The invention and voices are handled deftly and spin a place and its people. Such an intriguing beginning: an island off the coast of the US, deeded to an enslaved woman by her white husband. I enjoyed the visit and was left wanting more, which was the point I think. ( )

magic on all black island

There were so many themes -- love where women break men’s hearts, trust, believing, conjuring, slave history, the importance of community and oral tradition -- with so much foreshadowing along with so many allusions to Shakespeare’s plays, it was hard to reconcile all of them and discover Naylor’s intent.
There was explicit reference to King Lear, a nod to Hamlet with one of the main characters named Ophelia, and, of course to The Tempest, with Mama Day’s given name, Miranda. And maybe a little bit of Romeo and Juliet with George and Ophelia as star-crossed lovers.
I had trouble resolving all of this because the narrative arc never really followed any of these tantalizing threads. While Lear and the Tempest both take place on islands in the midst of storms, everybody dies in Lear while everyone lives to make up and be happy at the end of the Tempest. The outcome is a little more mixed at the end of Mama Day.
In the midst of discussing this, the leader of our book group made a great observation. Gloria Naylor’s education immersed her heavily into the literature of dead white men (e.g., Shakespeare) but rather than following them blindly, she’s using some of their themes while layering her own cultural tradition on top of it.
Re-examing Mama Day in that light and looking more closely again at the Tempest, I began to see that Naylor was picking and choosing her Shakespearean references as part of a richer and more complex stew. The cultural conditions are not an overlay but the heart of a story that follows its own narrative arc from Africa to Willow Springs to New York City and back again. The Shakespearean references are more like easter eggs (hidden messages or images hidden in video games or movies) than plot drivers.
• Mama Day sends her magic yellow pollen in Cocoa’s letter to George – think Prospero sending Ariel to beguile Ferdinand into loving Miranda. The union of both couples is intended to resolve historical rifts and restore balance.
• Mama Day’s shock at seeing the water lilies carved into the rocker made by Ambush and Beatrice – think death by drowning (a theme in Mama Day) of Ophelia as depicted in the famous Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais
• Even though Mama Day is most closely aligned with The Tempest, George is most engaged by King Lear. He’s reading the wrong play!!
• The importance of Mama Day’s walking stick and ancient book in Cocoa’s cure – think of Prospero’s soliloquy at the end of The Tempest when his work is almost done and he’s ready to abandon his “rough magic.” “I’ll break my staff, / Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, / And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, / I’ll drown my book”
Mama Day is an amazing book. Rich, difficult and ultimately rewarding in its blending of so many diverse cultural traditions to create something unique in its own right.

The narration was excellent with three different readers. I didn't always agree with their choices of inflection, but each narrator caught the spirit of the character and the book. Since the book uses multiple POV without little or no indication of change, it can be challenging to follow. The narrators solved that problem for the reader without detracting from the language or the structure. ( )

I'll admit, I struggled a bit at times. Cocoa/Ophelia isn't a likable character but she is very real and 3-dimensional creation. The story iss powerful, the ending had me sobbing, and the world building and magical realism is great.

Trigger warning for physical domestic violence. ( )

Mama Day! Is it a contemporary story? Yes, partly. Is it a folktale? Yes, partly. Is It history? Yes, partly. In addition, there are influences from Shakespeare and magical realism.

While some of this imaginative story takes place in New York City, most of the action is on Willow Springs, a fictional island that is between, but does not belong to, South Carolina and Georgia. The island has an unusual history and an unusual cast of characters, one of whose three names is Ophelia.

I so enjoyed this book that I didn't want it to end!
( )