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50th out of 136 books
—
125 voters
Brown Girl, Brownstones
“Remarkable for its courage, its color and its natural control.”—The New Yorker
“Unforgettable...written with pride and anger, with rebellion and tears.”—The Herald Tribune
This beloved coming-of-age story set in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II follows the life of Selina Boyce, a daughter of Barbadians immigrants. Her mother craves the American Dream while he...more
“Unforgettable...written with pride and anger, with rebellion and tears.”—The Herald Tribune
This beloved coming-of-age story set in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II follows the life of Selina Boyce, a daughter of Barbadians immigrants. Her mother craves the American Dream while he...more
Paperback, 324 pages
Published
July 1st 2006
by The Feminist Press at CUNY
(first published 1959)
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I read this book many, many years ago - back in Junior High School as a matter of fact. I believe it was the first book that I had ever read by a black woman writer; and Selina's story sounded very familiar to me - despite the fact that my parents had come up to the north from the south. It's definitely the classic coming of age story and quite the one that I needed to hear about back then. I think that after I read this book, I had a completely different approach to writing and story-telling: o...more
This novel blew me away. Marshall’s remarkable 1959 debut tells the story of Selina Boyce and her family, Barbadian immigrants in World War II-era Brooklyn. Drawing on her own experiences, Marshall creates a brilliant combination of bildungsroman, immigrant chronicle, and racial polemic. Selina is caught between past and future as her parents, Silla and Deighton, clash over heritage and property. Her father owns land in Barbados and dreams of building a house there, while her mother wants him to...more
Nov 22, 2008
Leslie Wolfhard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
teenagers/young adults
Recommended to Leslie by:
African-American Lit Professor
I probably wouldn't have ever heard of Brown Girl, Brownstones if it hadn't been assigned for the African American Literature by Women course I'm taking this semester. However, it has a deserved place among novels about the immigrant experience and coming of age.
Brown Girl, Brownstones follows Selina Boyce from girlhood into college. In this time, Selina struggles over her allegiance to her father, Deighton, who romantically tries on careers in which he has no realistic future, and her mother,...more
Brown Girl, Brownstones follows Selina Boyce from girlhood into college. In this time, Selina struggles over her allegiance to her father, Deighton, who romantically tries on careers in which he has no realistic future, and her mother,...more
3 1/2 stars.
This book, like The Kite Runner before it, is one I had to read for school. Of course I didn't think much of it. I thought I would be bored with the book. Instead, I want to offer grand praise to Paule Marshall, for I was immediately sucked into this world and the language of her writing. Under her pen Paule has written some of the most beautiful sentences, and I am not one who generally likes too much description. There is a part where one of the characters says, "You have to use yo...more
This book, like The Kite Runner before it, is one I had to read for school. Of course I didn't think much of it. I thought I would be bored with the book. Instead, I want to offer grand praise to Paule Marshall, for I was immediately sucked into this world and the language of her writing. Under her pen Paule has written some of the most beautiful sentences, and I am not one who generally likes too much description. There is a part where one of the characters says, "You have to use yo...more
![Tori [Book Faery]](http://d.gr-assets.com/users/1301449340p2/3322973.jpg)
Read this for my African Lit class. Hated the beginning, due to the barrage of names and POV swaps. I found it to be extremely jarring and was pissed that I had to read a book like this. I think I actually fell asleep on the train ride home at one point, while trying to read the start, heh.
Then something happened, and all of a sudden the story, its characters, and everything else just... clicked. I was glued to the pages, albeit, there were moments where the story dragged. At least it was not of...more
Then something happened, and all of a sudden the story, its characters, and everything else just... clicked. I was glued to the pages, albeit, there were moments where the story dragged. At least it was not of...more
Very interesting bildungsroman that explores the conflict of a dual-cultured young girl and her struggle for identity. Selina's parents are from Barbados but they and her older sister live in the Brownstones of America. Her father adores Barbados and wants to go back to his home country one day; however, her mother has totally different views and believes that the central focus should be to 'make it' in America. This clash in opinions leads to a series of events that threaten to break the family...more
I think I loved this book in another reality. I mean that. I think I really loved it. The time period and culture presented were great. The characters were interesting. The writing style was wonderful; certainly poetic. There were a dozen times or better I read a paragraph and thought, "I should write this down". Despite this, I struggled. As I forced my way through each page - yes, eventually it felt like an assignment - I kept questioning myself on WHY this was not satisfying me. I think I fig...more
This book contains an incredibly in depth an incredible protagonist. Selina's story from her childhood with a lazy yet dreamer of a father and a strong yet bitter mother molded her into a strong independent willful woman. At a time in American history where women were just barely getting the recognition they deserved, and to be black and come from a poor family Selina was able to master all of her barriers. With different characters influencing her life, such as the pseudo prostitute who lived h...more
Selina is a young girl living in the slums of Brooklyn. She lives with a harsh sister, a good for nothing mother, and a hard working but not accomplishing father. Selina tries to find who she really is by making the best of her life. She is negative and dismisses anything that is not truly her way. But Selina always manages to find a way to make the best of what she needs to fulfill in life.
I can connect this book to anyone who wants to find out who they are. If you are a lonely person in this w...more
I can connect this book to anyone who wants to find out who they are. If you are a lonely person in this w...more
I just finished reading this book for my high school English Literature class. Being a Barbadian, I thoroughly enjoyed the local dialect that the characters used. I think it was the first time ever that I have seen Barbadian slang and dialect in an internationally published novel!
Overall, I have enjoyed this book. The descriptions of everything and everyone were vivid and the story on a whole was enjoyable. I recognized a few elements of home life in the Boyce family that are strong in Barbados...more
Overall, I have enjoyed this book. The descriptions of everything and everyone were vivid and the story on a whole was enjoyable. I recognized a few elements of home life in the Boyce family that are strong in Barbados...more
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The book was too dense. I only got a few pages in to it and realized that it wasn't for me though I can see the value, especially reading the summary that the author Paule Marshall is really writing about her coming-of-age story through the Depression and WWII living in Brooklyn and the relationship between African American and West Indians.
I just couldn't relate to the main character. I thought she was whiny, ungrateful, and quite full of herself. The mother was the character I empathized with, and she was demonized for much of the book. Meh. I wasn't impressed.
Jul 31, 2012
Annie
added it
A Caribbean-based coming of age story. Marshall created multi-dimensional characters who you loved and hated simultaneously. She has a gift with words and crafting them in a meaningful and vivid ways.
A fantastic female coming-of-age story. All the tension between mothers and daughters and girls with their girl friends is there, along with rich portrayals of Barbados American immigrant life.
I had to read some of this book outloud to hear the phonetically spelled words of the West Indian dialect. I struggled through some of the deeper issues of race and family and I am so glad I did.
Wow! This is a great book. I have had it for a while and just got around to reading it. The story has a lot to recommend it. Barbardian immigrants in New York. Family relationships, specifically mother/daughter. Told from the point of view of a female of color written in 1959, pre-cursor to Alice Walker, etc. Also, the style of writing is wonderful. Lyrical, descriptive, vernacular. I enjoyed this book.
May 13, 2010
Greta Roussos
added it
Loved the wide variety of women's voices in this girl's coming of age story. Believable and thought provoking history of immigrants from the West Indies in the early 20th centurey, working hard to make a life for themselves in Brooklyn.
I read this book years ago and had forgotten about it until I saw it here on Goodreads. I read several of Paule Marshall's books and remember liking all of them.
book broke my heart a million ways. One of the best pieces of fiction I've had the pleasure of reading.
A poignant story, and beautiful writing at times, but also a bit slow and repetitive.
Aug 06, 2012
Shannon
added it
I still trying to get the moral of the story
Six Word Review: Unsung hero of the black canon.
Just read it, thats all I have to say.
thought provoking..
good read.
I had a little difficulty getting into this book, which is a coming-of-age story of a Caribbean-American girl growing up in Brooklyn (Bed-Stuy) in the 1950s, but when I did I loved it. There are a number of completely riveting scenes, including one when the father, a frustrating dreamer, blows $900 on a 5th Avenue shopping spree. And that he does pains his wife, who the action was directed like an arrow at, as well as himself. The character work in this section, and others, is really remarkable.
Meh.
May 10, 2012
Sylvia
added it
terrific!
May 03, 2008
Constantine
added it
Recommends it for:
Anyone who is interested in the West Indian Diaspora
As a person of Jamerican parentage (Father-Jamaican; Mother American), I see the cultural differences between African Americans and West Indians. The West Indians have a strong work ethic in order to gain the American Dream. Deighton, who is the father was a wastrel who believed in Father Divine. Father Divine exploited the poor by promising them pie-in-the sky. Finally, Selina was rebellious against her West Indian Heritage.
CPT
CPT
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| bildungsroman or incident? | 1 | 11 | Feb 16, 2009 01:43pm |
Paule Marshall was born Valenza Pauline Burke in Brooklyn to Barbadian parents and educated at Brooklyn College (1953) and Hunter College (1955).
Marshall has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Yale University before holding the Helen Gould Sheppard Chair of Literature and Culture at New York University. In 1993 she re...more
More about Paule Marshall...
Marshall has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Yale University before holding the Helen Gould Sheppard Chair of Literature and Culture at New York University. In 1993 she re...more
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Jan 20, 2013 02:50pm