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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Challenging, beautiful, thoughtful, lovely, hard, wonderful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Abandonment, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol
Minor: Slavery, War
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
...a poet who writes fiction can imbue his prose with a considerable amount of magic.
Angela Flournoy
Introduction
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
•
I have to admit that I have only ever read Langston Hughes’ poetry as that is what I was exposed to in my English studies.
•
I began this as an audiobook but struggled with both the vernacular and what felt like a very slow pace. My daughter had a physical copy of the book and so I began reading. There is an introduction in the Penguin Classics Edition by Angela Flournoy and I found it so helpful. Once I got a better grasp on the novel overall, my experience with it became more meaningful.
•
I opened with a quote from the intro because as I read noticed the word choices and combinations Hughes uses elevates this story - if you didn't know he was a poet before reading it you definitely would when you were done.
•
Set in Kansas in the 1930s, Not Without Laughter reads like a coming of age story and is centered around Sandy Rogers and his family. But it's also a story about the great migration of black families out of the south after emancipation and I learned a lot about that via Flournoy's intro. I don’t know that I’ve read another novel about that part of history.
•
Hughes created an incredibly vivid setting via his transportive prose and I was blown away by how immersive the story became. This is one sad book but what is remarkable is that along with the infinite sadness, it remains hopeful. But the reality for Sandy’s future is heartbreaking and the fact that this was written almost 100 years and we still have so far to go is shocking.
•
Not Without Laughter illustrates that families are all alike - parents want greater opportunities for their children than they had and children’s minds are full of dreams. That's why literature is so important - not only as a reminder of time and place but as a way to step into someone else's experience through the power of words.
Angela Flournoy
Introduction
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
•
I have to admit that I have only ever read Langston Hughes’ poetry as that is what I was exposed to in my English studies.
•
I began this as an audiobook but struggled with both the vernacular and what felt like a very slow pace. My daughter had a physical copy of the book and so I began reading. There is an introduction in the Penguin Classics Edition by Angela Flournoy and I found it so helpful. Once I got a better grasp on the novel overall, my experience with it became more meaningful.
•
I opened with a quote from the intro because as I read noticed the word choices and combinations Hughes uses elevates this story - if you didn't know he was a poet before reading it you definitely would when you were done.
•
Set in Kansas in the 1930s, Not Without Laughter reads like a coming of age story and is centered around Sandy Rogers and his family. But it's also a story about the great migration of black families out of the south after emancipation and I learned a lot about that via Flournoy's intro. I don’t know that I’ve read another novel about that part of history.
•
Hughes created an incredibly vivid setting via his transportive prose and I was blown away by how immersive the story became. This is one sad book but what is remarkable is that along with the infinite sadness, it remains hopeful. But the reality for Sandy’s future is heartbreaking and the fact that this was written almost 100 years and we still have so far to go is shocking.
•
Not Without Laughter illustrates that families are all alike - parents want greater opportunities for their children than they had and children’s minds are full of dreams. That's why literature is so important - not only as a reminder of time and place but as a way to step into someone else's experience through the power of words.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a beautifully written, seemingly straightforward, yet complex story of a young Black boy coming of age in the early part of the last century. Hughes shows so many ways of being Black, and Sandy has questions about how to be in the world and how to decide whose example or advice to follow.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No