to pay off their debt.  So this is the attitude of his countrymen that Ronsel faces as he returns home from the war.  It explains his statement:

We didn’t stay in their country long, but I’ll always be grateful to those English folks for how they welcomed us. First time in my life I ever felt like a man first and a black man second.

And lest we believe that the comments of whites regarding blacks were reserved for black men:

Most of them use their women harder than their mules. I’ve seen colored women out in the fields so big with child they could barely bend over to hoe the cotton. Of course, a colored woman is sturdier than a white woman to begin with.

So I turn to the women of the story and expect, for some reason, that women will be more sympathetic.  And while Florence sees Laura McAllan as a woman and mother, which is apparent when they first meet:

First time I laid eyes on Laura McAllan she was out of her head with mama worry. When that mama worry takes ahold of a woman you can’t expect no sense from her. She’ll do or say anything at all and you just better hope you ain’t in her way.

Laura is unable to see Florence as anything other than a negro when she comes to her after Ronsel goes missing:

There was real animosity in Florence’s eyes, and it woke an answering flare in me. How dared she threaten me, and under my own roof? I remembered Pappy telling the girls one time that Lilly May wasn’t their friend and never would be; that if it came down to a war between the niggers and the whites, she’d be on the side of the niggers and wouldn’t hesitate to kill them both. It had angered me at the time, but now I wondered if there wasn’t a brutal kernel of truth in what he’d said.

I would have loved to say that by the time I was done with this book, I'd found any redeeming qualities in the McAllans, but I didn't.  Above all they looked out for themselves and other whites before ever showing regard or compassion for a woman who brought their children back from the brink of death or nursed Laura through a miscarriage.  I don't know.  Maybe the author didn't mean for them to have any redeeming qualities.  I'd be interested in knowing what others that have read this took from it.

340pp
Published: March 2009

#BookReview: Long Division by Kiese Laymon

I’m so in love with this book that I’m not even sure where to start. I first listened to it back in February and couldn’t find the words to review. I gave it another listen last week and, this time, I took notes. Understand that I rarely take notes on books, but I ended up with 10 pages of them. It’s not that the concepts of the book are difficult to understand, it’s that there are so many gems to be found within that I didn’t want to miss any.

The first thing you need to know about Long Division is that it’s a book within a book and the names of the characters within and outside of the book are the same. Time shifts between 2013, 1985 and 1964. The main character is 2013 Citoyen (City) Coldson. He’s not a bad kid, but he has a smart mouth on him. It’s helped him win “Can You Use That Word in a Sentence” contests, but it’s also landed him in hot water with his mama, his principal, his grandmother and most people that come in contact with him. The book opens with City doing verbal battle with his biggest competitor, LaVander Peeler, which lands him in the principal’s office. Frustrated with his ignorance, Principal Reeves makes City take a test, which becomes a pre-cursor to his time traveling. The first time I listened, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the questions, but this time, they hit me hard. Those that stood out most really summed up what Long Division is all about:

“Only a fool would not travel through time and change their past if they could.”

“Past, present, and future exist within you and you change them by changing the way you live your life.”

2013 City notices a book called Long Division in Principal Reeves office, borrows it and discovers 1985 City Coldson. 1985 City is in love with Shalaya Crump, the girl that lives next door to his grandmother in Melahatchie, Mississippi. Shalaya is a bit of a mystery to City. The way she talks, the things she says throw him off, especially, “I could love you if you helped me change the future in a special way…” Loving Shalaya the way he does, 1985 City takes off on a journey with her that takes him back to 1964 where he meets his grandmother and forward to 2013 where he meets Baize Shephard, a girl that’s missing in 2013 City’s world. If the future is to be changed, as Shalaya wants it to, will it be up to 1985 City or 2013 City?

It can be difficult to follow the story at times if you don’t keep track of what year the characters are in. Even if you’re keeping track, it can be hard. Laymon drops quiet hints from start to finish, but you really have to be on the lookout for them. Though both 2013 City and 1985 City can be obnoxious, know it alls, there is a slight distinction in how they talk and their mannerisms. 2013 City is never without his wave brush and has taken over YouTube. 1985 is much more respectful of his grandmother and doesn’t question or talk back the way 2013 City would. Shalaya Crump and Baize Shephard are tied together by an ellipses, or “dot dot dot” as both would say.

Laymon is masterful with capturing the words, dress, etc. of people in each era. It’s rare that I re-read or re-listen to a book. When I was younger, I re-read books because my mother had me on a book budget and if I was already at my limit for the month, I’d go back and re-read a book just because I had to have something to read. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on her book budget, but I re-listened to Kiese Laymon’s Long Division recently just because I felt like I missed so much on the first listen. To be honest, there are some books that are meant to be read and some that are meant to be listened to. The written book differentiates by using a different font. Long Division is definitely meant to be read, simply because if you stop listening for just a second, you’re sure to miss something important.

276pp
Listening time: 7 hours, 41 minutes
Published: June 2013

#BookReview: You Can't Plan Love - Synithia Williams

As you may have noticed from my previous reviews of romance novels, I'm not big on them.  A lot have formulaic Harlequin feels to them.  You know, there's a damsel in distress who lives in (fill in the blank), works as a (fill in the blank) and hates, but falls in love with her (fill in the blank).  The names, locations and occupations change, but the story line is always the same.  I have a cousin that reads Harlequins constantly and I'm just amazed because the covers and characters are the same no matter what they or the book is called.  So I was pleasantly surprised when I read Synithia Williams' You Can't Plan Love.

Kenyatta Copeland is a capable leading lady.  As an environmental engineer in a male dominated field, she's learned to hold her own.  She loves her job and where her career is heading.  According to her mother and friends, it's about time she gets married and whom better to marry than Brad Johnson?  An accomplished attorney, Brad is the man of any woman's dreams, except Kenyatta's.  She doesn't feel the passion for him that she should, but she knows he'll be a good provider and she'll eventually learn to love him. But...and there's always a but, Brad wants her to quit her job when they get married.

Blair Underwood

Quitting her job would mean giving up something she loves and losing her identity.  It would also mean giving up Malcolm, her boss.  While we can clearly see what Kenyatta is supposed to look like from the cover, Malcolm is in the background and not so easy to see.  So in my mind, he looks like Blair Underwood.  Let me have my fantasy!  Anywho, Malcolm appreciates Kenyatta's mind and the way it works, among other things.  But lest you think this is one of those books where he silently smolders with passion for her (I've read too many romances lately. I'm writing like a Harlequin author!), he's very vocal about how he feels about her.


Synithia Williams could have taken the tried and true road with You Can't Plan Love, but she's done so much more with it.  If you're like me and you don't particularly care for romances, I recommend you give this a try.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised from the start to spectacular finish.

252pp
Published: November 2012

 

Theme: You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes

#BookReview: The Healing - Jonathon Odell

I can admit when I'm late to the dance.  I've had the ARC (advanced reader's copy) of this book since October...2011.  Right, so for almost 10 months, this book just sat on my Kindle waiting for me to get around to it, but as Polly Shine would say, "I can pour water on your head, but you got to wash yourself."

Who is Polly Shine, you ask? She's the healer and giver of sight to those around her.  Things on the Satterfield plantation surely changed for the better the day Polly Shine arrived.  Prior to her arrival, Granada, the teller of The Healing, only thought she knew who she was.

Born on the same day that the mistress of the plantation's daughter died, Granada was taken from her mother and given to the mistress as a play thing.  Now normally a slave of Granada's complexion would not have been allowed to step foot in the big house.  House slaves tended to be light-skinned and were considered more favorable as their appearance was closer to white.  As the daughter of a field slave, Granada should have been out in the fields, but grief is a powerful thing and the mistress was willing to overlook the norms.

Granada takes great pleasure in dressing up in the gowns of the deceased daughter of the mistress annually for Preaching Day.  Standing at the side of the mistress in the fancy clothes and ribbons gives her such joy that she's willing to ignore the laughs and horrified looks of those around her.  Her place is firmly in the big house, next to the mistress.

All of that changes the day Polly Shine arrives.  What kind of slave is worth $ 5,000?  One that can heal.  When slaves on his plantation begin to fall ill, Ben Satterfield, who has never brought in outside slaves, brings in Polly Shine to heal them.  Not only that, he has a hospital built for her and gives her Granada as an assistant.  Of course, this doesn't sit well with Granada.  She belongs in the big house, everyone knows that.  But in becoming Polly's assistant, Granada begins to learn and remember what and who she is and to whom she belongs.

Odell touches on so many points with The Healing.  There's the constant reminder to and from house slaves that they're better than those that live in the swamps and the fields, simply because of the complexion of their skin.

 "Remember, Granada," Sylvie said, "what is bred in the bones will be in the marrow.  You ain't like them out in the swamps that got no behavior.  You been brought up around white folks and learned their manners.  Don't forget that, you hear?  You a proper house-raised girl, and you pretty as a pea, even if you is black as the bottom of a pot."

Then there's the slave mentality exhibited by Old Silas, who had been with the master since he was a boy, and resented any thought of freedom.  He even goes so far as to tell the master how to keep the other slaves in line by keeping them afraid, rendering them unable to hope.

'Mark my words,' I said, 'when a man's not afraid, then he's hoping.  And that's when all hell brakes loose.'

Odell bravely takes on a topic and time period that would normally send white authors running.  But he does so respectfully and definitely did his research.  Using words of former slaves as recorded in the WPA Slave Narratives, the Fisk Collection of Slave Narratives and oral histories of midwives as his guide, he is dedicated to telling the story accurately.  It shows in his work.

352pp
Published: February 2012

 

Theme: Time After Time by Cassandra Wilson

#BookReview: Mama Does Time - Deborah Sharp

"Mace is one of those Christmas and Easter Christians, Delilah. You know, the ones who crowd the pews on the holidays? They think the Lord will forget He hasn't seen them the rest of the year."

Mace Bauer has enough on her hands.  As an outdoor ranger in Himmarshee, Florida, she spends her days tracking down gators in pools, wild possums and the like.  But when a local man with mob connections is found in the trunk of her mama's car, Mace adds detective to her list of job duties.

 With her judgmental older sister, Maddie, prodding her to find out who really murdered the dead man and her younger sister, Marty, encouraging her romance with the handsome Detective Martinez, it's all Mace can do to stay on track. Her mama doesn't make it any easier by dragging Mace to her storefront church and ignoring the constant death threats against her.

Fans of chick lit, especially southern lit, will enjoy this.  Full of a lively cast of characters, Mama Does Time is an enjoyable read and a lively beginning to the Mace Bauer series.

336pp
Published: October 2008

 

Theme: Some Days You Gotta Dance by The Dixie Chicks

#BookReview: Gathering of Waters - Bernice McFadden

I worried that there would be no one to take J. California Cooper's place. I thought Bernice McFadden might be the one when I read Glorious. After reading Gathering of Waters, I'm sure of it!

I've often said that reading a J. California Cooper book is like sitting on the porch listening to your grandmother tell you a story.  Using lush words and phrases that make you long for those days, McFadden's latest will leave you breathless from start to end.  Once you start Gathering of Waters, you won't want to put it down until you've finished it.

Warning: When I read and write about really good books, the words I'm looking for don't always come out right.  So even if you can't feel it while reading this review, know that I was gushing over the greatness of this book while writing it.

Through narration by the town of Money, Mississippi, the reader is taken on a journey that explains the evil spirit that inflicted Roy Bryant, one of the men responsible for the murder of Emmett Till.  Surely one would have to be evil to harm an innocent child the way the Bryant and his accomplices did, right?

We're first introduced to the spirit, which belonged to the town's recently deceased whore, early on when it comes back in the form of a little girl.  When that child's mother can no longer control the monster that her daughter has become, she sends her to live with a preacher's family where her destructive ways reach far and wide.  Eventually the spirit finds its way to another innocent child, this one a white boy brought back from the dead, who would eventually become the Roy Bryant who murdered Emmett Till.

Weaving history with fiction with surrealism left me absolutely fascinated with the way the author tied the stories of each person affected by this evil spirit together and then went a step further and tied it into water.  Water is used often in literature to symbolize life, transformation, chaos or a cleansing.  In Gathering of Waters, water is present at each milestone: Doll's transition, Roy's re-birth, Emmett's transition, Emmett's rebirth (of sorts), and Tass' transition. The culmination of the last two events brings forth one of the most chaotic events of present time.  Water...who would have thought it could wreak such havoc.

250pp
Published: January (ebook)/February (paperback) 2012

 

Theme: Come to the River by Dianne Reeves