rlgreen91's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What a gorgeous, gorgeous book. I deeply enjoyed The Women of Brewster Place and Linden Hills - this has to be one of the greatest opening sequences of novels by a writer of all time.
There's a lot to like in this novel - of course you have Naylor's beautiful prose, describing both the natural world around us and bouts of magical realism. Mama Day and Abigail are reminiscent of so many of the Black women I've knowing throughout my life. I think if I had to pick one part of the novel I'd love to unpack more, it would be the relationship between Cocoa and George. I'll admit - I had a hard time at first believing their relationship would last. In my reading, they both seemed too inflexible to do the compromising necessary to be in a relationship with someone. While I don't think you should change yourself for the sake of being in a relationship, you do need to shift your life to be able to live in relation to the other person - and it was hard to imagine that they would do that. But they did over time, and it was great to see that type of shift depicted, even if they still got on each other's nerves a lot. A lid for every pot, I guess.
I do wish I had been able to attend the book club discussion for this one - I would have enjoyed hearing others' thoughts. Perhaps I'll stumble upon a group discussion for it in the future. Great book - 5 stars easy.
There's a lot to like in this novel - of course you have Naylor's beautiful prose, describing both the natural world around us and bouts of magical realism. Mama Day and Abigail are reminiscent of so many of the Black women I've knowing throughout my life. I think if I had to pick one part of the novel I'd love to unpack more, it would be the relationship between Cocoa and George. I'll admit - I had a hard time at first believing their relationship would last. In my reading, they both seemed too inflexible to do the compromising necessary to be in a relationship with someone. While I don't think you should change yourself for the sake of being in a relationship, you do need to shift your life to be able to live in relation to the other person - and it was hard to imagine that they would do that. But they did over time, and it was great to see that type of shift depicted, even if they still got on each other's nerves a lot. A lid for every pot, I guess.
I do wish I had been able to attend the book club discussion for this one - I would have enjoyed hearing others' thoughts. Perhaps I'll stumble upon a group discussion for it in the future. Great book - 5 stars easy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Infertility, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Abandonment
Minor: Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Suicidal thoughts
alatarmaia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I picked up this book by impulse when it was on sale, and then ended up never reading it for about a year and a half. HUGE mistake. I could have experienced the magic so much sooner.
Mama Day is a fascinating look into a tiny Black island community, with a vivid history and a culture whose depth and meaning the author skillfully relates without overloading the exposition. The bonds between the residents of the islands, their entangled pasts, and the trauma in some of those pasts were amazingly clear even when so few details were granted.
I can't find the right words to explain my feelings on the magic in this book, the way it's written, the way it's performed, its effects and its subtlety and the moments where it loses that subtlety. All I can say is this is an amazing narrative on family and tragedy and surviving tragedy.
Mama Day is a fascinating look into a tiny Black island community, with a vivid history and a culture whose depth and meaning the author skillfully relates without overloading the exposition. The bonds between the residents of the islands, their entangled pasts, and the trauma in some of those pasts were amazingly clear even when so few details were granted.
I can't find the right words to explain my feelings on the magic in this book, the way it's written, the way it's performed, its effects and its subtlety and the moments where it loses that subtlety. All I can say is this is an amazing narrative on family and tragedy and surviving tragedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Slavery
In the beginning, the character Cocoa refers to other races/ethnicities with food-based terms. It comes from a Black woman, but it might be uncomfortable for people to see Asians and other groups referred to like that (I found it mildly demeaning). One major character also grew up in an orphanage where children were routinely denied food at meals as punishment.
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