bookshelf

The Burden of Sweetberry

Name: The Burden of Sweetberry
Author: Carol Gosa-Summerville
ISBN: 978-1-5238-4274-2

by Carol Gosa-Summerville ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2016

A stirring tale rooted in the language and experience of the Alabama community it depicts.

bookshelf

In this debut historical novel, a Southern African-American enclave struggles with a public tragedy.

In the early 1960s, the African-American community in Sipsey, Alabama, is rocked by a scandal centered on a woman named Candida Ellen “Sweetberry” Armstrong. Sweetberry has spent two decades working menial cleaning jobs, raising two college-bound daughters as a single mother, and carrying on an affair with a prominent married man, Deacon Josiah Hess. Her hard times seem to finally be over when she becomes engaged to Luther McGill, a local man who went to Philadelphia to make his fortune—through both legal and illegal means—and returned home a success. But this dream is shattered when Hess beats McGill to death in a jealous rage outside the First Macedonia Baptist Church. The novel builds from this central tragedy, exploring the causes of the trauma, and its effects on not only Sweetberry and her family, but the entire community. Much of this plays out in the courtroom at Hess’ trial, in front of an all-white jury. Sipsey—and more specifically, First Macedonia—is as much at the heart of the book as Sweetberry herself. The novel’s greatest asset is Gosa-Summerville’s ear for the language of the townsfolk, and her ability to interweave their different voices together. Early in the novel, a communal narrative voice responds to a rumor of Sweetberry’s suicide attempt: “This drew blood from the turnip! How dare she? Wasn’t she God’s creation?” The book’s language is further enriched with the seamless inclusion of hymns. In one moving scene, Sweetberry’s plaintive call of “Who shall I be?” is answered with the spiritual “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.” The author’s handling of the story is a bit less smooth. Events and information are often telegraphed, over-summarized, and repeated in different ways. Little is held back, so the various plot points, while intriguing, never come to the reader as surprises or revelations. This could be a leaner, more shapely novel. Still, the sound of each page is a pleasure.

A stirring tale rooted in the language and experience of the Alabama community it depicts.

Pub Date: May 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5238-4274-2

Page Count: 414

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 22, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION

bookshelf

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

by C.S. Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1942

bookshelf

These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942

ISBN: 0060652934

Page Count: 53

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL MY ROAD BEFORE ME
by C.S. Lewis

- BOOK REVIEW
PRESENT CONCERNS
by C.S. Lewis

- BOOK REVIEW
BOXEN
by C.S. Lewis

bookshelf

THE CHOSEN

by Chaim Potok ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 1967

bookshelf

This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.