From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

Mama Day

Gloria Naylor

Discussion: . Week 9: Female Author

Why we're reading this: week 9 because i'm reading it anyway…more
[close] week 9 because i'm reading it anyway

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. Week 9: Female Author

* Week 9: Introduction
By Jessica · 11 posts · 207 views

last updated Mar 02, 2015 12:01AM

* Week 9: Progress Post
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 22 posts · 94 views

last updated Oct 27, 2015 04:32AM

What Members Thought

Nov 11, 2014 QS rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, reviewed, fantasy, school, 2015, african-american-writers, speculative-fiction, woman-writer

I suppose the simplest review for this book would be just one word: "beautiful". But at the same time, I think it may be selling the book somewhat short, so I suppose I should at least try to say a little more about it.

Possibly my favorite thing about this book is that it can be read two ways: one where you accept the magic powers that characters like Mama Day and Ruby are supposed to be capable of, and another where you can only see the "realistic" world that George witnesses throughout the nov I suppose the simplest review for this book would be just one word: "beautiful". But at the same time, I think it may be selling the book somewhat short, so I suppose I should at least try to say a little more about it.

Possibly my favorite thing about this book is that it can be read two ways: one where you accept the magic powers that characters like Mama Day and Ruby are supposed to be capable of, and another where you can only see the "realistic" world that George witnesses throughout the novel. For him, Mama really was a crazy old woman straight to the end of the story where he decided that he wasn't letting Cocoa go no matter what. I prefer to see the story on the other side, where some of Mama's magic was real: wherever the other place entered the picture, so did the supernatural. Everything else was just clear knowledge of nature and how people's minds worked.

There were a couple things that I didn't like about the book, but there always are. Cocoa and George's takes on gender continuously irritated me, for instance, but given when the book was written (and the time it takes place in), these were easily forgivable, and I couldn't bring myself to take a star off for it though I kind of wanted to. I was also mildly annoyed by (view spoiler)

The writing style was superb, though. I was honestly in love with the narrative from the very beginning, and was impressed by how well each character was given their own voice through the way they "spoke", whether it was in first or third person. My absolute favorite scene of the entire novel was the hurricane, which read to me with a certain haunting, lyrical melody that will stick with me for a long time.

All in all, despite my (pretty mild) issues with this story, I think this may be well on its way to becoming one of my favorite novels. I may reread it this summer and see if I take anything new away from it. ...more

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