[BWF and Steeplechase] Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow

[Sue]

BWF - "S"
Steeplechse - "Southern Fiction"

This story follows three generations of a Southern Black family in Memphis.

The timeline hops back and forth in time, telling the parallel stories of each generation of women in the North family. At times horrifying and heartbreaking, the overall themes of family, acceptance and survival.

[Joy D]

I have this one on my TBR. I have been debating whether or not to read it for Authors of Color.

[Sue]

I didn't dislike it, but it's clearly a debut novel and I found it a bit unpolished in places.

And I know this is really being picky, but there's a scene where one of the characters learns to drive a stick-shift car - and it's just all wrong. I'd be willing to bet the author has never driven a manual car.

And same sequence of scenes, the car battery is allowed to die. The character just opens the hood and "fixes" the battery herself. Um, not at all how that works. You pretty much have to get help from someone with a second car to get a jump.

Those kind of little tiny details always jar me right out of enjoying the story.

[Joy D]

I tend to notice details, too. I'll wait and see if it fits any of the Steeplechase tags.

[Hannah]

I own this and was hoping to get to it this month. I'm not so sure I want to do horrifying or heartbreaking at the moment - I'm much more in the mood for light-hearted fun right now.

[Peacejanz]

Hannah - I would not call this light hearted fun. It is a debut and there are lots of mistakes, but there is a joy in reading about this FAMILY - and that really is foremost. They help each other, they take care of each other, they love each other. I thought it was upbeat. Muddled, overwritten but joy. peace, janz