From the Bookshelf of Tyler Public Library…

[close] Clemmons debut novel reads as a memoir; an exposition of grief. The protagonist of this slim work is Thandi, a young African-American woman who lives between two worlds: South Africa and Philadelphia. Her cherished and vivacious mother (a head nurse at a university hospital) has her roots in a wealthy South African family, while her father is a mathematics department head at a local college. When Thandi’s mother passes away, after a long, painful, and protracted illness, she loses herself in despair as the grief swallows her up. “This is the sad truth. I wish, sometimes, for even a bad dream of her that I used to have. It would be preferable to this absence. I will always be motherless.” Clemmons presents an intimate portrait of Thandi’s struggle to find her place in the world: “I’ve often thought that being a light-skinned black woman is like being a well-dressed person who is also homeless. You may be able to pass in mainstream society, appearing acceptable to others, even desired. But in reality, you have nowhere to rest, nowhere to feel safe.” Clemmons offers a fresh perspective on how race and class compare in the U.S. and in post-Apartheid South Africa. Anyone who has lost someone precious can identify with Clemmons’ honest and truthful description of life-altering grief and the questionable decisions which often compel the bereaved.
Highly recommended for readers of both fiction and memoir.