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dominiquejl's review against another edition
5.0
This is the best novel I've read in years. Raboteau's writing is lyrical and thoughtful, and she lays out her story with deliberateness and whimsy. While the events are at times heartbreaking, Raboteau refuses to let her language or characters wallow in pathos. Her style is smart and engaging, and you can feel the energy and everyday humor of real life humming through this book. A real gem that I can't wait to recommend and discuss.
mochagirl's review
5.0
he Professor's Daughter is Emma Boudreaux, a young woman who is struggling with the loss of her older "spiritual twin" brother, Bernie (Bernard Boudreaux III), who dies after a brief coma following a freak accident. Emma has long been a victim of physical and emotional abandonment from her father, the world renowned Yale professor, Bernard Boudreaux II, but her brother's death seems to exacerbate her "condition" and pushes her over the edge.
Emma's "condition" is that of self-doubt originally stemming from her ethnicity (her father is African American, her mother Caucasian) and the struggles of trying to fit into a world that is largely black or white. She leans heavily on her brother as her strength during the early childhood years when she is taunted by other children. She becomes somewhat of a recluse, excelling academically while learning to "disappear" or become "invisible" in order to avoid the negative attention her physical appearance seems to attract. But this is not merely a tale of the tragic mulatto - it goes deeper - and Raboteau's beckoning style sets the tone perfectly.
There's an expression, "the fruit does not fall far from the tree," and although Emma was somewhat of an enigma, I found the professor's character more intriguing and complex. Within him lies inner struggles and conflict that were seemingly inherited by his son with residual turmoil passed to Emma. The professor is a brilliant man with violent and poor roots originating in the Mississippi Delta. He is very secretive and guarded about his family history. It is in his recollections that we learn he was orphaned at an early age by a traumatic event that led his mother to madness and his father to an untimely death. His journey from the poor house to the white tower is fraught with discrimination, abuse, humiliation, and loneliness. He blocks the memories of his painful childhood with disastrous results - his unresolved issues affect his life and children in a most profound manner.
The novel is partly narrated by Emma recapping her life in a series of recollections. She reminisces about past lovers, her childhood, her college years, her self-imposed sabbatical to Brazil - complete with all the drama, longing, misery, and heartbreak that come with searching for oneself and trying to uncover the "mystery" behind her grandfather's (Bernard I) passing. Raboteau takes interesting tangents along the way - cleverly supplementing the novel with Ethiopian and Sioux folklore that makes the story even more enchanting in an unconventional kind of way. I will admit that this novel is not for everyone; however, I enjoyed it from its opening passages. I found it to be perfectly paced and very well written.
Emma's "condition" is that of self-doubt originally stemming from her ethnicity (her father is African American, her mother Caucasian) and the struggles of trying to fit into a world that is largely black or white. She leans heavily on her brother as her strength during the early childhood years when she is taunted by other children. She becomes somewhat of a recluse, excelling academically while learning to "disappear" or become "invisible" in order to avoid the negative attention her physical appearance seems to attract. But this is not merely a tale of the tragic mulatto - it goes deeper - and Raboteau's beckoning style sets the tone perfectly.
There's an expression, "the fruit does not fall far from the tree," and although Emma was somewhat of an enigma, I found the professor's character more intriguing and complex. Within him lies inner struggles and conflict that were seemingly inherited by his son with residual turmoil passed to Emma. The professor is a brilliant man with violent and poor roots originating in the Mississippi Delta. He is very secretive and guarded about his family history. It is in his recollections that we learn he was orphaned at an early age by a traumatic event that led his mother to madness and his father to an untimely death. His journey from the poor house to the white tower is fraught with discrimination, abuse, humiliation, and loneliness. He blocks the memories of his painful childhood with disastrous results - his unresolved issues affect his life and children in a most profound manner.
The novel is partly narrated by Emma recapping her life in a series of recollections. She reminisces about past lovers, her childhood, her college years, her self-imposed sabbatical to Brazil - complete with all the drama, longing, misery, and heartbreak that come with searching for oneself and trying to uncover the "mystery" behind her grandfather's (Bernard I) passing. Raboteau takes interesting tangents along the way - cleverly supplementing the novel with Ethiopian and Sioux folklore that makes the story even more enchanting in an unconventional kind of way. I will admit that this novel is not for everyone; however, I enjoyed it from its opening passages. I found it to be perfectly paced and very well written.
alexmbateau's review
3.0
I didn't enjoy the story or the characters, but the writing was so beautiful I couldn't stop until I finished the book.
arisbookcorner's review against another edition
3.0
IQ "People have said of Fran that she has classic American good looks. Nobody has ever thought to say that of me, even though I wouldn't have resulted anywhere else" Emma, 267
It's not the lack of plot that bothered me but the random bits of information thrown in that didn't add much to the narrative. Bits such as how grown up Tiny felt, the White Buffalo Woman (I completely acknowledge I may be too dense to have understood the symbolism of this tale) and the short story Emma wrote for her professor. The overall story jumped all over the place which makes me think it would have been better off serving as a collection of short stories. I also was hoping this would serve to be different from the usual 'confused biracial protagonist' type story but it didn't really, she's confused about who she is. I ended up being more interested in the father than in Emma who I found to be tiresome (especially in her treatment of her mother). Emma's father has always been different; from his club foot (which I'm not entirely sure I understood how he got) to receiving a scholarship to attend a Catholic boys boarding school where he is the only Black student. I wanted to know what happened to him at college, why he married Emma's mother and what happened to the rest of his family that we were briefly introduced to.
Like her father Emma is also marked, she has a rash for most of her life, prominent on half of her face. Through the rash and the elegant prose the author makes it clear why Emma felt so lonely as child and this held my interest but it's when she grows into adulthood my interest waned. The Bernies were intriguing, but not much time was spent on the difficulties of having a brother as a vegetable in realistic terms, it was more about feelings. Which I understand but I wish it had also been practical since it is such a hard decision to pull the plug and delved into that struggle (or explained why it was an easy decision one way or the other. Was the father involved?). That being said she did make astute observations about being Black; "And this is really what makes you black in the eyes of others. It's not the bubble of your mouth, the blood in your veins, the blackness of your skin or the Bantu of your butt. It ain't your black-eyed peas and greens. It's not the rhythm or your blues or your rage or your pride. It's your hair. The kink and curl of it, loose or tight, so so long as it resembles an afro" (2). Identity is always a hot topic for novels and while I didn't find the overall story wholly original, the loosely connected stories were interesting and the author is wonderful with her prose. "Language isn't equipped for the range and complexity of human trouble. It doesn't have enough music in it" (260).
It's not the lack of plot that bothered me but the random bits of information thrown in that didn't add much to the narrative. Bits such as how grown up Tiny felt, the White Buffalo Woman (I completely acknowledge I may be too dense to have understood the symbolism of this tale) and the short story Emma wrote for her professor. The overall story jumped all over the place which makes me think it would have been better off serving as a collection of short stories. I also was hoping this would serve to be different from the usual 'confused biracial protagonist' type story but it didn't really, she's confused about who she is. I ended up being more interested in the father than in Emma who I found to be tiresome (especially in her treatment of her mother). Emma's father has always been different; from his club foot (which I'm not entirely sure I understood how he got) to receiving a scholarship to attend a Catholic boys boarding school where he is the only Black student. I wanted to know what happened to him at college, why he married Emma's mother and what happened to the rest of his family that we were briefly introduced to.
Like her father Emma is also marked, she has a rash for most of her life, prominent on half of her face. Through the rash and the elegant prose the author makes it clear why Emma felt so lonely as child and this held my interest but it's when she grows into adulthood my interest waned. The Bernies were intriguing, but not much time was spent on the difficulties of having a brother as a vegetable in realistic terms, it was more about feelings. Which I understand but I wish it had also been practical since it is such a hard decision to pull the plug and delved into that struggle (or explained why it was an easy decision one way or the other. Was the father involved?). That being said she did make astute observations about being Black; "And this is really what makes you black in the eyes of others. It's not the bubble of your mouth, the blood in your veins, the blackness of your skin or the Bantu of your butt. It ain't your black-eyed peas and greens. It's not the rhythm or your blues or your rage or your pride. It's your hair. The kink and curl of it, loose or tight, so so long as it resembles an afro" (2). Identity is always a hot topic for novels and while I didn't find the overall story wholly original, the loosely connected stories were interesting and the author is wonderful with her prose. "Language isn't equipped for the range and complexity of human trouble. It doesn't have enough music in it" (260).
sandyd's review
5.0
This is beautifully written, and I had a hard time putting it down, although a few parts were horrifying and sad. Some of the stories about race and discrimination were eye-opening.
I couldn't help wondering how much of this was autobiographical (while looking at the author's photo on the dust jacket), and thinking how very sad for Raboteau if that were true.
One minor quibble - a character dies in a way that I saw rebutted on Mythbusters recently. Damn Adam & Jamie for ruining the narrative flow of an amazing story!
I couldn't help wondering how much of this was autobiographical (while looking at the author's photo on the dust jacket), and thinking how very sad for Raboteau if that were true.
One minor quibble - a character dies in a way that I saw rebutted on Mythbusters recently. Damn Adam & Jamie for ruining the narrative flow of an amazing story!
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