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This Child's Gonna Live
“Sarah Wright’s triumph in this novel is a celebration of life over death. It is, in every respect, an impressive achievement.”— The New York Times , 1969
“Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman’s perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.”— The New York Times , 2009
Originally published in 1969 to broad critical acclaim, This Child's Gonna Live is an unsurpassed testament to human endurance in the face of poverty, racism, and despair. Set in a fishing village on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1930s, this story has as its main character the unforgettable Mariah Upshur, a hard-working, sensual, resilient woman, full of hope, and determination despite living in a society that conspires to keep her down. In her mind, she carries on a conversation with Jesus, who, like Mariah herself, is passionate and compassionate, at times funny and resolutely resilient to fatalism. Often compared to Zora Neale Hurston for her lyrical and sure-handed use of local dialect, Wright, like Hurston, powerfully depicts the predicament of poor African American women, who confront the multiple oppressions of class, race, and gender.
“Often compared to the work of Zora Neale Hurston, the novel was unusual in its exploration of the black experience from a woman’s perspective, anticipating fiction by writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.”— The New York Times , 2009
Originally published in 1969 to broad critical acclaim, This Child's Gonna Live is an unsurpassed testament to human endurance in the face of poverty, racism, and despair. Set in a fishing village on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1930s, this story has as its main character the unforgettable Mariah Upshur, a hard-working, sensual, resilient woman, full of hope, and determination despite living in a society that conspires to keep her down. In her mind, she carries on a conversation with Jesus, who, like Mariah herself, is passionate and compassionate, at times funny and resolutely resilient to fatalism. Often compared to Zora Neale Hurston for her lyrical and sure-handed use of local dialect, Wright, like Hurston, powerfully depicts the predicament of poor African American women, who confront the multiple oppressions of class, race, and gender.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
25 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
About the author
Sarah E. Wright
7 books12 followersSarah Elizabeth Wright (December 9, 1928 – September 13, 2009) was an American writer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 1, 2015
The writing is brilliant and Sarah E. Wright should have an award for this book or at least be on Boxall's 1001 list. The harsh realities of a black woman, Mariah Upshur, who faces racism and poverty during the depression in Maryland. So much to say about this book, but I would not do it justice. This is a must read!
April 3, 2014
An amazing testimony to the bleak reality of life in a coastal Maryland community during the depression. Mariah Upshur is fighting with all of her being to keep her children alive. She and her husband are literally struggling each day to eek out a living on a land that should be their legacy, but has somehow fallen into the hands of others.
The weather is harsh, their work is harsh, and even Mariah's love for her children comes out as slaps and sharp words sometimes. She realizes this and it adds to her long list of guilts she carries around like a log...
"Rabbit just cried so pitiful after she said that thing to him. Talk about his lip hurt him worse than anything. He has a right to cry, for when Mamma won't take up for you, kiss on your sores and tell you I love you, you something -- anything -- who else will, Jesus?"
Wright's profession as a poet is very evident in her prose. She manages to describe a grim and macabre scene in such a way as to make it almost sound beautiful.
And the air was rent with cries of the living glaring at the rotted bones and rags of their kin and friends just a-swingin in the winds circling about the land, and pulling the bones and rags--some crumbling and dry, some still squirming with the worms eating away at them--from those once mighty roots, and putting them back in the gaping holes.
If you want a true picture of what it meant to be poor, black, and a woman during the depression, look no further. Wright will hold your face firmly in her hands and refuse to let you look away. This is a painful book, but one that should be more widely read. I am glad I got a chance to do so.
3.5 rounded up to 4 for significance.
Read with The African-American Historical Fiction Group
The weather is harsh, their work is harsh, and even Mariah's love for her children comes out as slaps and sharp words sometimes. She realizes this and it adds to her long list of guilts she carries around like a log...
"Rabbit just cried so pitiful after she said that thing to him. Talk about his lip hurt him worse than anything. He has a right to cry, for when Mamma won't take up for you, kiss on your sores and tell you I love you, you something -- anything -- who else will, Jesus?"
Wright's profession as a poet is very evident in her prose. She manages to describe a grim and macabre scene in such a way as to make it almost sound beautiful.
And the air was rent with cries of the living glaring at the rotted bones and rags of their kin and friends just a-swingin in the winds circling about the land, and pulling the bones and rags--some crumbling and dry, some still squirming with the worms eating away at them--from those once mighty roots, and putting them back in the gaping holes.
If you want a true picture of what it meant to be poor, black, and a woman during the depression, look no further. Wright will hold your face firmly in her hands and refuse to let you look away. This is a painful book, but one that should be more widely read. I am glad I got a chance to do so.
3.5 rounded up to 4 for significance.
Read with The African-American Historical Fiction Group
December 29, 2021
To be fair, I think I would have enjoyed this read more if it had been narrated by a different person. It was recorded in 1979, which is so cool that people were recording audio books for the blind, obviously. But oof, that was a hard listen. The book itself was definitely harsh and full of prose. Honestly, I'm glad to have read it.
January 29, 2021
heartbreaking and beautiful, like a fiery sunset on the day that you have lost someone.
November 15, 2021
I finished the book because I purchased it. It was hard getting accustomed to the author's writing style. She wrote in the broken English old slave movies project to audiences.
February 2, 2024
Heartbreaking and cuts to the bone
December 22, 2012
it has been 11 years since i read this book and i still remember it.simple story, but inspirational. this black womans determination to keep her daughter .thought little of it when i first read it but went back and thought about it. gave it a 10 now
January 3, 2011
A powerful story set in a small African-American community during the Depression. The author gives the reader the terrible gift of seeing how it was and understanding why it was so.
March 11, 2014
Thoughts coming soon
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews