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4th out of 23 books
—
13 voters
Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands
Here is one of those rare and remarkable debuts that herald the appearance of a major new talent on the literary scene. Inspired by real events, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands is a wise and luminous story about a northern family, a southern town, and the senseless murder that sparks an extraordinary act of courage.
To this day, my family is in disagreement as to precisely wh...more
To this day, my family is in disagreement as to precisely wh...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
April 1st 2003
by Bantam
(first published January 29th 2002)
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This coming-of-age story set in Florida at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1951 is VERY reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird--a young female protagonist, a racist community, brave parents who come into conflict with social norms, an important friendship, and a misunderstood adult who becomes a friend. However, this book has its own unique aspects--the KKK, a historically accurate race-based murder, the conflict of Northern and Southern values. Although the plot and characters felt...more
This was another recommendation from Tracy after her book club had read it. As a Floridian, I found this book a fascinating and accurate insight into Florida as it was 50 years ago, and the impact that has to the Florida I've come to know today. I loved that the story is told from the perspective of 13-year-old Reesa, which gives the story both innocence and realism. Even though it is fiction, the central tenets of the story are real events of history, so it feels more like a 1st person, non-fic...more
I'm looking for an alternative to To Kill A Mockingbird for my 8th grade honors class (I can't teach Mockingbird because they do it in high school - I wish my teachers had that philosophy when I was in school because I would have been spared reading "A Rose for Emily" about 5 times in my high school career). Thus, Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands is the second of three books on my list. The first turned out to be a dud because after all, I'm looking for something as amazing as Mockingbird. So I was...more
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I had some mixed feelings about this book. Generally speaking, I really really liked it. There were a couple things that bothered me that were fairly minor, and yet in order to fix them, the entire book would need to be re-written, so make of that what you will! First of all, I don't like it when books are written in present tense. It just feels fake and annoying to me. And I felt like McCarthy kept wanting to slip out of it, anyway. She should have just gone with past tense and let it be. My on...more
May 05, 2009
Mr. Z
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
High schoolers and above
Recommended to Mr. Z by:
A teacher friend
“Grief, I think, signs you up for a separate, invisible club, members selected at death’s awful randomness. ‘Gone forever’ is our password, lingering sorrow our secret handshake. If you haven’t lost someone important to you, you can’t begin to know the rules. Truth is, you don’t even know the club exists.”
It is hard enough to lose someone important to you due to natural causes or a tragic accident. But when someone is taken from you due to bigotry, inhumanity, hatred or any of ignorance’s other...more
It is hard enough to lose someone important to you due to natural causes or a tragic accident. But when someone is taken from you due to bigotry, inhumanity, hatred or any of ignorance’s other...more
1 like · like · see review
I have always listed To Kill a Mockingbird in my favorite books of all time. When I read this book
I felt the blood of Mockingbird flowing through its veins. I love the perspective, just like in To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character is a young girl experiencing the ugliness of prejudice. Set in Florida during the 50s civil rights movement, it sheds light on an ugly blemish in our history but also displays courage and hope. Having just reread To Kill in Mockingbird with my freshmen I think th...more
I felt the blood of Mockingbird flowing through its veins. I love the perspective, just like in To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character is a young girl experiencing the ugliness of prejudice. Set in Florida during the 50s civil rights movement, it sheds light on an ugly blemish in our history but also displays courage and hope. Having just reread To Kill in Mockingbird with my freshmen I think th...more
Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands was the kind of book that you finish reading and right away you have a little moment of "Wow". The story was written and composed very well which played a massive role in how engaged I was while reading it. I was the sort of book that, when you start reading, makes the short hand on the clock mysteriously shift several hours in what was supposed to be a few minutes. I can't say I would have picked it if it weren't a mandatory read for school, but there are so many...more
This novel is based on real events that happened in 1951 in Central Florida and paints a vivid picture of the KKK and race relations at the beginning of the civil rights movement. It very much reminded me of "To Kill a Mockingbird," and is told through the narration of a twelve year old girl who has moved from the north to a community in which her parents have an orange grove. When Reesa's close friend is killed by the Klan, Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP, Harry T. Moore who helped register blac...more
In the spring of 1951, Reesa McMahon is awakened in the night to discover that her closest friend and mentor, nineteen-year-old Marvin Wiley, has been brutally killed by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. As violence erupts over the state, Reesa's family, along with rising-star attorney Thurgood Marshall and the FBI, join together in a daring battle for justice. Fiercely honest and quietly assured, Reesa's painful search to make sense of her town's soul-destroying bigotry offers an exhilarating resol...more
Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy is a magnificent historical fiction book that I could not put down. When Reesa learns that her family employed childhood companion has been killed by the local Klan, she is furious. Martin's passing stirs up all kinds of trouble as people of the small southern town ignore his death and the unlawfulness of murder, infuriating Reesa's northern native family. When there is no one left to turn to, Reesa and her family only have one more option. T...more
Based on actual events, the story covers some of the atrocities committed by the KKK in Florida in 1951, beginning with the brutal slaying of a friend who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This murder is only the first in a string of violent events that include bombings in Miami, and the murder of the Moores, a couple who worked to bring the vote to Florida's African-American population.
This is an amazing book that is an honest and insightful view into the thoughts and lives of those in...more
This is an amazing book that is an honest and insightful view into the thoughts and lives of those in...more
Another great, easy to read, book from my mom. Follows the McMahon family as they deal with race bombings and Klan killings in 1951 Florida. As a Northerner living in the agricultural South the family already knows they're outsiders. It only becomes more apparent when a friend and worker is brutally killed by the Klan. By mistake. The author uses historical events to root the book in truth and the character development only enhances it. The story concludes after Klan members are tried by the Gra...more
Here is one of those rare and remarkable debuts that herald the appearance of a major new talent on the literary scene. Inspired by real events, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands is a wise and luminous story about a northern family, a southern town, and the senseless murder that sparks an extraordinary act of courage.
To this day, my family is in disagreement as to precisely when the nightmare began. For me, it was the morning Daddy and Luther discovered Marvin, beaten, shot, and dying, in the Klan’s...more
To this day, my family is in disagreement as to precisely when the nightmare began. For me, it was the morning Daddy and Luther discovered Marvin, beaten, shot, and dying, in the Klan’s...more
The story is set in central Florida where I now live, so it was interesting to read about places that are very local. It's a young adult type book which Amber was assigned to read over the summer. I read it wondering if it would be a worthwhile book, and it definitely was. The author brings to life the racial prejudices that played out in actual events in the early 1950's from the point of view of a young teenage girl. It's a well-written and interesting story.
Although fictional the book is based on true events in the Civil Rights movement and times in the Florida 50's. These events were part of the author's grandmother's life and was also written with the blessing of the 90 year old daughter of the Moore's who were killed on Christmas day in their home in Florida. A movie was made about Mr. Moore and his brave work standing up for rights fol all in the south.
I live in the area that this all occurred in the book. The restaurant that the Grandmother takes the children too still stands to this day. When I read this book I cried and I laughed. This is a wonderful book that shows you the darker side to Florida that existed then and still exists in some parts today. I recommend this book to anyone it is a definite page turner.
From the moment I began reading this book, I hardly put it down. The story caught my interest as did the characters, the setting and the true history.
I don't like to give the plot and setting in a review, but as I read further and realized why the book was titled what it is, I got goose-bumps and tears. What a lot of pain we manage to inflict on one another.
I don't like to give the plot and setting in a review, but as I read further and realized why the book was titled what it is, I got goose-bumps and tears. What a lot of pain we manage to inflict on one another.
I always find fiction that weaves itself around true events to be fascinating and this book is no exception. I found myself looking up old newspapers and Supreme Court rulings to confirm what I read in the book and many of the references were accurate. The story contains a depth and feeling and is worth the read.
A simply written but powerful story of the American south when the KKK still owned the orange groves of central Florida. The small nuances of the people of the time and the ever-present struggle in trying to understand why one should hate another solely because of the color of their skin ring constantly throughout the novel. Though not as long or thorough as To Kill a Mockingbird, I found it to be more personal and therefore, having a much stronger impact. Beautiful and touching:)
Highly recommend! The beautiful prose makes the book deceptively simple. As a professional historian I thought I knew the civil rights movement well, but I learned a great deal from this novel about families, communities, Klan violence, and strength. The characters are both real and charming.
Excellent story and writing by Susan McCarthy. Inspired by real events of racism and the KKK's impact on life and history. A compelling friendship between a black family and a white family. This book was written beautifully and kept me wanting more.
If you loved To Kill a Mockingbird, this is a MUST read. Based on a true story, it's an amazing story about what a transplanted northern family does to bring justice from those harmed by the KKK in Florida in the 1950s. Amazing.
Okay--No Fear Book Club discussion went all around this one. Good "Southern lit" selection. The depth of character and situation from a young narrator proved effective in this one. It's no Mockingbird, but it adds another voice to the stories about racism and its ugliness. I was reminded yet again of the impact family has on who we are and what we believe. When that is in conflict with the society in which we operate, trouble brews and often explodes. This is a good one for mature high schoolers...more
Excellent piece of historical fiction about the racial history of Central Florida, based upon real events involving the Klan and the NAACP. A story of courage and love to overcome violence and open the way to a better life.
I kept waiting for this book to really move me and it just fell short. I thought the story had so much more potential for character development and insight. It was confusing at times in regards to the tense.
This books is along the same lines as To Kill a Mockingbird. It is a fictionalized version of actual experiences from the author's childhood dealing with racism in the 1950's. Very well done.
One of the best stories I've read about the racial conflicts in the south during the 50's. I loved the way Susan McCarthy wrote this story for her dad, because it was his story.
Very evocative for those of us who grew up in Florida in the fifties and also very informative for those os us too young to know about these KKK activities at that time.
This book is very confusing with sudden change in locatin.however
what i can rememver it is very interesting,showing the racism and the actions by the kkk klan.
what i can rememver it is very interesting,showing the racism and the actions by the kkk klan.
A truly riveting book. The author paints a wonderful picture of Central Florida in the 1950's, and through a carefully constructed narrative brings to life the sordid deeds of the Ku Klux Klan, and how even small events can help change the course of history. In an interesting amalgam of events and characters, the author presents us with a story of Northerners in a hotbed of KKK activity, and how anonymous parties in conjunction with higher authorities and a few key players bring these awful deed...more
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“God and I aren't exactly on speaking terms these days.”
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“Oh, child, there's no explainin' the meanness in this world." Armetta shakes her head, wipes wetness off her cheek, then cradles my hands in her palms. "But there's goodness here, too. You can't never lose sight of that, hold on to it. It's the goodness that gets us through.”
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