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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Couldn't connect to the plot or the characters. Seemed interesting just alot going on.
medium-paced
I don't even know where to start...
Basically, this is the story of a woman (Velma) who has tried to commit suicide, but is now in the process of being healed...by both a healer (Minnie) and herself. We get to know Velma through those who know her.
We don't really know how long the healing actually took, but we do know that it took longer than normal. Putting all the parts together and reading the final chapter of the book, it couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes.
The language is beautiful...the events are understandable, but the sequence in which the events are written is confusing. The flip flopping between time, events, and characters without having any clear boundaries had me reading several parts several times. I make fun of Lee when she gets a pen and pad and makes notes, but that's exactly what I had to do. Lol. This is definitely one that I'll try to read again.
So even though I missed the overall meaning (I think) and was lost 85% of the time, I loved Minnie and Old Wife; they were hilarious. Fred Holt was an interesting character and I wouldn't mind learning more about him. Doc Serge wanting Minnie to hurry with the healing so he could pimp Velma out was just sickening.
Spoiler
Basically, this is the story of a woman (Velma) who has tried to commit suicide, but is now in the process of being healed...by both a healer (Minnie) and herself. We get to know Velma through those who know her.
We don't really know how long the healing actually took, but we do know that it took longer than normal. Putting all the parts together and reading the final chapter of the book, it couldn't have taken more than 30 minutes.
The language is beautiful...the events are understandable, but the sequence in which the events are written is confusing. The flip flopping between time, events, and characters without having any clear boundaries had me reading several parts several times. I make fun of Lee when she gets a pen and pad and makes notes, but that's exactly what I had to do. Lol. This is definitely one that I'll try to read again.
So even though I missed the overall meaning (I think) and was lost 85% of the time, I loved Minnie and Old Wife; they were hilarious. Fred Holt was an interesting character and I wouldn't mind learning more about him. Doc Serge wanting Minnie to hurry with the healing so he could pimp Velma out was just sickening.
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Couldn’t follow the plot line. I selected it because it fit the description for a reading challenge (read a book published the year you were born). I’m still looking for one though.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content
Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury
martin luther king jr. is dead. so is malcolm x and fannie lou hamer. other beloved revolutionaries of the 60's are also either dead or at least on the run. the residents of claybourne, a southern town that is both rural in character but urban in its decay, struggle with what to do with themselves in the aftermath--to look back, or not? to be well, or not?
THE SALT EATERS drops us right into the middle of the action without any hand holding. we begin and end in one day with velma henry, a local woman who is in the middle of a healing session at the local infirmary. however, readers flit between different characters and even different realms from one paragraph to the next almost as if we're spirits overseeing claybourne. the dreamy prose and structure demands your attention to slowly pull all of the little plot threads together. we find out: there's a carnival tonight, there's a government informant on the loose, the nuclear plant in the town over is surely poisoning everyone, the armory has been robbed, and there's rumors of an insurrection. however, readers are kept at arms length from the action and instead spend the majority of the time in the interior of our characters as they worry, ponder, and remember.
i have to admit: i'm not sure i picked up everything that the salt eaters was putting down. it's definitely a novel that requires careful reading and revisiting, and it took me almost a month to finish it for this exact reason. it's a complex novel that has a lot of action going on in the background, but it isn't really plot forward, and i would not have guessed that this book is what it is based on the provided blurb. i am, however, so intrigued by the choice of setting and time that toni cade bambara chose. i feel like most books about revolutionaries or this time period set us in the middle of the height of the 60's actions, and i think bambara's choice to uncover the ugly and hurting aftermath once everything has either fizzled or fractured made this novel so compelling. THE SALT EATERS asks: what happens to the organizers once the protest signs have come down and the barricades are cleared from the streets? who will take care of them, and how will they be well?
mysterious
medium-paced
The style of writing was a bit hard for me personally to follow, but also interesting. I listened to the audiobook but would maybe like to read a physical copy later on to see how the experience changes.
So good but I unfortunately listened to the audiobook and realized it needs to be read by hand. Too poetic and weird to be heard, a book for your eyes I could tell. Challenging and impossible to follow in the way where just as you’re about to throw in the towel and call yourself lost she finds you again and you recognize the location or a person or an action. It’s the beauty of getting lost and realizing no one is ever lost on earth. Feels really similar to Paul Beatty’s style of writing but the 80s version, either less humorous or less nihilistic? In any way, absolutely prophetic.