Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

Buddy Read starts Sunday 23rd

ColumbusReads wrote: "Buddy Read starts Sunday 23rd"

Oh ok..thought it was to start on the 19th..I'd better start bookmarking. Memory ain't what it used to be!

That prologue! She is not playing.

Jan wrote: "That prologue! She is not playing."

Jan, I was simply not ready for that. I had to readjust my coif.

I finished the book early this morning. Did you all finish it? I picked up the physical book from the library but never read it. I read the ebook on my phone/ipad. My first ebook in like forever.

Ok, so I have 2 questions I wanted to ask each of you before we start discussing the book:

1) What Goodread rating would you give it?

2) What other books by Bernice McFadden have you read and where would this one fall in that group?

I finished the book yesterday. I gave it 4 stars but I was rounding up. Wish Goodreads would allow .5 stars. It was not what I expected given that explosive prologue. But ended up instead an easy and rather heartwarming tale of historical fiction.

It was less engaging than both "Book of Harlan' and "{Nowhere is a Place" .

Thanks, William.

I was thinking the same thing for years about the GR rating system, but, particularly as it relates to this book. I gave it a 3 but would’ve loved to have given it 3.5.

In order of preference:
Praise Song For The Butterflies
Sugar
Glorious

The beginning was incredibly intriguing but the latter part was sort of uneven in my opinion.

I'm still reading. I'm close to the beginning and have just read the scene of a pregnant woman getting lynched. What i thought as I read it was that the Bernice McFadden of her other, later books would not have written that scene, that way. One thing that struck me about the other books I've read of hers-- The Book of Harlan and Praise Song for the Butterflies--is that even if they are about awful, awful things, the worst things imaginable--the Holocaust, the slave trade, the sexual enslavement of children--there is a soft lens to the writing, where I never felt she was holding my head to the violence. In fact, I thought the opposite, that she was being a little too gentle with me as her reader. I imagine these are conscious choices--how to depict terrible history in a way that her readers can absorb its enormity and yet keep reading.

I follow Bernice Mcfadden on Twitter and she is a lovely personal presence there. She just posted this morning--it may be that this is common knowledge with her fans but it was the first I'd heard of it--that she is at work on a memoir.

lark wrote: "I follow Bernice Mcfadden on Twitter and she is a lovely personal presence there. She just posted this morning--it may be that this is common knowledge with her fans but it was the first I'd heard ..."

Chompin’ at the idea of reading a memoir by her. I would love to hear her insight on her writing style or anything else she’s willing to share.

McFadden says on Twitter that her memoir is called First Born Girls and is coming in 2023. There isn't a goodreads bookpage for it yet.

Here is a link to the post that caught my eye:
https://twitter.com/queenazsa/status/...

Thanks for starting us off, Columbus. I'm in Chapter 3 (Rain and Easter). I started listening on my walk yesterday and got up to Chapter 6 or so, but realized the story was going by so smoothly that I needed to start over and concentrate more.

This is my fourth BLM book. So far, I am even more impressed with it than I was The Book of Harlan, Gathering of Waters, and Praise Song for the Butterflies, and those were all four-star reads for me. Too early to say where Glorious will end up. I have a paperback of Sugar on my shelves that I aim to read "someday."

Excited to read her memoir!

lark wrote: "McFadden says on Twitter that her memoir is called First Born Girls and is coming in 2023. There isn't a goodreads bookpage for it yet.

Here is a link to the post that caught my eye:
https://twitt..."

Well, you already know that she will be as candid and honest as always. I can think of few other author memoirs’ I would want to read more.

Jan/Lark, we can wait until you two have finished before discussing the book in detail.

ColumbusReads wrote: "Jan/Lark, we can wait until you two have finished before discussing the book in detail."

That's ok--I don't mind being spoiled and I will finish up soon.

Same here. I’m about a third of the way through and don’t mind spoilers. Happy to have the discussion continue, to help me prepare for / appreciate what’s ahead.

I'm on chapter 8 and yes, this is Bernice McFadden! Her stories zip along, don't they! This is the third novel where I feel something like Alice getting pulled along by the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass. I love it.

I finished the audiobook this morning. I will give it four stars. I had a harder time than usual retaining the details of the story. Between BLM’s storytelling and Alfre Woodard’s narration, everything just flowed so very smoothly. I agree Harlan and Praise Song were stronger books, but man, that first chapter is a knockout.

I love reading books where authors integrate real people into books. It’s not always done successfully though. McFadden seemed to have a ball using among others: - -Marcus Garvey, Fays Waller, Ota Benga (on “display” at the Bronx zoo in 1906) A’Lelia Walker (Madam C.J. Walker’s daughter), Carl Van Vechten, Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Gladys Bentley and
Maude Cuney Hare (who I had never heard of). - - Let’s see, who did I miss? - She sort of played a little loose with the facts on the Marcus Garvey shooting. Although I understand that’s done at times to enhance the story, I didn’t care for how it was done here.

After reading this book, I’m looking for a nice, big biography on Marcus Garvey. What a fascinating man!

CR, ditto on the integration (or at least mentions) of real-life characters. Didn’t she also mention Nella, which must have been Nella Larsen?

ColumbusReads wrote: "After reading this book, I’m looking for a nice, big biography on Marcus Garvey. What a fascinating man!"

I just did a bit of digging and am going to order Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa by Colin Grant. It has good reviews and includes social history as context for Garvey's life, which I would like. Plus Grant is a Jamaican living in Britain.

Jan wrote: "ColumbusReads wrote: "After reading this book, I’m looking for a nice, big biography on Marcus Garvey. What a fascinating man!"

I just did a bit of digging and am going to order [book:Negro with a..."

Oh, yes. NEGRO WITH A HAT got a starred review from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. They aren’t exactly liberal with those starred reviews. Thanks I’m gonna check to see if a hardbound is available
.

Jan wrote: "CR, ditto on the integration (or at least mentions) of real-life characters. Didn’t she also mention Nella, which must have been Nella Larsen?"

In the acknowledgements pages in my ebook she says she was visited by and talked to the ghosts/spirits of Zora Hurston and Nella Larsen. That is how and why she conceived and wrote this book. In their honor.

ColumbusReads wrote: "I love reading books where authors integrate real people into books. It’s not always done successfully though. McFadden seemed to have a ball using among others: - -Marcus Garvey, Fays Waller, Ota ..."

Saartjes Baartman

William wrote: "....In the acknowledgements pages in my ebook she says she was visited by and talked to the ghosts/spirits of Zora Hurston and Nella Larsen. That is how and why she conceived and wrote this book. In their honor..."

Cool! The acknowledgements were not included in the audiobook, so thanks for sharing that.

I wonder what Bernice McFadden thinks about this book. I’m not sure where this book falls in her oeuvre, if it’s one of her earlier books or not. I ask that because the writing in Praise Song is so significantly better. Do you agree or not? Like would she write this story differently? And yet, I still really like the book. It’s immensely flawed but the story is so damn good. What are your thoughts?

Ok, I checked it out. GLORIOUS was published in 2010 and PRAISE SONG 8 years later in ‘18. Between then she had GATHERING OF WATERS and BOOK OF HARLAN. I don’t know anything about GATHERING but I do know HARLAN was praised by critics and many of my book friends. I was under the impression that LOVING DONOVAN was a later book but it was actually released in ‘03.

ColumbusReads wrote: "Ok, I checked it out. GLORIOUS was published in 2010 and PRAISE SONG 8 years later in ‘18. Between then she had GATHERING OF WATERS and BOOK OF HARLAN. I don’t know anything about GATHERING but I d..."
Back in 2016 when the group discussed "Harlan" Ms. McFadden was and is a LFPC member. It was one of my most memorable book discussions. We actually shared a few DMs. Perhaps she's monitoring this thread?
I suppose that no matter how comfortable one gets...you can never forget the strange fruit..that was cut out in front of you. Faced with such brutality..so soon in these pages, will there be some revenge?..I read on looking for it but instead found a very different story. . a queer and bisexual recounting of the Harlem Renaissance? Lets talk about Rain,

I apologize, guys, for barging in on your book discussion. I have been reading this incredible story also on the sidelines. I am surprised at how evil-spirited Meredith as become. Rain introduced in the story; she was such free-spirited spoke her truth. Now, she seems closed off taking insults from Meredith. Rain is in love with Meredith, and I don't think Meredith feels the same for Rain. Do you think Rain is staying for security to mix and mingle with the rich and elite?

Kim G. wrote: "I apologize, guys, for barging in on your book discussion. I have been reading this incredible story also on the sidelines. I am surprised at how evil-spirited Meredith as become. Rain introduced i..."

Welcome, Kim. I think Rain and Meredith were both looking out for their own self interests. Meredith had the additional weight of white prejudice and attitudes of that era. I saw Meredith as one of those wealthy whites who saw being a patron of Black artists as a way to be cool and avant garde, but when she had the opportunity to rip off Easter's work and claim it as her own, Meredith was quick to take it. :-(

ColumbusReads wrote: "I wonder what Bernice McFadden thinks about this book. I’m not sure where this book falls in her oeuvre, if it’s one of her earlier books or not. I ask that because the writing in Praise Song is so significantly better. Do you agree or not? ."

I agree, the writing in Praise Song for the Butterflies was better, but I found a lot of beautiful sentences in Glorious too.

William wrote: "...Faced with such brutality..so soon in these pages, will there be some revenge?..I read on looking for it but instead found a very different story. . a queer and bisexual recounting of the Harlem Renaissance?.."

I saw the book as a meditation on how white cruelty and white supremacy impinged on the life of a queer Black woman over the course of her life, including her years as part of the Harlem Renaissance. I was glad McFadden sweetened the ending a bit with the visit of the Black journalist.

ColumbusReads wrote: "I wonder what Bernice McFadden thinks about this book. ...Like would she write this story differently? And yet, I still really like the book. It’s immensely flawed but the story is so damn good. What are your thoughts?..."

Is it too early to ask about what you saw as flaws? I read a ton of fiction but don't see myself as an especially sophisticated reader.
The major flaw I saw was that some of the character's choices seemed to be made because the plot required them, which I guess is a way of saying that their actions didn't seem to grow out of the characters as they'd been presented to us.

I did like the jump from Meredith plagiarizing Easter's draft to 1961...it was a shocking but effective way of showing what that theft meant in Easter's life.

I felt a thoroughly deep and satisfying sameness of this book with the other McFadden novels I've read--mostly for the feeling I mentioned above, how it just zips along. Easter falls in love in a sentence. She leaves town in a sentence. There is an "and then, and then" quality to McFadden's writing that is just so free and so unselfconscious. It makes her books very enjoyable to me.

I also like the ahistorical nature of her writing--she is in some way being true to the history, but doesn't care if the details work out in terms of dates and places and people. The Ota Benga part seemed about 20 years out of sync with reality (?) although I'm not sure. But McFadden wanted to write about that odious historical chapter, so here it is.

Speaking of Marcus Garvey:

https://thegrio.com/2021/12/05/marcus...