African American Literature Discussion Group: Getting ready for...Silver Sparrow

Friday, March 16, 2012

Getting ready for...Silver Sparrow

Henrietta Lacks was clearly a popular choice; thanks to the 18 participants who came out for a rousing discussion of medical research, race, ethics and class last Tuesday! I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

We're shifting gears next month with Silver Sparrow, a stunning, painful story of betrayal and disillusionment, from Atlanta author Tayari Jones, (see my post from last October ). Dana and Chaurisse are sisters, but only Dana knows it. She and her mother Gwen are the "secret" family, the illegitimate wife and daughter James Witherspoon hides from his "real" family and the rest of the world. Although James persuades himself that he's doing right by them, Dana's resentment at always being second best eventually leads to devastating revelations for everyone involved. Jones creates a cast of fascinating and memorable characters, and a fully realized setting in Atlanta's black community of the late 70s and 80.

Silver Sparrow has struck a chord with many readers; it's won numerous awards, and has been profiled on NPR's All Things Considered, blacklitchat, The Root, and the African American Book Club.

As usual, I've reserved copies for AAL group members, so call 847-448-8620 or stop by the Evanston Public Library Reader's Services desk to get one. I'll see all of you next month, April 10th, 7:00 pm at Evanston Public Library!

4 comments:

Gretchen LivingstonMarch 16, 2012 at 8:16 AM
I enjoyed the discussion on Immortal Life. I thought some of you might enjoy the recent book, Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century, by Dorthy Roberts, who lives in Evanston and works at Northwestern. Here's a link: http://thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1789.

I confess that I have not read it, but I did attend a talk by Roberts at NW hosted by the YWCA and it sounded interesting enough for me to buy the book. It strikes me as a good follow up to the Immortal Life book.
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Lesley WilliamsMarch 29, 2012 at 7:21 PM
Thanks Gretchen! I'm definitely putting it on my reading list.

Lesley
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CanadaJune 5, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Silver Sparrow was an awesome read! Tayari has an amazing voice. Her character development, prose, and storyline immediately endear you to the characters of this book! I'm looking forward to reading more from her!
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Lesley W.June 27, 2012 at 1:56 PM
Glad you liked it Canada! I agree: Tayari is sensational. Please keep commenting on our books!
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Welcome to the African American Literature Discussion Group blog!

Whether you are new to our group or a long-standing participant, feel free to check here for dates and locations of our book discussions, book reviews, commentary on African American literature, library issues, author events, or merely to share a post about an issue of interest. The AAL book group meets the third Tuesday of each month in the Evanston Public Library first floor Small Meeting Room and is open to the public. A list of upcoming titles is available on the Evanston Public Library website and you may register and pick up copies of each month’s titles at the library’s second floor Reader’s Services desk.

Here's a complete list of books we've discussed!

Check us out on GoodReads too!

Till our next post, happy reading!

Sincerely,

Lesley Williams
Book Discussion Facilitator

Evanston Public Library
1703 Orrington Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 448-8620

What to Read Next...The Hanging Bridge

From guest reviewer Vaughan Jones: We all have had lessons in history in college, but being young, and never being in the Jim Crow environment, there was no real connection to the level of hate and white supremacy in the community. The book connected how the lynching and violence was used as a continuing campaign of subjugation to have a cheap and spiritually defeated labor force be brutalized for the slightest of infractions. It was like reading Theodore White's " Making of a President". It put the reader right there n Shubuta, Clark County MS. You felt like you were witnessing the barbarism and hate, at the scene. I can understand how the African Americans in Clarke County endured the environment and like the Jews of Europe, not all of them felt they had alternatives. They just had to endure. Just unbelievable. The book is completely readable for all levels and not making it as A. Bartlett Giamatti once called academic writing, "High Institutional". The focus was on the 2 separate lynchings of 6 young black residents (4 in 1918 and 2 in 1942), and how Clark County's continued to resist to any form of change. But your highlighting the work of Walter White and the early NAACP took so much courage, very few people understand the risks those people took in getting the story on the lynchings across the South. You also highlighted the real genocidal acts taking place outside of Mississippi in other areas, an example was the outright murder of the Black farmers in Arkansas. In a lot of ways, the US is not unlike other countries like Germany who want only to either brush over the barbarism and crimes. In the writing of "The Hanging Bridge, Prof. Ward transitioned and highlighted the work of the African Americans, who were able to get Early Childhood Care, through Head Start and the efforts of the county political leadership to manipulate and hinder any efforts to have any political or economic independence. This book would be a great addition to the curriculum of Evanston Township High School and surrounding high schools for the students to have the insight on why the language of demagogues is so dangerous. It is not unlike a virus that infects a population with the results being mob actions and murders.

African American Literature Discussion Group

Friday, March 16, 2012

Getting ready for...Silver Sparrow

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