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114 reviews for:
The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers
Bridgett M. Davis
3.92 AVERAGE
114 reviews for:
The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers
Bridgett M. Davis
3.92 AVERAGE
I love the concept of this book and still think it would be an excellent movie. Focused on the authors mother who was a numbers runner in Detroit. She was a strong and powerful woman in a totally unexpected world. I just wanted the writing to be more evocative.
I snapped up this one off the new books shelf at my local library for a lot of reasons, mainly because it was a memoir about a girl growing up in Detroit and her relationship with her mother, both of which hit my YES buttons, but also because I thought I’d FINALLY understand what “The Numbers” actually meant after hearing it mentioned in various tantalizing historical contexts. (I keep going to conferences about local Michigan history, because I am a nerd, and hearing speakers mention in passing ‘the numbers’ or reading a reference in a historical novel and getting from the context that it was some sort of form of gambling that seemed pretty exclusive to the black community, but much more personal than the state lottery that we have today. And now after reading this book, I get it, even if I don’t actually understand how the actual number selection works.) Plus, I grew up in the Detroit area (in a lily-white suburb) which means that I’m thrilled by all the recent books that are now coming out about the city and its people, including this one.
The author writes in delicious detail about what it was like to be a little black girl in Detroit with so many great details about her life and her memories, but mainly she writes about her relationship with her complicated mother, who was *gasp* running a major ring of the gambling organization called the Numbers, something she did successfully for decades despite the inherently precarious nature of the business, including the payouts and the complicated personal and financial dynamics of how it worked. In the pages of her memoir, Bridgett Davis writes without sugarcoating about her family and her childhood as Detroit transformed, but mostly about her love for her mother, Fannie Davis, who comes across as complicated and loving, a force of nature who kept her kids in fashionable clothes and told them to be proud of themselves, all the while keeping her illegal business running smoothly and secretly. This book was engrossing and moving – I actually teared up at the end – and I gushed about it to several people as a great book club selection just as soon as I finished it.
The author writes in delicious detail about what it was like to be a little black girl in Detroit with so many great details about her life and her memories, but mainly she writes about her relationship with her complicated mother, who was *gasp* running a major ring of the gambling organization called the Numbers, something she did successfully for decades despite the inherently precarious nature of the business, including the payouts and the complicated personal and financial dynamics of how it worked. In the pages of her memoir, Bridgett Davis writes without sugarcoating about her family and her childhood as Detroit transformed, but mostly about her love for her mother, Fannie Davis, who comes across as complicated and loving, a force of nature who kept her kids in fashionable clothes and told them to be proud of themselves, all the while keeping her illegal business running smoothly and secretly. This book was engrossing and moving – I actually teared up at the end – and I gushed about it to several people as a great book club selection just as soon as I finished it.
I love memoirs and this was a perfect fit - set in Michigan about a mother and daughter. It was fascinating -- and I love how it built on knowledge I had of the Great Migration (Thanks [b:The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|8171378|The Warmth of Other Suns The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|Isabel Wilkerson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433354252l/8171378._SY75_.jpg|13341052], of SE Michigan and Detroit in the 1930s-1980s ([b:Middlesex|2187|Middlesex|Jeffrey Eugenides|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1437029776l/2187._SY75_.jpg|1352495]), and Detroit neighborhoods ([b:The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook|35182832|The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook|Aaron Foley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502948665l/35182832._SX50_.jpg|56519889]) in a beautiful narrative. I had no idea about the Numbers or how it tied into the history of the state lottery and the cultural appropriation involved. I loved Davis' writing - I felt like I could see her family as they moved through the years.
It feels right that I finished this on mother's day, because the core of this story is about a mother and daughter. It's also about Black identity, tradition and culture in Detroit in the first half/3/4's of the 20th century (and in many ways the present), about dreams both real and of the ambitious variety (including some exploration of the American Dream), about capitalism and access, and about what it means to be a family and a community where the members hold each other up. Bridgett M. Davis weaves a tight narrative of her badass mom, a successful Detroit number runner who cared for herself, her family, and her community, while also giving the reader a fascinating history lesson on the numbers game as a Black cultural pillar and clearly illustrating how the establishment of a legal state lottery was rooted entirely in racism. As someone who has never gambled or been interested in gambling, I really learned a lot from this historical context. Beyond that, the story of Fannie Davis and her family is just a really beautiful one- through moments of blissful happiness as well as tragedy, the sense of closeness and love within the Davis family is palpable. I definitely recommend this multifaceted read if you're at all interested in memoirs that incorporate larger historical/cultural contexts and/or amazing matriarchs.