LISTEN FOR THE FIG TREE

by SHARON MATHIS BELL

A sixteen-year old black girl's first celebration of Kwanza gives her a sense of the past and strength to deal with her troubled mother and her own blindness.

Genres: Christmas

Paperback

First published April 1, 1974

Reviews

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvina (or Muffin) is a 16-year-old black girl who went blind at the age of 10 because of glaucoma. When the story begins, it's a few days before Christmas. Her mother, Leola, is becoming an alcoholic. Her father was killed on Christmas day the year before, by two black men that were riding in her father's cab. Leola blames the police for his death and has fallen apart in the following year. Muffin has some good friends that help her through the Christmas season, including an attempted rape, until she feels she has found the strength she needs in the black celebration of Kwanza.

This book was fascinating. The reader is brought into the world of the blind while getting a strong dose of "black power". Mathis combines several problems - alcoholism, blindness, murder, rape, and minorities together in a very realistic and compelling story.