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Some Sing, Some Cry

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 468 ratings · 128 reviews

Award-winning writer Ntozake Shange and real-life sister, award-winning playwright Ifa Bayeza achieve nothing less than a modern classic in this epic story of theMayfield family. Opening dramatically atSweet Tamarind, a rice and cotton plantation on an island off South Carolina's coast, we watch asrecently emancipated Bette Mayfield says her goodbyes before fleeing for the...more

Hardcover, 568 pages

Published September 14th 2010 by St. Martin's Press

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May 23, 2013 Chrissie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Chrissie by: Lynne

Shelves: audio, art, usa, hf, race, alt

ETA: Lizzie, to me, appears to be inspired by the real person Josephine Baker. You can find her at Wiki!

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This book follows seven generations of a Black-American family AND Black-American music AND American history from slavery, the Reconstruction, WW1, the flu epidemic, the flappers, the Depression, WW2, the Vietnam war all the way through to the 21st Century. 568 pages or 26 and 1/2 hours of listening time. The book tries to do too much. Black-American music as it evolves is a...more ETA: Lizzie, to me, appears to be inspired by the real person Josephine Baker. You can find her at Wiki!

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This book follows seven generations of a Black-American family AND Black-American music AND American history from slavery, the Reconstruction, WW1, the flu epidemic, the flappers, the Depression, WW2, the Vietnam war all the way through to the 21st Century. 568 pages or 26 and 1/2 hours of listening time. The book tries to do too much. Black-American music as it evolves is also reviewed: gospel, jazz, R&B, swing, bebop AND classical music. All the musical top names are sited. You cannot do all of this in depth. On top of all the names and historical events you follow a family. Is this a story about a family, where we are to care for all the characters, aunts and uncles and grandparents and generation after generation of children? What author can pull all this off? I loved Lizzie. The author really brought her personality to life for me, but this did not happen with any other character. When I was living life with Lizzie that is when I loved the book. The things she said!!!!

The book is written by two sisters. They split the book into eight sections, each writing four. I did not notice a difference in the writing! Ntozake Shange had several strokes and had to stop for five years, while her sister continued, but she liked to do thorough historical research and trips to the places where the story is set: Harlem, Chicago, Paris, and Charleston. Charleston breathed and maybe Harlem too, but certainly not Paris! Both sisters are playwrights. Reading this book is like going to the theater. You see, hear and even smell through the depiction of foods…….but you don’t get under the skin of the characters or a deep understanding of history. You get a smattering. Oh yeah, drugs are thrown in too! The picture had to be accurate.

The audiobook is narrated by Robin Miles. Many, many songs are sung and for most she does an excellent job, BUT some went wrong. Classical music is not her forte. Southern and Irish dialects she masters superbly, but p-l-e-a-s-e her French is just not up to mark. And she does not successfully imitate Edith Piaf! So there we are in France during WW2. In one chapter the Résistance is “covered”. Do you understand? There is in every way too much included in this book. Nobody can pull all this off successfully.

I still liked the book! I loved the part centered on Lizzie. There is also a theme on the importance of family, which I enjoyed, of how mothers and daughters have SUCH a hard time communicating!

What is the book trying to say about Black-American music and in fact all music in general?

“Music is just another way of keepin up with livin. Nothin wrong with that!”(chapter 4)

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Aug 19, 2010 Dora rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I'm so excited that I won this in a "first reads" giveaway! It arrived the other day and I can't wait to read it. I read some Shange in college and she's real good.

OK, this book took me foorreeeever--- it's such a "great American novel" project. This novel covers 7 generations of a black family, from emancipation through the 1960s.

I really enjoyed it quite a bit; in particular it was wonderful to see these eras in America through the lens of a black family-- particularly following musicians and...more

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Jul 17, 2011 Rebecca Renard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amazingly creatively written! I'm a huge Ntozake Shange fan, and this collaboration with her sister Ifa Bayeza is so lyrical and dreamy. It's full of music. I saw Ntozake and Ifa read chapters of this book with a live band playing the sounds of the cicadas, trains, city life. It was awesome. In general, I could just float around in Ntozake's stories. They make me yearn for a life that probably doesn't exist (and probably never has)...those gentle, colorful, nostalgic, sista-lovin', free-spirited...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Sylvie Fox rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 29, 2012 Amara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Audio. This reminded me of "Roots" or "Thornbirds" in that it followed a family through several generations. For the first half of the book I kept thinking that I really needed to remember to pick up more of these "epic" type stories. The problem with an epic is also it's strength: It's so long! When you are involved in the characters' lives, you are so glad there is more written about them --kind of like in a series. But with an epic size novel you don't get a break between parts, and this stor...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Inda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Of course, I choose this book because of the name recognition as I have been a fan of Ntozake Shange's work for years. I knew reading this book would be a long process as it is not just another book made for easy reading and ebook consumption. Rather, this book is proof that literature is alive and well and those who still enjoy settling with a good book that does more than entertain still have options.

This sweeping tale does more than chronicle the life of a family. What Bayeza and Shange do he...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Susan Odetta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a compelling 200-year, 7 generation, history of a family of african/american women. The characters in the first 2/3 of the story came alive for me and drew me into their lives as if I was there. But then things started rolling too quickly in the last 1/3 of the book and I kept forgetting who was who. I am left thinking maybe a story of this power and magnitude should have been 2 books? Or maybe something this sweeping, written by Shange and her sister, was too daunting to edit? Here are...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Dana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

I lost all track of time reading this book. A unique story line is always a good distraction.

Some Sing, Some Cry', is a book spanning over 7 generations of Mayfield women. Bette (Mah Bette), the first of the Mayfield women, born into slavery, on plantation Sweet Tamarind and the "fancy gal" of Julius Mayfield and is the first of the Mayfield women to be freed. Mah Bette is an eclectic mixture of a by gone era. She is neither religious or pagan but very much the spiritualist. She sees things in...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Beginning with the end of the Civil War, it is a multi generational saga of an African American family, and a good piece of American history as well. The intermingling of American musical history gave the story added depth. As is to be expected of a book of this scope, there is a huge number of characters. I was surprised how easily I kept track of them all. The dominant force in the story is the women. All the women are strong, determined and passionate. I was occasionally frustrated with the e...more Beginning with the end of the Civil War, it is a multi generational saga of an African American family, and a good piece of American history as well. The intermingling of American musical history gave the story added depth. As is to be expected of a book of this scope, there is a huge number of characters. I was surprised how easily I kept track of them all. The dominant force in the story is the women. All the women are strong, determined and passionate. I was occasionally frustrated with the earlier generations - these incredible, smart, strong women constantly falling for the wrong man - the men continually a disappointment. Finally, Cinnamon (5th generation) breaks the cycle and picks a consistently stable man. She is also the first woman in the line since the story begins who is not raped and left to deal with the results the best she could.
I absolutely loved the way the authors dealt with the history of racism from Reconstruction through the present. I thought they were very down to earth and balanced in their treatment of an extremely sensitive subject. Having just read a book - Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black and White on the subject - I was really pleased to see many references in the story of black politicians and leaders from Civil War times to the present. I especially liked the line used in the section on the Civil Rights movement "I hear tell that during Reconstruction colored folks voted fine as a summer day. Had plenty of colored representatives - congressmen, even senators."

I did have a hard time getting into the book I struggled for the first 150-200 pages, but after that, it was hard to put down. The language was beautiful, the story was interesting, but I kept hitting speed bumps. After reading Shange's "Note on the Composition" I think I understand why. Each sister wrote sections of the book, trading off. While the transitions were not distinct, I think it was enough of a style change to throw me off a bit. That along with the fact that both writers are playwrights, required a different style of reading. The book really is more sensory, it is probably fabulous when read aloud. Once I started to see pictures of the characters and hear them talking (sadly, about when they left the South and went North), it got easier.(less)

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Jul 28, 2010 Ms. Online is currently reading it

Shelves: 2010-summer-reviews

SISTER ACT
Reviewed by Erin Aubry Kaplan

Ntozake Shangeis is best known for “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbowis Enuf,”a play/poem that radically reshaped the black female narrative by stripping away the armor of popular images and examining the individual pain and uncertainty underneath. Her genius was wedding the economy of poetry to the expansive, sometimes explosive emotions and personal histories of characters who had never really been heard before—the theatrical...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Judith rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some Sing, Some Cry: a Novel, by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza, is a huge, sprawling family saga, spanning seven generations, from Emancipation to the present, from Ma Bette's banjo to digital music, and from the Carolina Sea Islands to New York, Paris, and Los Angeles. Shange and Bayeza are sisters and they track a history of mothers and daughters from Reconstruction through the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, two world wars, race riots, and more. Some scenes are too brief and some cha...more

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Dec 18, 2010 Johnsergeant rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiblecom, audiobook, black-american-lit, historical-novel

Narrated by Robin Miles

26 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

Audible presents the multigenerational epic Some Sing, Some Cry. Created by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza, this audiobook takes listeners on a journey through Reconstruction, two world wars, the Harlem renaissance, and Vietnam to modern day America.
Some Sing, Some Cry begins at the threshold of one family’s freedom. We meet Betty Mayfield, newly emancipated from Sweet Tamarind, a lush and haunted rice plantation off the Carolina coast....more

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Jan 09, 2011 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars

To follow the life line of one's own family is a challenge but when those lines become tangled, diverted or camoflouged and belong to a family in a book you are reading, it is nearly impossible to keep the characters straight and correctly identified. If there is a criticism to this book it is that for me, it was very hard to know who belonged to whom, especially after folks began moving away from Mama Betty and from their own identities. The story begins at Sweet Tamarind, a southern plantation...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 06, 2012 Kathleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

I would give this book a 3.5 if I could. This book is an epic, exploring seven generations of Mayfield women as from the lens of music. I listened to the book and I'm sure that impacted the score I gave it. The reader sang whenever the lyrics of a song were provided in the text (most songs were original compositions by the authors). The singing added texture to the story, but in some ways I felt it detracted from the overall impact the music might have had on me had I read the lyrics. There was...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Sherri rated it 3 of 5 stars

I first became familar with Ntozake Shange in college when I read 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'. I loved this poem; which at the time had been staged as an experimental play. When I heard that this new book was coming out, I was excited to read something new by her and her sister Ifa Bayeza.

'Some Sing, Some Cry' is a 200 year history of a family starting from just out of slavery and reaching into the modern age. This family, heralded by the matriarch M...more I first became familar with Ntozake Shange in college when I read 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'. I loved this poem; which at the time had been staged as an experimental play. When I heard that this new book was coming out, I was excited to read something new by her and her sister Ifa Bayeza.

'Some Sing, Some Cry' is a 200 year history of a family starting from just out of slavery and reaching into the modern age. This family, heralded by the matriarch Mah Bette is both held together and torn apart by the resonance that music and singing plays in each generation. In the end, the music binds them together more than it tears them apart, but each generation has its own story to tell of love and music.

I thought it was an interesting tool to use music as the thread to run through a book. The Shange and Bayeza sisters researched this well and got the feel of the different musical time periods as well as how someone who sang that type of music would behave - without being stereotypical.

I found the story of Mah Bette and her various descendents compelling for the most part. The first 100 years or so after slavery were well developed and included great story lines about each of the family members. My problem came with the last 150 to 200 pages of the book which encompassed the 2nd 100 years. The book is almost 600 pages long and the 2nd 100 years probably only encompasses the last 150-200 pages of the book. While you still felt some affinity to the characters, it was still hard to develop a relationship with them because it almost felt as if the story being told was straight out of Mathew in the New Testament:

1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.

1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram.

There was more than the begatting in the last 150-200 pages, but I think you get my point.

I did like the book - I think mostly because of the music. The authors used music as a way to convey thoughts and feelings and had a way of sharing the music they talked about in the phrases of the book. I could hear the music as I read this book and despite the 'begatting' in the last couple of hundred pages, I could hear the music through to the end of the book and that is why I gave it a higher rating than I would have otherwise. If you like music and a good story to go along with it, then read this book.

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May 05, 2011 Alison rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow - this is a wonderful, wonderful book... Deep, and affecting...
It follows seven generations of an African American family - from directly after slavery to the present. The characters are complex and richly drawn, and their connections to each other through the generations are at once surprising and logical. The continuous connecting theme throughout the generations is a concentration on women - and their tenacity - and their talent with music. The lives of the characters are wound around and...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Jessica Gadsden rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 06, 2013 Elise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: african-american-african-diaspora

"Some Sing, Some Cry" is a beautifully written historical novel of the African Diaspora that covers the era of Reconstruction up to the present through the lenses of several generations of the Mayfield family women. This novel is also a history of African American music, as shown in the title, which seems to answer the question Alice Walker poses in her famous essay, "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens": How did African American women keep the creative spirit alive from generation to generation w...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tried-and-didn-t-finish, amazon-vine-book

If this book is intended to celebrate the great contributions that African Americans have made to American music, then it falls flat. While the characters are well drawn, the story wanders around first in great detail and then in full sweeping time changes.

I found it very interesting to read a fictionalized (perhaps based on true life) story of the blacks who came from the plantations of South Carolina to make major contributions to the music scene in New York. But, this book is hard to read. T...more

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Oct 31, 2010 Beverly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-african-diaspora-challenge, 2010-historical-fiction-reading-cha, 2010-year-of-the-historical-challen, cross-cultural, historical-fiction, slavery

All the reviews I read basically said the same thing:
- it is not a perfect book
- but definitely glad they read the book
- not an easy book to get through
- an interesting approach to looking at black history
- it was a lyrical novel

The book did pick up once I got through the first time period - it did start to flow better for me.
There were parts were I was fully engaged and others that I thought dragged on.
There was a character or two that I really enjoyed reading about - but many were just flat...more

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May 23, 2011 Titilayo rated it 4 of 5 stars

from the first page it was obvious that music and women matter. they drive the story. they are the common thread that weaves together a patchwork quilt seven generations wide. the mayfield woman each hear, feel, make, and interupt music differently. they pass this along to their children-in odd ways its the same chord manifesting itself in different people. as society changes so does the tune.

i'm sure the amount of research they did to make this "historically accurate" could fill up another 560...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some Sing, Some Cry gives a panoramic tale of about 100 years of African American family history that spans over 7 generations. I thought this was a very interesting book and I really enjoyed being able to watch the characters develop over long spans of time as they grew into themselves and grew in or out of relationships with others. I think the characters were very strong.... the women being the stronger more fiercer characters in the books while the men were often portrayed as unambitious and...more

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Sep 29, 2010 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved this book at first and I ultimately enjoyed it, but by the end of it I was tired of it and couldn't keep track of all the characters.

There were portions that moved almost too quickly and some portions that were too drawn out.

Several of the earliest characters lacked any kind of closure. A case in point, after following Eudora's life for I-don't-know-how-many-pages suddenly she's a minor character with a few mentions and then her death is just a mention 2 years after the fact. At least...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really a good book. It is the story of several generations of black women stemming from the early days of freedom from slavery in South Carolina up to the present. There are many tragic events across the generations but also successes as some are able to pull themselves free from intense poverty and racism. You cannot help but notice the patterns across the generations where the common theme is music.

I had some struggle getting started because it is written in a heavy southern, slave dialect. Th...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite

I listened to all 26 hours of this audiobook, and was enthralled, entertained, and sad to have it end. Ntozake Shange and her sister Ifa Bayeza have crafted a sweeping saga of seven generations of Black women, interweaving within in it song, prayer, lament and love throughout. You come to know and care about the family which began in violence in slavery and emerged, in our present time, in triumph. A must read for anyone interested in African American literature.

Note: I highly recommend the audi...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, african-american, southern-us, family, women, eastern-us, first-reads-10

Thank you Goodreads - another First Reads win!
Perfect timing - this arrived in the mail yesterday, right after I finished my last book. This one is big & thick - a long family saga - am diving in now!

This is a powerful telling of the history of African Americans from post Civil War to present day. We learn of the effects of slavery and the lack of equality and how it affected Black society through the personas of seven generations of strong Black women with music being the common denominator...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Jayne rated it 4 of 5 stars

The language of this book is as you would expect from Shange. She wrote this book with her sister and as their characters live music - so do they live language. It covers a time span of epic proportions - sometimes that compromises their character development - summaries of what happens to them are interspersed among the text. However, I really enjoyed this book - but then I, too, believe in the universal language of music - its inherent capacity to transcend race and religion and tragedy - its...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Jacq Francois rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was a difficult ordeal instead of an enlightened work of fiction. I realized the book would be some since the author is famed poet Ntozake Shange, who also wrote 'For Colored Girls Who Consider Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf' (which is a light, but emotionally heavy piece of work), but THIS novel was just...too damn much. From the confusing masses of characters, to the sudden story developments & random metaphorical prose, the novel just does too much. There is no real plot, or e...more

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May 24, 2013 Kelley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, fiction, historical-fiction, own

This one was a book club pick, chosen by my friend’s mom who found several copies of it at the dollar store. Yep. Well, turns out, this book was a good choice for me, because I was able to read it and pretend that these people were my relatives (or at least *like* my relatives). Treating it as a personal journey was interesting and much more enriching than if I had just tried to slog my way through it. Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the surprising similarities between this family and my own a...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Priscilla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza is a BIG book and I was not sure if I was prepared to read it. In fact, I started it, put it down and picked it up again. In the end, I am really glad I read it. As the story begins, in slavery, the reader is captivated with the vivid details and haunting tales of Betty and Liza and the other characters that make up this great book. It is difficult to even talk about with out telling too much of the story.

I enjoyed the lyrical voice of the au...more

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About Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay) is an African-American playwright, performance artist, and writer who is best known for her Obie Award winning play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.

Among her honors and awards are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize.

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