Take a photo of a barcode or cover
blackfeatherhideout 's review for:
The Salt Eaters
by Toni Cade Bambara
“It’s got to be costing you something to hang on to old pains. Just look at you[...] I expect fire to come blasting out of your nostrils any minute. It takes something out of you, Velma, to keep all them dead moments alive[...] But here you are still fired up about it, still plotting, up to your jaws in ancient shit.”
TSE follows Velma Henry’s healing ceremony — conducted by the healer of the district Minnie Ransom — after an attempted suicide. She is resisting the process (Minnie asks her, “Do you want to be well?”), too caught up in her past to accept a way forward. Velma is a complicated character: she is an activist, a feminist, a community organiser, but the pressures of life and all these things have proved too much for her. She is a woman who gives her life to her community and to her marriage, but is ultimately alone with her darkness.
Minnie and her spirit guide “Old Wife” make for an interesting pair! Their dialogue can throw you off, but it is filled with deep reflections. Bambara wrote rich characters. And the language of TSE is well, enchanting.
This book feels as though it is going at 100kms an hour! I feel like I’ve been in a speeding car reading it, but I love the sensation and thrill of the ride. It feels extremely fast because of the way it is written, and not necessarily because of its content. The stories of the people are quotidian, remarkable only because the mystical is part of their every day lives, and the fabric of their lives is mystery and wonder. But their lives are ordinary lives reaching for survival.
It also feels fast because Bambara’s writing moves quickly, each sentence packed with so much detail that you must read certain parts two or three times to accurately appreciate its meaning and mood, and to be able to follow the turns in the text without getting lost. If Bambara is a driver, she writes as though she is the kind of driver who likes to take unexpected turns, even switching mid-sentence to another scene. But if you buckle up and surrender to her style, you’ll be glad you came along for the ride!
TSE follows Velma Henry’s healing ceremony — conducted by the healer of the district Minnie Ransom — after an attempted suicide. She is resisting the process (Minnie asks her, “Do you want to be well?”), too caught up in her past to accept a way forward. Velma is a complicated character: she is an activist, a feminist, a community organiser, but the pressures of life and all these things have proved too much for her. She is a woman who gives her life to her community and to her marriage, but is ultimately alone with her darkness.
Minnie and her spirit guide “Old Wife” make for an interesting pair! Their dialogue can throw you off, but it is filled with deep reflections. Bambara wrote rich characters. And the language of TSE is well, enchanting.
This book feels as though it is going at 100kms an hour! I feel like I’ve been in a speeding car reading it, but I love the sensation and thrill of the ride. It feels extremely fast because of the way it is written, and not necessarily because of its content. The stories of the people are quotidian, remarkable only because the mystical is part of their every day lives, and the fabric of their lives is mystery and wonder. But their lives are ordinary lives reaching for survival.
It also feels fast because Bambara’s writing moves quickly, each sentence packed with so much detail that you must read certain parts two or three times to accurately appreciate its meaning and mood, and to be able to follow the turns in the text without getting lost. If Bambara is a driver, she writes as though she is the kind of driver who likes to take unexpected turns, even switching mid-sentence to another scene. But if you buckle up and surrender to her style, you’ll be glad you came along for the ride!