Tagged with African-American

I don't want to be mean about a book on this blog. Usually if I don't like a book, I just don't finish it, but for some reason I stuck with Conception, even though it rankled. I guess the story was relatively compelling. I had two major problems with the book--its narrators: the protagonist and the talking fetus. I didn't find 15-year-old Shivana Montgomery likable, or even sympathetic. I had a hard time getting past the unborn child having a voice and the somewhat pro-life stance of the novel. When I could get over my politics, I still couldn't get into its tales of its previous martyred mothers. African-American women don't have much of a chance in the past or present of Conception. If that is Buckhanon's point, she makes it successfully, but not in a way that reaches me emotionally. I'm interested to know if any of y'all have read this book and whether you had a different take on it. (Celia, give it a try during the winter break. It takes place in Chicago, if that helps.)

This is one of those not-a-novel novels: connected short stories told in multiple voices. The central character is Irene Wilson, a contemplative African-American coming of age in a negro area in Kansas City, Kansas around the same time someone named Brown was fixing to sue the Board of Education. I was dazzled by the first story, told in the first person by Irene, which takes place when she is in elementary school. The language is stylish and layered, and the characters deep and nuanced. I wish all of the stories had been by and about Irene, but the multiple voices are tolerable because it's not strictly a novel.

The story of a more or less orphaned half Danish, half African-American adolescent getting used to life in the 'hood, sometimes challenged by and sometimes rewarded for her blue eyes and good hair, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky unfortunately isn't quite as good as scintillating as I wanted it to be. It's particularly sad because the first chapter really got me.

I've read this novel about three artist sisters from South Carolina at least twice before. The first time I absolutely loved it, and the second time I was a little cooler. This time--probably 15 years after the last reading--I was in some ways reading a whole different book. Being in my teens and twenties for the first two readings, I was focused entirely on weaver Sassafrass, musician Indigo, and especially dancer Cypress. Now that I'm probably closer to mama Hilda Effania's age, I found her to be the most intriguing character.