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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
I finally got around to reading this powerful collection of related vignettes centered around a woman named Hattie and her children. I found the first couple of brief stories a little less interesting, but those that focused on Hattie were beautifully crafted, heart-wrenching, and profound.
An variety of stories about the members of Hattie Shepard's troubled family. Each chapter is about an individual and a moment in their life illustrating their turmoil, so much so that I felt each chapter started on the premise "what's wrong with this person?". Some of the stories were fantastic, others droll, but not one of them was terribly encouraging. The things these people get themselves into. There are even a few stories from a first-person perspective (for which the audio used other narrators, and it worked brilliantly), just to throw off the reader. In all, there were parts that were beautiful and moving, and parts that were stale and needlessly rough. I think everyone can find a story in here that they like, but I don't think hardly anyone is going to like it all. It fails as a novel because it lacks that beginning, middle, and end, and I don't think it quite works as a collection of short stories because they are all so similar. Still, there are some amazing moments. Just don't expect to smile a lot.
Over the years, I've developed an affinity for the short story format that I once despised. Mathis uses the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South to the North to kick off this saga of a family's history told through linked short stories. After moving from Georgia to Philadelphia, 15 year old Hattie and her husband August have settled in their new city and are celebrating the birth of their twins, Philadelphia and Jubilee. In the first story, named for the twins, Hattie is nursing them through a bout of pneumonia.
Two pages in, I was hooked. The writing was so vivid and beautiful that I felt that I was in the room with those sick babies and was moved to tears while reading on my commute to work. (I'm sure the other passengers thought I was going through some things.) Each subsequent chapter focuses on the couple's 9 other children and takes us from 1925 to the 1980's giving us insight not only into the lives of each person, but also the nature of the family dynamic and each person's role in it. Children from large families at times have very different relationships with their parents than their siblings and I love that each story reflected that while also checking in with Hattie and August.
Two pages in, I was hooked. The writing was so vivid and beautiful that I felt that I was in the room with those sick babies and was moved to tears while reading on my commute to work. (I'm sure the other passengers thought I was going through some things.) Each subsequent chapter focuses on the couple's 9 other children and takes us from 1925 to the 1980's giving us insight not only into the lives of each person, but also the nature of the family dynamic and each person's role in it. Children from large families at times have very different relationships with their parents than their siblings and I love that each story reflected that while also checking in with Hattie and August.
This book received so-so ratings but I thought it was phenomenal! Loved that most of the stories took place in Philly as well. Talented work by Ayana Mathis.
I really enjoyed this book. Initially, I didn't get the hype. As I continued on, however, I got it. I recognized many of the characters, including Hattie, in my own life and came to a place of understanding. A passage I loved: "Hattie knew her children did not think her a kind woman-perhaps she wasn't, but there hadn't been time for sentiment when they were young. She had failed them in vital ways, but what good would it have done to spend the days hugging and kissing if there hadn't been anything to put in their bellies? They didn't understand that all the love she had was taken up with feeding them and clothing them and preparing them to meet the world. The world would not love them; the world would not be kind" (p. 236).
I knew from the jacket that this would be a hard book to swallow but while there were many hardships in this book, I struggled with each chapter focusing on one or two kids. Then by the next chapter you never hear more than a smidgen of the rest of their story. Because of that it's clouded the whole book, in my opinion.
2.5 rounded up. The writing was okay but the plot and execution were absolutely not.
I'm not sure what the author's message is. Each chapter is a snapshot of one of Hattie's children's lives during that year. All of her children have terrible luck, either by bad things happening to them or poor choices they've made that catch up to them. Maybe it is a reflection of privilege, but it seems like it reinforces negative stereotypes about Black families which can't be why Oprah chose it for her book club. There's no character growth until the very last sentence, and each chapter ends without resolution. Probably I'd read or enjoy the story the author started about each child, because there was a lot of potential. But it was jarring to move forward a few years and start learning about a new child and his or her respective baggage from their upbringing, heavily dependant on birth order of Hattie's children. I picked this up as part of "read celebrity book club recs" idea, and it was not enjoyable.
I'm not sure what the author's message is. Each chapter is a snapshot of one of Hattie's children's lives during that year. All of her children have terrible luck, either by bad things happening to them or poor choices they've made that catch up to them. Maybe it is a reflection of privilege, but it seems like it reinforces negative stereotypes about Black families which can't be why Oprah chose it for her book club. There's no character growth until the very last sentence, and each chapter ends without resolution. Probably I'd read or enjoy the story the author started about each child, because there was a lot of potential. But it was jarring to move forward a few years and start learning about a new child and his or her respective baggage from their upbringing, heavily dependant on birth order of Hattie's children. I picked this up as part of "read celebrity book club recs" idea, and it was not enjoyable.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The main reason I gave this only 4 stars is that I really wanted each chapter to be an entire book. I loved each one, and I really wished I could get to know the characters better over a longer time. As a window into the life of one woman, they were fascinating.