This has been a long time coming. After reading this book so many months ago, I thought about what I wanted to say about this MASTERPIECE. I have read the reviews and agreed with each one. I have read TONS of books but there are only two books(literary fiction) prior to reading this that I became so captivated by the writing style & the characters that I read the book in hours. The books are The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Push by Sapphire, and now Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden.
I have also read many "Bestsellers" and thought to myself, Is this what sold millions in the first days of publication? Ms. McFadden truly deserves more praise than she receives.
Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden's rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
Here are a few passages from this amazing book:
"Girl, every place the same as here,they just go by different names. Anyway, I'd rather stay here and deal with devil I already know." (32)
"When she caught Easter staring,which was often, she would snort, "This here my cat, I got a right to pet it." (40)
"There was entirely too much pussy under one roof and she didn't want to dangle additional temptation in front of her husband." (72-73)
If I 'low that, the rest of these girls up here will feel they could do the same thing, you hearing me?" (76)
"And the fact that her babies were conceived in her mind and not her womb did not make any less alive, any less beautiful, any less loved, or any less glorious." (101)
You can find out more about this author and all of her books on her website http://www.bernicemcfadden.com/.
Support her because she is truly a valid asset to the LITERARY WORLD!
Always,
B. LaShera GLAZE
Those passages and yes, her imagination takes you there in that moment to experience life AS the characters. I love that about her works of art! There's too much I can say about my sister but I'm biased! Love your review and appreciate your greatly!
ReplyDeleteI felt I knew these wonderfully portrayed characters as they came to life; and I became emotionally invested as I experienced them and their plights and issues in this commanding thought-provoking epic of a novel with it's rich historical detail. What I didn't know, I learned from this, and I was reminded of what I already knew.
ReplyDeleteYou may find certain aspects of this true-to-life work of fiction heartbreaking, cruel, nerve-wracking, and more - but you will also find it difficult to put down, because it will grip and hold your attention from beginning to end.
Yes! We all can agree this is an amazing novel.
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