alberthe 's review for:

The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L'Engle

2.0

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If you want

- magical negroes (look it up)
- former slaves/descendants practicing some sort of hoodoo in increasingly threatening and stereotypical ways, up to and including rumours of child sacrifices
- freed slaves happily staying on with former owners on a plantation/commune where everyone's "equal."
- freed slaves insisting on waiting on the white people they're living with, even though they're supposedly friends/family, because what would people say and it's good to serve
- black characters being sacrificed/cut short by the narrative in order to fulfill/enrich the white characters' life/journey/spiritual awakening/whatever

Spoiler

The way Ron is used as a stand-in for Terry throughout the book only to be killed off so that Terry can return without anything becoming awkward is cruel. I realised quite soon that he had to die, but I kept on reading thinking I would give the author a chance and persist just in case she chose another solution. He was hanging on for so long that I actually thought he was going to make it. And then a white character nobly gave up her peace of mind to give him the ultimate gift of a swift death. Unfortunately, by then, there wasn't much left of the book for me to make a statement of by not finishing it.

oh, and preaching

...then this might be the book for you!