Book Review: Angela Flournoys The Turner House

But. More important is that I found my own family story in this novel, particularly the one of men, many men in my family (maternal and paternal), how they came to the north for industrial jobs, leaving behind families of wives, sons and daughters, never to return, seduced by big lights, equal rights, sturdy paychecks, Paradise Valley, and sexy, sultry women like Odella Wither. The anguishing alienation of migrant dislocation is captured quite well in this novel (i.e page 112). So you gotta love this novel, even with its flaws and mistakes, it’s still worth the read.

bell hooks, Kerouac and Denicio Barbier: A Brief Discussion with Black Atlantic Cultural Aestheticist, Jana Sante

I am interested in counter-culture in a hypocritical but honest sort of way i.e. my longstanding gripe with Kerouac, the white-negro hipster phenomenon, and other instances in which elements close to my internal framework get pimped into obscurity. But, that stated, I do get the need for self-discovery beyond the pale. My American Lit background in retrospect is surprisingly sketchy. I was less interested in digesting the conventional classics and far more motivated to fuel my ravenous internal discourse on socio-cultural retentions of the Black Diaspora.
-Jana Sante

Dying on the Edge: Maggie, Pathology…and Francine’s Craft

Craft does a marvelous job opening this ambitious novel in proper “multicultural” context (even though Carroll City is fictitious) giving us a bird-seye view of rich culture, smells, tastes, interiors, all meshed in a darlingly spiced martini-mix of Creole du Jour. Even more interesting is the descriptive pictures she gives of Maggie French. This following passage – the opening of the book – is as good as it gets:

Maggie French was beautiful in the eyes of most beholders, especially in men’s eyes. Even cheap mirrors reflected it. At times, Maggie felt empowered by her beauty, but at other times it failed her. Her hair was thick and silken, light ash brown, with long,thinned bangs and blunt cut-cut to shoulder length. Her alabaster skin had a hint of cream. Her eyes changed from pale violet to deep purple, framed by thick, dark, long lashes. She had an arrogantly perfect nose and lusciously full lips in an oval face. Face carried her sensuous five-foot-seven-inch body like the model she once had been.

Type to search

Shopping cart

0
image/svg+xml

No products in the cart.

Continue Shopping