Scan barcode
A review by skitch41
Ordinary Light: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith
3.0
I recently read two of Tracy K. Smith’s collections of poetry and enjoyed them very much. So, when a local bio./memoir book club said they were going to read Ms. Smith’s memoir for this month, I jumped at the chance to read some of her work again. And while the language of this book is gorgeous, as one would expect from the Poet Laureate of the United States, it did take a little too long for this book to become interesting.
Starting with her early childhood and moving through college and a little beyond, this book is a tribute to Ms. Smith’s adolescence, coming-of-age, and, above all, her mother. Throughout, Ms. SMith recounts her struggles with her Christian faith, her identity as an African-American, and the impending death of her mother due to cancer. Through it all, Ms. Smith combines her emotional depths to her lyrical vocabulary.
I really would’ve liked to have given this a four-star rating, but the big problem with this book is that it takes way too long for the story to get interesting. This book is split up into five parts, but it is not until the end of the third part that the book becomes interesting, which is when Ms. Smith is recounting her high school and college days, which includes a rather unethical relationship that I will leave the reader to discover. I will say though that, once this book gets to this point, it becomes very interesting very quickly.
In short, this is a fine memoir of a young girl’s maturity from a young girl to a woman, but it does that a long time to truly liftoff.
Starting with her early childhood and moving through college and a little beyond, this book is a tribute to Ms. Smith’s adolescence, coming-of-age, and, above all, her mother. Throughout, Ms. SMith recounts her struggles with her Christian faith, her identity as an African-American, and the impending death of her mother due to cancer. Through it all, Ms. Smith combines her emotional depths to her lyrical vocabulary.
I really would’ve liked to have given this a four-star rating, but the big problem with this book is that it takes way too long for the story to get interesting. This book is split up into five parts, but it is not until the end of the third part that the book becomes interesting, which is when Ms. Smith is recounting her high school and college days, which includes a rather unethical relationship that I will leave the reader to discover. I will say though that, once this book gets to this point, it becomes very interesting very quickly.
In short, this is a fine memoir of a young girl’s maturity from a young girl to a woman, but it does that a long time to truly liftoff.