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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Ayana Mathis (Goodreads Author)

3.50 · Rating details · 37,974 ratings · 5,330 reviews

A debut of extraordinary distinction: Ayana Mathis tells the story of the children of the Great Migration through the trials of one unforgettable family.

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly a ...more

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Hardcover, 243 pages

Published December 6th 2012 by Knopf

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And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

Anticipated Literary Reads for Readers of Color 2013

196 books — 547 voters

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Oprah's Book Club Picks

89 books — 2,250 voters

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Dec 31, 2012 Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) rated it liked it

Shelves: america, domestic-and-relationship-fiction, all-fiction, cultural-and-social-commentary

Rating = 3.5 stars

Aw, hell. How am I supposed to rate this? There's some powerful writing here, but the structure of the novel prevents it from gaining much momentum. Each chapter is devoted to one or two of Hattie's children, and after they get that one chapter, they're mostly abandoned for the remainder of the novel. Each character has to be introduced and developed within the space of one long chapter, never to be heard from again (mostly) once their time in the spotlight has passed.

Adding t Rating = 3.5 stars

Aw, hell. How am I supposed to rate this? There's some powerful writing here, but the structure of the novel prevents it from gaining much momentum. Each chapter is devoted to one or two of Hattie's children, and after they get that one chapter, they're mostly abandoned for the remainder of the novel. Each character has to be introduced and developed within the space of one long chapter, never to be heard from again (mostly) once their time in the spotlight has passed.

Adding to the discontinuity are the long time gaps between chapters. You get "Philadelphia and Jubilee" in 1925, followed by "Floyd" in 1948, then "Six" in 1950, and so on. Instead of a novel, it begins to feel like a series of interconnected stories, with one or two characters binding them all together. Hattie is the only character we can connect with throughout the entire book, and often that connection is from a distance.

Does this mean I didn't enjoy the book? No. Ayana Mathis is a mighty fine writer. She seems to write from a place of understanding the hearts and minds of a people whose history offered them limited options, often resulting in self-destructive behaviors.

In 1923, Hattie moves to Philadelphia as part of the Great Migration, when many Southern black people moved north hoping to escape abuse and poverty. The absence of Jim Crow laws allows her greater dignity and freedom from fear, but financial success eludes her. Her husband is a hard-drinking, gambling, womanizing scoundrel, but she can't resist him in the bedroom. So baby after baby after baby arrives. Hattie is so busy just trying to keep them fed and clothed and out of trouble that she doesn't think to give them the warmth and affection they crave. Each chapter shows how that life of poverty and apparent hopelessness infects each child with a certain poverty of spirit.

What Ayana Mathis does masterfully is show how removal from oppression does not automatically lift the feeling of being oppressed. At the end of the novel, Hattie observes:
"Here we are, sixty years out of Georgia, a new generation has been born, and there's still the same wounding and the same pain."
Healing takes more than a generation, and the work is still upon us.

This has no bearing on the story, but I found it interesting and effective the way Mathis uses references to food to illustrate the various skin tones. She describes people with skin the color of liquid caramel, clover honey, milky tea, nutmeg, and cinnamon. And Hattie, who could have "passed," has skin "the color of the inside of an almond." I'm so pale that I practically glow in the dark, but when I look at my skin, it's not really white. The closest I could get, using a food reference, would be the inside of a Yukon Gold potato. Appetizing, ain't it?

...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Astrid rated it it was ok

Shelves: on-hiatus

After sticking with this book for five chapters, I am giving up. I don't typically enjoy Oprah's recommendations but this one has been so well-reviewed. The writing is good but it reads like a series of short stories about each of Hattie's children. I would rather have more of a plot. None of the characters were relatable or likable to me, especially Hattie. I have no tolerance for a cold, distant mother.

I concur with The Chicago Tribune's review:
"Our great novelists give us fully rounded charac ...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, _author-sex-female, 5-star-general-fiction, 2013-reading-list

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. It is a novel, but it is told as a collection of stories, all taken from the complex, broken, and vivid lives of one woman and her family over 4 generations. Some have said it is a story of The Great Migration, when Southern Blacks moved out of the South starting around 1915, and it is true that many of the hardships and struggles are representative of families migrating at that time. But at its core this book is the story of one family, and that famil This is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. It is a novel, but it is told as a collection of stories, all taken from the complex, broken, and vivid lives of one woman and her family over 4 generations. Some have said it is a story of The Great Migration, when Southern Blacks moved out of the South starting around 1915, and it is true that many of the hardships and struggles are representative of families migrating at that time. But at its core this book is the story of one family, and that family's unique struggles, both internal and external. The stories are told with a poetic voice, and although the jumps through time and context are sometimes jarring, the careful words and vivid imagery keep the narrative grounded. The stories are replete with drama, but they contain such truth that by the end of the book I was responding as if they were my family, with all of the love, anger, and remorse that that implies. To me, that is the author's greatest accomplishment here, that she made these stories so real and so vivid, that they became my own.

It was a tough sell for me at first, because this book exposes all the pains of the heart. It is a sad book, at times unbearably sad, and if you are looking for vindication or tidy happy endings then it is best that you look elsewhere, you won't find them here. But sadness and hardship are great teachers, and as Kahlil Gibran wrote, "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." That was true for me about this book, and although the author does not show us many happy moments within these pages, there is an understanding that we can only be this sad for people that we care about, and for relationships that we cherish, and because of the promise of joy, maybe right around the corner, or maybe here all along and we failed to notice it.

I could continue waxing poetic about this book, but that would mean spoilers, and rambling, and it would keep you from going out and getting a copy and reading it immediately. I will end with a thought from Hattie, who in the book shares her favorite Bible quote, from the Book of Job: "Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." When she is told that this is too depressing a thought, she replies that it makes her feel like she is not alone. And that, too, is the achievement of this book. By recognizing our shared hardships, the kindred sadness and grief in our lives, we can also recognize the shared spark that keeps us going, can see the possibility of continuing on in the face of impossible odds, can see the beauty in just moving one foot in front of the other.

...more

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Mar 14, 2013 jo rated it liked it

Shelves: african-american

i have no idea how to rate this book. it's beautiful in so many ways, but it's not a book one likes. so terribly painful. maybe i'll write a review. i have to recover first.

REVIEW 3/23/13

there is only one way i can make myself like (not appreciate, not admire, not respect, because those i already do: like) this book, and it is if i imagine it representing the author's childhood. in the acknowledgments she writes: "To the Philadelphia School for Girls, for being a light in the darkest part of my i have no idea how to rate this book. it's beautiful in so many ways, but it's not a book one likes. so terribly painful. maybe i'll write a review. i have to recover first.

REVIEW 3/23/13

there is only one way i can make myself like (not appreciate, not admire, not respect, because those i already do: like) this book, and it is if i imagine it representing the author's childhood. in the acknowledgments she writes: "To the Philadelphia School for Girls, for being a light in the darkest part of my life..."

that would be her childhood.

now, if i'm an author who wrote a book about the terrible suffering the befalls each of the nine children of a cold and distant mother and a drinking, absent father, and i went to great pains precisely to show how terribly fucked up each child of this couple is; and if in the acknowledgments i refer to my childhood as "the darkest past of my life:" well, it seems to me i'm inviting the reader to gather that i had a distant, emotionally disconnected mother and an absent father, and that this caused me unimaginable pain.

this goes hand in hand with the very forgiving portrayal of both mother and father, who, in spite of their glaring shortcomings, are devoted to their children and love them, albeit in terribly flawed and entirely inaccessible ways.

also, mother's and father's personal anguish is contextualized. they leave jim crow georgia and come to the north (as it happens, philadelphia) full of hope and optimism. hattie, 16, is pregnant and soon gives birth to twins she clearly adores. hattie and augustus (17) live in a rented home but have great hopes soon to buy a house. that the twins are a seal of this promise is imprinted in their names: philadelphia and jubilee. at 7 months the twins catch pneumonia and die. maybe they die because is 1925 and in 1925 babies died of pneumonia. maybe they die because they would have died in 2013 too. maybe they die because hattie prefers old wives' remedies to the medicines recommended by the doctor. who knows.

philadelphia is cold. philadelphia is humid. philadelphia is not georgia.

this death marks the end of everything: of augustus's ability to stand on his own two feet and keep on walking, or hattie's capacity to be emotionally available to her children, of a future, of middle-class living. the rest of hattie's children's life is spent in hunger, abject poverty, emotional starvation, and the distress of living with parents who are so embittered with each other, they can't even be in the same room (except, clearly, to have sex and make babies).

each child is marked by his or her own brand of misery. one is schizophrenic.

the background is a background of dislocation. in the south maybe hattie and augustus would have been happy. the north is cold and unforgiving. the north is lonely. yet the south is intolerable, unlivable. and the children, in their own ways, all die.

i can make myself like this book only if i think that ayana mathis described her childhood. otherwise i'll just have to settle for admiring it and hope that whatever demon haunted this young writer was exorcised in the writing of this book, and the next book will have the same expertise and artistry and none of the deadly bleakness. because this deadly bleakness (broken only, and with much welcome, by a tiny rain of sun right at the end) gives me nothing. ...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Sandy rated it really liked it

I heard an interview with Oprah and Ayana Mathis and was intrigued. Although I've given this book 4 stars, I would have liked to see more connectivity between the characters. The book read more like a collection of separate short stories rather than a novel. Each of the characters are sadly flawed, with troubled lives, different yet similar to their mother's. I loved the picture the author painted of each of them.

Some of Oprah's comments were insightful, but many were along the lines of "oh, I ...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Susan rated it did not like it

Going to read this despite the fact that's it's Oprah.............. (The Great Migration fascinates me)
Well that was depressing :-( Not a single character to care about and this was NOT the Great Migration that I know about. Not reccommended. ...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Desiree rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-epub, ebook, on-2nd-g-nook-touch, reviewed

I read this late last year and at first I was gravitating towards leaving it unrated. I thought I wouldn't be able to give it a rating that would adequately express how I felt about what I had read. Sure, I liked the writing in some parts and I enjoyed some chapters more than others but overall I couldn't say whether I liked or didn't like it hence my dilemma. The author set up the book with each chapter being from the point of view of Hattie's children and while some worked, some fell really fl ...more

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Apr 01, 2013 reading is my hustle rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, bipoc, fiction-domestic

Allegorical novel about slavery and race. Uses biblical references (twelve tribes of Israel) in the same vein as Toni Morrison.

Bleak.
But, then Oprah loves her some cheerless storytelling.

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Dec 13, 2012 Britany rated it really liked it

Shelves: botn, oprah-picks, historical-fiction

This was a book that initially I didn't think I would appreciate, as much hype as it was getting, especially being chosen as an Oprah book club pick.

I devoured The Twelve Tribes of Hattie in 2 sittings, and I can't remember the last time I read a book that I was as interested in. This book tells 12 different stories, all from the perspectives of Hattie's twelve children. Each story had its own heartbeat and was perfectly shaped into a beginning, middle, and end. Each story while told chronologi ...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Read In Colour rated it really liked it

Is there a limit on the amount of love a parent can have for their child? If you have more than one child, is it possible to have loved your other children so much that you have nothing left for the others? Or is it just possible for life to beat you down so much so that you have nothing left to give your children except a place to stay, food to eat and a determination to survive?

I can't find fault with Hattie Shepherd. Giving birth to your first children at the age of 19 in a new city can be ov Is there a limit on the amount of love a parent can have for their child? If you have more than one child, is it possible to have loved your other children so much that you have nothing left for the others? Or is it just possible for life to beat you down so much so that you have nothing left to give your children except a place to stay, food to eat and a determination to survive?

I can't find fault with Hattie Shepherd. Giving birth to your first children at the age of 19 in a new city can be overwhelming. To find yourself giving birth years later at the age of 46 is surprising. Then to turn around at 74 and find yourself mothering your grandchildren, is not an easy road. But how do you explain that to your children who only see you as cold and uncaring?

"Somebody always wants something from me," she said in a near whisper. "They're eating me alive."

As you read, you'll be caught up in the lives of Lloyd, the musician; Six, the wonder boy preacher; the high strung and insecure Alice, who pretends her brother Billups needs her when, in reality, she's the one that desperately needs him; Bell, who seeks revenge against Hattie when all she really wants is to know the secret joy her mother found once upon a time; and countless others. Mathis dedicates chapters to the various offspring, but their interactions as children aren't explored as much as they are as adults. She wants you to see who they've become as a result of living in the house.

I love the set up of the book. It feels like a compilation of short stories that are loosely tied together, with the only common thread being that Hattie and August have given birth to them. With the exception of Alice and Billups, we see very little interaction among the siblings once they leave home. It's as if Hattie's lack of love spread to them and there's nothing that bonds any of them together.

Part of the great migration to the north, I wonder how much of Hattie's coldness is a reflection of her surroundings. While her husband, August, longs for the Georgia he remembers, minus Jim Crow, Hattie refuses to even speak its name. Still, you have to wonder if August lamenting over leaving the south is valid. Would Hattie have been different, would the children have had different lives, had they been surrounded by paper shell pecans, sweet gum trees, gigantic peaches and neighbors whose names they could recite years later? ...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Kathy rated it liked it

I've read a lot of Oprah's book club books and I've enjoyed most of them. This was no exception and really I'd rate if 3.5 stars if possible. I read it on my kindle and was surprised when I turned the page and it was "acknowledgments", I wasn't ready for the story to end. I suppose there is no ending, that Hattie and her children's lives just continue on the same dysfunctional path because it's very difficult when people are born in poverty, oppression, and abuse to change. Maybe there's hope fo ...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Kim McGee rated it really liked it

It is not easy being a mother. It doesn't matter what year you were born, your race, your economic status and it doesn't matter how many children you have. Hattie knew her life wasn't going anywhere fast in Georgia in 1923 so she quickly flees to Philadelphia and marries only to have her life get more complicated instead of easier. Her first joy is the birth of twins and her first (and possibly greatest)tragedy happens at their death from pneumonia. Each chapter is narrated by one of Hattie's ni ...more

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Jun 10, 2013 Connie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audible-cd, recomended-friends-5-stars-tbr, new-authors-2015, 2015

3, maybe 3.5 stars for the well done writing.

I so wanted to love this book. I thought from the synopsis I had found the "family saga" that I was craving. I think the idea behind this book, telling the story of one woman and each of her children was a wonderful beginning, but all in all it fell a bit flat for me by the time I got to the end.

Hattie escapes a not so wonderful childhood with hopes for a better life. Those hopes are quickly snuffed out and she seems to always be reaching for her d ...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Rebecca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed-bookkaholic, historical-fiction, best-of-2013

Mathis’s debut novel is the achingly sad saga of one black family making their way north and fighting to break free from poverty and prejudice.

In the early years of the 1920s, Hattie Shepherd longs to escape from Georgia, where her father was lynched. When she marries August, they set off hopefully for Pennsylvania only to watch their seven-month-old twins, Philadelphia and Jubilee, die of pneumonia despite Hattie’s desperate ministrations.

This loss will haunt Hattie throughout the years to come Mathis’s debut novel is the achingly sad saga of one black family making their way north and fighting to break free from poverty and prejudice.

In the early years of the 1920s, Hattie Shepherd longs to escape from Georgia, where her father was lynched. When she marries August, they set off hopefully for Pennsylvania only to watch their seven-month-old twins, Philadelphia and Jubilee, die of pneumonia despite Hattie’s desperate ministrations.

This loss will haunt Hattie throughout the years to come, even though she bears nine more children (who, together with the dead twins and a granddaughter, form the twelve tribes of the title – an explicit echo of the dozen tribes of Israel in the Hebrew Bible). Violence, disappointment, love affairs, and discrimination: from the 1920s through to the 1980s, Mathis traces an American family in crisis and suggests that, clichéd as it may sound, love may have the power to heal what seem like fatal emotional wounds.

Each chapter shifts to the perspective of another of Hattie’s offspring, in either first- or third-person narration, making for an impressive variety of voices and styles. Readers gain an intimate view of each of the children, but also of Hattie herself, through the composite, peripheral glances each chapter allows. Hattie is a troublesome yet compelling character; as cold as she often seems to her children, she feels things deeply. One perceptive daughter realizes “She’d never seen her mother laugh…She’d never seen any joy in her at all. Hattie had been stern and angry all of Bell’s life, and it occurred to her that her mother must have been very unhappy most of the time.”

Mathis’s novel is also strong at the level of language and allusion; she subverts scriptural narratives even as she relies on them for structure. The pattern of devoting one chapter to each family member reminded me of Hanna Pylväinen’s excellent We Sinners , while the portentous biblical rhetoric, applied to the reality of southern and/or African-American lives, recalls not just Morrison and Walker but also William Faulkner. It’s no surprise that Oprah Winfrey chose The Twelve Tribes of Hattie for her book club relaunch. With writing this confident and characters this convincing, it will be a pleasure to await Mathis’s next work of fiction.

(This review formed part of an article on my Best Fiction Reads of 2013 for Bookkaholic.) ...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Courtney rated it did not like it

Shelves: chose-not-to-finish

I would die before reading another book highlighted by Oprah. It made me feel like a sheep. Couldn't even make it past the first free bit.

Come on people... think for yourselves! Oprah is a nice lady, but a novel should stand on it's own.

That's why I didn't like this book.

I took this review down once because someone accused me of being a homophobe for not liking this book and frankly, I just don't want to be associated with the kind of people who run around calling strangers homophobes. But you k ...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

The book opens with a heart rendering tragedy which quickly captures the reader's interest. The great migration, the early 1900's and a mother with her three daughters move to Philadelphia to escape the Jim Crow south. Things do not work out as planned, Hattie has a hard life but does manage to keep nine children alive with very little help. Hattie is a formidable character, she has a strength and resiliency
that keeps her going, but this does not mean she does not carry hurts and scars. The stru ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Nicolette rated it really liked it

A good first effort for the writer. I like the snippet way the stories were told; in that format, I as the reader had my own opportunity to flesh out the characters/stories. Despite being able to do that, I still felt that some of the characters were under-developed. I felt robbed with some stories, they ended so quickly without much substance while others were packed to the gills from beginning to end.

In my own life experience, I've met Hattie and her tribe, multiple times. In some cases some m ...more

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Oct 28, 2013 Debbie "DJ" rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, cultural

This book drew me in right away. The story centers around an African American woman, Hattie, who leaves the south yet is still entrenched in it in many ways. Most chapters focus on the life of one of her many children, and includes the date, which really gave me a perspective of life in those times, especially for someone of color. I felt the whole story merged together nicely, and flowed in a way that kept me connected to all the characters. Reminiscent of Toni Morrison, the writing is superb. ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Angela Ross Williams rated it it was ok

Completed the book on December 9. Interesting how author reflected the main character chapter by chapter. Interesting read that I relate to personally based on family and other connections during same era, culture and migration. Can't wait for discussions to begin, I'm interested to see what others thought of the book as well. Now learned not to spoil for others still reading. Good reading, waiting to discuss!! Thank you. ...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Krista rated it liked it

I had mixed feelings while reading this book. It is really 12 short stories with a bit of overlap between the characters. It was well written and compelling at times, but I didn't have the opportunity to really get to know any of the characters or get very invested in their stories. ...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Glenda rated it it was ok

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

This book is divided into 12 chapters with each chapter being told by or about one of Hattie's children. The stories were well written and kept my attention, but were only connected through Hattie. After the one chapter, that character was not heard from again. This left me wondering about how things turned out for each character, but we never find out. Each story is depressing and tragic. Hattie has a lot to deal with--poverty, a womanizing husband, and too many children to care for. She loses ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2013, oprah-told-me-to

3.5 Stars - Individual narratives of the lives of Hattie Shepherd’s children that span the course of 55 years.

It had been a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg time since I read something just because Oprah told me too, but that’s exactly why I read this book. Suffice it to say that Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 is a second verse, same as the first. If you’ve read enough of Oprah’s selections, you’ll know she likes some misery in her book club. Luckily it was a quick read, because I don’ ...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Cynthia rated it liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

Tender Grandmother

A horrendous event leads teenage Hattie and her mother and sisters to abandon their beloved Georgia home and flee north to Philadelphia. There Hattie grows up quickly getting married and having twins before she turns 16. She’s shocked and devastated by how much she loves her children and by how much her husband August lets her down. Hattie is not a perfect mother, in fact most of “Tribes” is about her parental short comings but to be fair to her she gets little help from her hu ...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Natalie G rated it really liked it

This book really brought the reader through a journey of so many elements of Black struggle, self-identity, poverty, sexuality, racial discrimination, and much more. I believe that almost every character deserves his or her own book, each chapter could have continued into a true and real story. I hope the author is considering this, and that she finds success telling the stories of a great people.

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Feb 01, 2013 Teresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding The Twelve Tribes of Hattie as it is one of Oprah's Book Club Picks and destined to be a bestseller as a result. So is the hype justified?

Hattie Shepherd is part of the Great Migration, moving from Georgia to Philadelphia in the mid 1920s, hoping for a new start in life. Aged just 17, the story of her new life begins with the tragic death of her twin babies, Philadelphia and Jubilee who had ironically been given "names of promise and hope, reaching-forwar ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Djuanna Brockington rated it liked it

While I wanted to love this book, I just didn't. That's not to say that I didn't like it, but it was so heavy at times. Well-written and entertaining, but it started to feel like all those episodes of Good Times where they ALMOST made it out of the ghetto, but didn't. The last chapter was probably the saving grace for me. ...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Moon Rose rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Moon Rose by: Oprah's Book Club 2.0

Shelves: kindle, fiction, purchased-from-kindle-store, public-highlights, in-cloud-reader, 2013-shelf, recommendations

Hattie believed in God's might, but she didn't believe in his interventions. At least, he was indifferent. God wasn't any of her business and she wasn't any of His. In church on Sundays she looked around the sanctuary and wondered if anyone else felt the way she did, if anyone else was there because they believed in the ritual and the hymn singing and good preaching more than they believed in a responsive, sympathetic God.

This harmless thought of Hattie Shepherd, unsaid and kept only in the

Hattie believed in God's might, but she didn't believe in his interventions. At least, he was indifferent. God wasn't any of her business and she wasn't any of His. In church on Sundays she looked around the sanctuary and wondered if anyone else felt the way she did, if anyone else was there because they believed in the ritual and the hymn singing and good preaching more than they believed in a responsive, sympathetic God.

This harmless thought of Hattie Shepherd, unsaid and kept only in the silence of her mind is profound in its simplicity in trying to grasp the Divine Existence of God in connection to His seeming frozen relationship with His creations, This is Hattie's worn out spirit beaten in the depth of her consciousness for all the troubles as she comes to find justification and explanation to her strife filled life that extended even to the lives of her children. It draws the line that separates men from the Divine Being, underlining our incapacity to comprehend the abstract purpose of God as it shows the infantile state of our consciousness compared to the Omniscience Mind overflowing with Transcendental Love that carries us still through our lifetime of wailings.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an excerpt of this somewhat helpless and wretched condition of man against the mysterious power that governs destinies. Ordinary in so many ways, but made extraordinary by Ayana Mathis' vivid illustration of reality, painting the intertwined lives of the Shepherd family flooded with lifetimes of tribulations and isolations, as if defenselessly being washed away by an unstoppable strong gush of water that destroys everything in its path. This novel which centered on the life of Hattie Shepherd appears like a collection of short stories that serve as a new testament for modern people, the new tribes of God searching for salvation amid the bleakness of despair in the sea of hopelessness.

Death as the inevitable end of life appears in the novel as Hattie's beginning as her story culminates with the lost of her precious babies, a seeming violent act of nature that strikes a trauma in her, killing the joy in her young life, an ominous beginning that seem to mold the lives of her children as It is a single event that defines a generation of family as Hattie becomes destiny's unconscious conspirator in preparing her children to the different roles that they are about to occupy in the world.

This nature's designation justifies the beginning of an event and the resulting end of an action, taking place simultaneously in the linearity of everything, but appears invisible as it is overshadowed by the elaborate designs of our intertwined lives. It is the same pattern Ayana Mathis used in the novel as the stories seem to be separated in between as it appears without sequential continuity, yet manages to combine the stories as one novel through the constant apparition of Hattie's spirit in their lives. ☾☯ ...more

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Jul 25, 2015 Darkowaa rated it it was amazing

!!! book blog review: http://africanbookaddict.com/2015/11/...

I bought this in 2014. I didn't even plan to read this during the summer, but the book was smiling at me from my bookshelf, so I started it. From the first page to the last, this has been a good page turner. I honestly do not have any issues with this book, it was an excellent read! I read each chapter as a short story, since each chapter focuses on one of Hattie's 9 children intertwined with Hattie and her husband August's history. E ...more

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May 15, 2013 BookOfCinz rated it liked it

Shelves: debut, re-reads, loved, 2018-reads, tt-library-reads, all-the-feels

Updated August 13, 2018
Having read this novel five years later, I am still impressed that it is a debut novel, however I am not as blown away as I was before.

In this novel we meet Hattie Shepherd who leaves Georgia looking for a better life in Philadelphia. She marries, but the marriage is unfulfilling. She ends up giving birth to nine children and raises them on hope, faith and prayer. Things do not improve as we would like for Hattie, to be fair it gets worse. The book is told in such a wa ...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Lindsey rated it liked it

Shelves: first-reads

I wanted to fall head over heals in love with The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis. The writing is excellent and the story is compelling, but I didn't fall in love. Each chapter reads almost like a short story and is focused on one or more of her children, but they only get that one chapter. They may be mentioned in passing in future chapters, but no character gets any real closure to their story, except maybe Hattie. Each child had struggles that were connected to being raised by Hattie ...more

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About Ayana Mathis

Ayana Mathis

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Ayana Mathis is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is a recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. THE TWELVE TRIBES OF HATTIE is her first novel.

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“Maybe we have only a finite amount of love to give. We're born with our portion, and if we love and are not loved enough in return, it's depleted.” — 32 likes

“I try to find the beauty in things. On dark days I sit in my armchair looking at clouds and I am awed at how rain is made.” — 25 likes

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About Ayana Mathis

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Quotes from The Twelve Tribes...

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