Friday, April 30, 2010

Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden Review



From the Publisher's Website:

Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights era. Blending fact and fiction, Glorious is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and ultimately revival offers a candid and true portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
It is a novel informed by the question that is the title of Langston Hughes's famous poem: What happens to a dream deferred? Based on years of research, this heart-wrenching fictional account is given added resonance by factual events coupled with real and imagined larger-than-life characters. Glorious is an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption.

About the Author:

BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of six critically acclaimed novels including the classic Sugar and Nowhere Is a Place, which was a Washington Post Best Fiction title for 2006. She is a two time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist for fiction, as well as the recipient of two fiction honor awards from the BCALA. Her sophomore novel, The Warmest December, was praised by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison as "searing and expertly imagined." McFadden lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is working on her next novel.

My Thoughts - This is a very raw book dealing with issues people usually sweep under the rug. While I'm
not a black woman, the author shows me the pain of the discrimination her main character Easter felt. I did get a little aggravated at Easter because every time things got tough she ran but I loved this book. This was truly an amazing story and I highly recommend it.
Disclosure - This product was given for review for my honest opinion, no other compensation.

2 comments:

Colette S said...

I love books that while veiled fiction, still deals with raw, real life.

mrsshukra said...

I initially thought I wouldn't be able to relate to this book, not being African American but after reading your review, I think this book is relevant, thank you!