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A carregar... Praisesong for the Widow (1983)por Paule Marshall
500 Great Books by Women (277) A carregar...
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This book was very disappointing. The plot was intriguing, but the writing wasn't up to par. The characters were interesting and held lots of promise, but ultimately, the book never came through. The best parts were about the main character's earlier life. ( ) This 1983 novel stitches up the rended fabric between Africa and the US for Avey (short for Avatara) Johnson. A middle aged widow, Avey is with two friends on a Caribbean cruise when she abruptly decides to leave them and return to New York. Instead, while she's waiting for the flight home from Grenada, Avey is drawn to a rum shop on the beach and to its elderly proprietor, Lebert Joseph. He is preparing for an annual homecoming to an outer island, Carriacou, and Avey makes the rough journey with him, still compelled by she doesn't know what. The dancing, singing, and summoning up of ancestors reminds Avey of her childhood visits to Tatem, the South Carolina island where her Ibo ancestors walked into the sea, refusing to succumb to enslavement. Sandwiched in between the island tales is Avey's life with her husband Jay, an ambitious accountant who is almost destroyed by virulent post-WW II racism he encounters as he tries to move his family to higher economic ground. The lovely recounting of Jay and Avey's secret private dances, and of the Banda, Temne, Arada, Moko, Congo, Chamba tribe members and their Beg Pardon circles of celebration on Carriacou, make this a novel to savor and to reread. this is really wonderful. i had to read it in snatches of paragraphs and pages over far, far too long for such a slim and layered volume, but couldn't stop myself because i was liking it so much. the language and the story are both fantastic, although the motivation/feelings of the characters were sometimes inexplicable to me. ( this is about separation and loss, longing, discovery and recovery. it is really lovely and i'm looking forward to reading it again and giving it the focus it is due (and likely rating it higher). "What's your nation?" he asked her, his manner curious, interested, even friendly all of a sudden. "Arada . . . ? Is you an Arada?" He waited. "Cromanti maybe . . . ?" And he again waited. "Yarraba then . . . ? Moko . . . ?" On and on he recited the list of names, pausing after each one to give her time to answer. "Temne . . . ? Is you a Temne maybe? Banda . . . ?" What was the man going on about? What were these names? Each one made her head ache all the more. She thought she heard in them the faint rattle of the necklace of cowrie shells and amber Marion always wore. Africa? Did they have something to do with Africa? Sixty-something widow Avey Johnson is on a Caribbean cruise with a couple of friends, an annual event since the death of her husband some four years earlier. Something happens to Avey on this cruise. She has a sudden urge to leave the ship and take the next plane home, so she disembarks at Grenada, the ship's next port of call. Instead of flying home immediately, Avey is drawn into the annual excursion from Grenada to the out island of Carriacou - a sort of ritual homecoming for the islanders who now make their homes on Grenada. The experience becomes a spiritual and cultural homecoming for Avey. This novel explores collective memory as expressed through religious and cultural rituals and oral traditions in the United States and the Caribbean. Recommended for readers with an interest in African American literature, Caribbean literature, the African diaspora, women's studies, and religious studies. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
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Featuring a new original introduction by Opal Palmer Adisa Avey Johnson--a Black, middle-aged, middle-class widow given to hats, gloves, and pearls--has long since put behind her the Harlem of her childhood. Then on a cruise to the Caribbean with two friends, inspired by a troubling dream, she senses her life beginning to unravel--and in a panic packs her bag in the middle of the night and abandons her friends at the next port of call. The unexpected and beautiful adventure that follows provides Avey with the links to the culture and history she has so long disavowed. Originally published in 1983, Praisesong for the Widow was a recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, and is presented here in a beautiful new hardcover edition as the second title in McSweeney's Of the Diaspora series. "Astonishingly moving."-Anne Tyler, The New York Times Book Review About Of the Diaspora: McSweeney's Of the Diaspora is a series of previously published works in Black literature whose themes, settings, characterizations, and conflicts evoke an experience, language, imagery and power born of the Middle Passage and the particular aesthetic which connects African-derived peoples to a shared artistic and ancestral past. Wesley Brown's Tragic Magic, the first novel in the series, was originally published in 1978 and championed by Toni Morrison during her tenure as an editor at Random House. This Of the Diaspora edition features a new introduction written by Brown for the series. Tragic Magic will be followed by Paule Marshall's novel of a Harlem widow claiming new life. Praisesong for the Widow was originally published in 1983 and was a recipient of the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award. The series is edited by writer Erica Vital-Lazare, a professor of creative writing and Marginalized Voices in literature at the College of Southern Nevada. Published in collectible hardcover editions with original cover art by Sunra Thompson, the first three works hail from Black American voices defined by what Amiri Baraka described as strong feeling "getting into new blues, from the old ones." Of the Diaspora-North America will be followed by series from the diasporic communities of Europe, the Caribbean and Brazil. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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