Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
Read And Recommended
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PattyMacDotComma
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Apr 26, 2021 02:07AM
Open Water, a novella by British-Ghanaian author Caleb Azumah Nelson, is a poetic, complicated, lyrical love story, some of which I loved.
3.5★ Link to my review of Open Water
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My review of The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wrighthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read Jackie Kay's The Trumpet a while ago for my eng lit course at uni and I honestly couldn't recommend it more! Kay herself is LGBT and POC, and the novel is a gorgeous depiction of loyalty and solidarity.
Mod
I picked up Trumpet from the library several years ago. I got 3/4 of the way through it and had to return it. I should’ve just paid the fine because what i read was fascinating. I need to get it again.
My review of Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Personhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smithhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Paynehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was completely caught up in Younghill Kang's East Goes West. Originally published in 1937 it's the story of a young Korean man in self-imposed exile from the brutal Japanese occupation of Korea. He heads for America, the "land of golden opportunity" to make a new life for himself. It's a really detailed, fascinating account of American society and culture seen from the perspective of the central character Chungpa Han. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, it's a semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age novel set in the 1950s in Antigua when it was still under colonial rule. It's a well-written piece, and there are some brilliant passages. It didn't quite work for me as a novel, maybe because it consists of episodes originally published individually in the New Yorker, it seemed to lack momentum, and the narrative was a little too uneven and fragmented. But I think, even so, it's a piece I might revisit in the future.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I loved Akwaeke Emezi's debut novel, Freshwater, but I think other readers will enjoy The Death of Vivek Oji more than I did. Love, sex, acceptance.
3.5★ Link to my . . . Vivek Oji review
My review of Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers edited by Otto Penzlerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was completely absorbed by Brooklyn-based artist and writer Larissa Pham's Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy a hybrid of memoir/essay collection that touches on art, relationships, gender, race and identity.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffershttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way by Caseen Gaineshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle and found it moving and satisfying. Whitehead draws on the traditions of Black American crime writing, drawing out themes around history, race and identity, double consciousness, and reworking them to produce a compelling story and a fascinating history of Harlem in the late 1950s. It's a great critique of American mythology and the corruption of the era, and the failure of the American Dream. And I' excited to see a sequel's already in progress.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished
, by Sadeqa Johnson. This was a powerful read and and times just heartbreaking as it took place in Richmond, VA starting around 1850. There was a jail that slaves were sent to be resold, which is based on fact. So, I had to pause reading a few times, such cruelty, but a book also about the strength of the human spirit. Loved Pheby, the main character. I would definitely recommend this one.
Alwynne wrote: "I finished Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle and found it moving and satisfying. Whitehead draws on the traditions of Black American crime writing, drawing out themes around history..."I have this book. I read his previous two and they were so good. Know this one is slightly different, but looking forward to reading it this month.
I recently finished the following books:-The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin.
This is about a Taiwanese family’s immigrant experience in America. An interesting book - it has a lot of depths I think.
-The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham.
This is an account of the immigrant experience from a Vietnamese immigrant perspective in Australia. Gritty yet beautiful and insightful. The perceptiveness about intergenerational trauma was really valuable I thought.
-A Lesson in Englishness by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma.
This was really short but witty. I want to read more from her.
I finished a forthcoming novel by Timothy Ogene Seesaw a drily witty take on what it means to be a black writer via the character of a washed-up Nigerian writer given a chance to reinvent himself for white American audiences via a program at an obscure Boston college. A lot I liked about this, it's complex and clever but I was less comfortable with the role of women in the narrative.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read The Trees by Percival Everett and I highly recommend it. Love, love, loved this book. It’s a wild ride despite the very serious subject matter of lynching. I reviewed it for NPR. Here’s the opening:
At a certain point, dark social satire bleeds into horror. That can be powerful, but it can also very easily miss its target. Percival Everett's new novel The Trees hits just the right mark. It's a racial allegory grounded in history, shrouded in mystery, and dripping with blood. An incendiary device you don't want to put down.
You can read the full review on NPR.org:
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/22/103943...
I tore through The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois which was impossible to put down, there are some less successful sections/passages but on the whole it's an immersive, impressive feat of storytelling.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Faith wrote: "My review of My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Faith, if you liked Levar Burton's narration, have you heard his podcast, "Levar Burton Reads"? He chooses and reads primarily sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and it's great!
Nadine wrote: "Faith wrote: "My review of My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Faith, if you liked Levar Burton's narration..."
Wow, there are 134 episodes on Audible. I will listen to some. Thanks.
My review of The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You: Stories by Maurice Carlos Ruffinhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read and highly recommend Scholastique Mukasonga's Our Lady of the Nile set in the 1970s just before another of the brutal explosions of violence towards the minority Tutsi population it's an inventive exploration of the prejudiced attitudes and events that would eventually result in the 1994 genocide. The opening's a little shaky but the bulk of the novel's excellent. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I recently read Toni Cade Bambara's collection Gorilla, My Love although it's a bit uneven, the best stories are so good it's well worth reading. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Link to my review:
https://www.goo..."
Gorilla was one of this groups early discussion books and it was a hit. One of my all-time fave collections.
I recently read and would recommend Tiphanie Yanique's Monster in the Middle, a multigenerational novel about the complex nature of love, how the families and identities we're born into, the experiences we have, and the social forces we encounter shape who and how we love. Would be a great book to discuss. I have some mixed feelings toward the ending but overall found it powerful and compelling.I reviewed it for NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/104849...
The New York Times review is more of a total rave.
Carole wrote: "I recently read and would recommend Tiphanie Yanique's Monster in the Middle, a multigenerational novel about the complex nature of love, how the families and identities we're born into, the experi..."If we do this one i'd be happy to facilitate the discussion if that helps!
Recently read The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki.It was unlike anything I've ever read before. My full review is available here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I recently read the Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. It is a beautiful book about family, self-discovery, and reclamation of history. The history is told through the lens of various characters throughout time and space. All of their stories are linked to provide an understanding of the complexity of identity.
Kirsten wrote: "Has anyone read The Book of Harlan by Bernice L. McFadden? I'm not done and it is so enthralling!"I did and also thought it a great read. Didn't hurt that a lot of the scenes took place in my hometown of Trenton N.J. She even name dropped some streets my cousins grew up on!
I finished a non-fiction piece that draws on techniques from fiction and postcolonial approaches to writing, novelist/academic Preti Taneja's thought-provoking and challenging Aftermath which examines stories around terrorism, issues of white saviourism, institutional violence and the prison system, race and identity in the aftermath of an 'act of terror'.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Tara T. Green's biography Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson Alice Dunbar-Nelson's a fascinating figure, born in New Orleans in the early post-slavery years, a poet, fiction writer, teacher, campaigner for Black rights, and later a celebrated journalist, who became a prominent Harlem Renaissance writer, who married three times including an abusive marriage to prominent poet Paul Dunbar yet had many intimate relationships with women throughout her life.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Gayl Jones's classic novel Corregidora haunting and astoundingly complex.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Faith wrote: "My review of What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Faith -
Thanks for your review.
I did read this book in print and yes, the chapters had the character's names which was quite helpful.
This will be one of my top read's for 2021 and was I started reading I could not put this book as I so wanted to hear the characters stories and their experiences I read this book over a weekend.
Beverly wrote: "Faith wrote: "My review of What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Faith -
Thanks for your review.
I did..."
I'm glad you enjoyed the book. I had originally requested an ebook ARC, but they thought I was unworthy. Then they gave me the audiobook. Go figure.
This is a shameless self promotion for my wife Angela Jackson-Brown novel published by Harper Collins When Stars Rain Down given the diversity of this group I believe that it is worthy of space on your reading table.
When Stars Rajned Down was very good!!
My review of You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurstonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Faith wrote: "My review of You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurstonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Thank you!
I finished Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's When We Were Birds the debut novel from a writer who's been getting a lot of attention in the media recently. It's more promising than great but I liked the detail and the depiction of contemporary Trinidad, as well as her use of Caribbean myth and folklore.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Literary Fiction by People of Color
Books mentioned in this topic
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Indian Country (other topics)
Indian Country (other topics)
The Death of Vivek Oji (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Akwaeke Emezi (other topics)
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