A review by bookish_by_elle
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor

5.0

This is exactly my book type - multiple POVs, non-linear plot, "magical realism", leaves you wondering what you just read long after the book has been closed. I was captivated by Naylor's writing from the get-go. She seamlessly unravels this story with two second-person narratives and Mama Day's third person narration. Mama Day brings the fictional island of Willow springs to life and documents how this close knit island evolved into the place that it is; it chronicles the far-from-perfect relationship between Mama Day's grandniece, Cocoa, and he husband George; and it tells of Mama Day who having descended from the seventh son of a seventh son, is Willow Springs' matriarch and healer. Paradoxically, Cocoa and George share a sacrificial love within their toxic, abusive relationship and Mama Day, while she has remained childless is the matriarch of and most highly demanded midwife in Willow Springs, which doesn't ever change but is constantly evolving. In spite of the contradiction, and sometimes because of it, this novel kept me engaged and invested. Naylor's writing is rhythmic and her telling is thought provoking, and culminates in this most satisfying book.