I hate to compare books, especially ones that are really well written in their own right, but The Turner House reminded me of Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. The thing that made it better, in my opinion, is that the characters are tied together. In The Twelve Tribes, even though the characters are siblings, their stories are written in such a way that they can stand alone and there's little interaction between the siblings as adults. So while we see them interact as children, once they move into the adult world, there's very little dialogue among them - standalone stories. It gives you a sense that there’s no familial bond among the siblings or even their parents. While The Turner House doesn't delve deeply into the lives of all the Turner children, Flournoy gives us a good sense of how their lives have turned out based on the adult children's whose lives she chooses to explore.
Showing posts with label Angela Flournoy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angela Flournoy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
#BookReview: THE TURNER HOUSE by Angela Flournoy
I hate to compare books, especially ones that are really well written in their own right, but The Turner House reminded me of Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. The thing that made it better, in my opinion, is that the characters are tied together. In The Twelve Tribes, even though the characters are siblings, their stories are written in such a way that they can stand alone and there's little interaction between the siblings as adults. So while we see them interact as children, once they move into the adult world, there's very little dialogue among them - standalone stories. It gives you a sense that there’s no familial bond among the siblings or even their parents. While The Turner House doesn't delve deeply into the lives of all the Turner children, Flournoy gives us a good sense of how their lives have turned out based on the adult children's whose lives she chooses to explore.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Colorful Lit Alert, Spring 2015 - The Black Women Authors Edition
352pp
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pub. Date: April 14, 2015
The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone—and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit’s East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts—and shapes—their family’s future.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)