Scan barcode
A review by amberunmasked
Blanche Among the Talented Tenth by Barbara Neely
5.0
This story plays out like a soap opera. There are couples mixed of dark and light or black and white. Among them, there’s a gossip queen who ends up electrocuted in her bathtub. Mattie refuses to believe that the clues pointing to her godson as a killer are true. Blanche and Mattie find the box containing all the dirt Faith the gossip hermit had on people.
There ends up being four mysterious deaths for Blanche to solve and I couldn’t figure out any of them until she did. There was enough to second guess Mattie’s motivations and all the people of Amber Cove.
I wasn't fond of the way the character Blanche explained mental illness/suicide to her kids. I know it's got to be hard. As someone who suffers though, I just want others to know there is content about suicide and one particular line that I found insensitive.
As always, I love how Neely addresses race and religion. Blanche's new spirituality and ancestor worship felt warm and serene.
Neely is always direct about how dark Blanche White is and it being the reason she gave her such an ironic name. She refers to Blanche as “eggplant dark” so it’s important to understand the situation book two presents. Blanche’s adopted daughter Taifa is growing up fast and now she’s concerned about being too dark since the other kids of color in her school are light. Blanche takes a much needed vacation to Maine’s exclusive black resort Amber Cove. However, the resort was founded and considered the mainstay of the “light-bright” and wealthy. She is stared at by other African-Americans who give her plenty of side-eye glances just like when she was the only black child on a playground.
I have a much longer review at my site: http://www.amberunmasked.com/review-blanche-talented-tenth/
There ends up being four mysterious deaths for Blanche to solve and I couldn’t figure out any of them until she did. There was enough to second guess Mattie’s motivations and all the people of Amber Cove.
I wasn't fond of the way the character Blanche explained mental illness/suicide to her kids. I know it's got to be hard. As someone who suffers though, I just want others to know there is content about suicide and one particular line that I found insensitive.
As always, I love how Neely addresses race and religion. Blanche's new spirituality and ancestor worship felt warm and serene.
Neely is always direct about how dark Blanche White is and it being the reason she gave her such an ironic name. She refers to Blanche as “eggplant dark” so it’s important to understand the situation book two presents. Blanche’s adopted daughter Taifa is growing up fast and now she’s concerned about being too dark since the other kids of color in her school are light. Blanche takes a much needed vacation to Maine’s exclusive black resort Amber Cove. However, the resort was founded and considered the mainstay of the “light-bright” and wealthy. She is stared at by other African-Americans who give her plenty of side-eye glances just like when she was the only black child on a playground.
I have a much longer review at my site: http://www.amberunmasked.com/review-blanche-talented-tenth/