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A review by life_full_ofbooks
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
5.0
I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started this. I knew it had received lots of accolades, but that was all. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked and knew all of the praise for this was well deserved.
Eleanor Bennett’s adult children are summoned to her attorney’s office after she died so they can hear the story of her life. They discover she was never who they thought she was and discover more about themselves in coming to terms with their mother’s secrets.
This is written from multiple viewpoints and multiple timelines, and like the flavors of the cake often mentioned, they meld together beautifully.
Watching Eleanor’s life unfold, from even before she was born until she died, not just through her eyes but through those of her father, friends, and children makes this one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read.
There is a lot of history of Chinese immigrants in the Islands, but because the Island on which Eleanor grew up is never mentioned, and because some of the places mentioned are fictional, I’m hesitant to categorize this as historical fiction. Honestly, it doesn’t truly matter under which category this falls, as it is so wonderfully written.
In reading the Author’s Note, the Acknowledgments, and the preface to the reader’s guide, I found out this came to be because of the traditional Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson’s mother used to make for weddings (it’s a Jamaican tradition). The fact that she could write such a beautiful book based from a simple prompt is mind-blowing to me. This is her debut novel and I truly hope she has more to give us.
Eleanor Bennett’s adult children are summoned to her attorney’s office after she died so they can hear the story of her life. They discover she was never who they thought she was and discover more about themselves in coming to terms with their mother’s secrets.
This is written from multiple viewpoints and multiple timelines, and like the flavors of the cake often mentioned, they meld together beautifully.
Watching Eleanor’s life unfold, from even before she was born until she died, not just through her eyes but through those of her father, friends, and children makes this one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read.
There is a lot of history of Chinese immigrants in the Islands, but because the Island on which Eleanor grew up is never mentioned, and because some of the places mentioned are fictional, I’m hesitant to categorize this as historical fiction. Honestly, it doesn’t truly matter under which category this falls, as it is so wonderfully written.
In reading the Author’s Note, the Acknowledgments, and the preface to the reader’s guide, I found out this came to be because of the traditional Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson’s mother used to make for weddings (it’s a Jamaican tradition). The fact that she could write such a beautiful book based from a simple prompt is mind-blowing to me. This is her debut novel and I truly hope she has more to give us.