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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden
4.0
‘I am Money. Money Mississippi.’
The township of Money, Mississippi is the narrator of this story which focusses on the Hilson and Bryant families during the 20th century. While two significant and dreadful events - the destructive Mississippi flood of 1927 and the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 - are part of this story, it’s the people who dominate the story. And it works because while readers as individuals may not believe in animism or in previous existence, how can we resist the voice of the town?
‘Listen, if you choose to believe nothing else that transpires here, believe this: your body does not have a soul; your soul has a body, and souls never, ever die.’
The novel opens early in the 20th century, in Oklahoma, where a young girl named Doll is possessed by the spirit of a dead woman named Esther. Doll’s mother puts her up for adoption after an attempt to exorcise Esther fails, and Doll (and the story) move to Money, Mississippi. Under the influence of Esther’s spirit, Doll grows up to be a manipulative woman capable of using sex and theft to achieve her objectives. There is a nicer side of Doll, but Esther’s spirit is too strong for that side to dominate for long. Doll has a daughter, Hemmingway, who comes to despise her.
After the 1927 flood, Hemmingway becomes the focal character. Her daughter, Tass, meets and falls in love with Emmett Till during the summer of 1955. Sometime after Emmett Till is murdered, Tass marries, moves away to Detroit and has her own family. Emmett’s memory, and his spirit, is never very far away from her. And Esther’s spirit? It took another direction.
As I reflect on the story while writing this review, there are so many aspects of the story that should not have worked for me, that should have prevented my being caught up and lost in this story. Something in the combination has drawn me in. The three very different women who bring this story to life have their own identities, their own magic. I knew of the murder of Emmett Till, but in this story he is much more than a symbol of the civil rights movement. This is the kind of novel which weaves its own magic, has its own soul.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The township of Money, Mississippi is the narrator of this story which focusses on the Hilson and Bryant families during the 20th century. While two significant and dreadful events - the destructive Mississippi flood of 1927 and the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 - are part of this story, it’s the people who dominate the story. And it works because while readers as individuals may not believe in animism or in previous existence, how can we resist the voice of the town?
‘Listen, if you choose to believe nothing else that transpires here, believe this: your body does not have a soul; your soul has a body, and souls never, ever die.’
The novel opens early in the 20th century, in Oklahoma, where a young girl named Doll is possessed by the spirit of a dead woman named Esther. Doll’s mother puts her up for adoption after an attempt to exorcise Esther fails, and Doll (and the story) move to Money, Mississippi. Under the influence of Esther’s spirit, Doll grows up to be a manipulative woman capable of using sex and theft to achieve her objectives. There is a nicer side of Doll, but Esther’s spirit is too strong for that side to dominate for long. Doll has a daughter, Hemmingway, who comes to despise her.
After the 1927 flood, Hemmingway becomes the focal character. Her daughter, Tass, meets and falls in love with Emmett Till during the summer of 1955. Sometime after Emmett Till is murdered, Tass marries, moves away to Detroit and has her own family. Emmett’s memory, and his spirit, is never very far away from her. And Esther’s spirit? It took another direction.
As I reflect on the story while writing this review, there are so many aspects of the story that should not have worked for me, that should have prevented my being caught up and lost in this story. Something in the combination has drawn me in. The three very different women who bring this story to life have their own identities, their own magic. I knew of the murder of Emmett Till, but in this story he is much more than a symbol of the civil rights movement. This is the kind of novel which weaves its own magic, has its own soul.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith