A review by dtpsweeney
Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo by Ntozake Shange

4.0

A terrific patchwork of a book interweaving of the lives of mother and daughters. “Sassafras, Cypress, & Indigo” seems almost like a scrapbook at times, Shange’s authorship wonderfully curatorial. Here are vignettes spread across a decade or more of three daughters growing into themselves (each very much her own person) interspersed with recipes, letters from Mama, dreams, visions, music, spells.

Overall, a delicate and artful coming-of-age for three sisters from Charleston, South Carolina, growing up in a world very different from their parents, growing into very different women, but connected by the family ties that bind. Really glad I read it.