Getting Mother’s Body: A Novel
- ISBN13: 9780812968002
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’s wildly original debut novel, Getting Mother’s Body, follows pregnant, unmarried Billy Beede and her down-and-out family in 1960s Texas as they search for the storied jewels buried—or were they?—with Billy’s fast-running, six-years-dead mother, Willa Mae. Getting Mother’s Body is a true spiritual successor to the work of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker—but when it comes to bringing hard… More >>
Having read “Getting Mother’s Body” for a library book discussion group, I expected something out of my ordinary reading selection circle. And is it ever! I must say I enjoyed the book, though keeping characters’ relationships straight was difficult–who is whose uncle? aunt? lover? brother? Furthermore, the characters’ voices are simply too similar. They all sound alike, with their–pardon me for saying it–Ebonics English. Whether it is pregnant teen Billy Beede, her mother’s lesbian lover’s mother Candy Napoleon, or Laz Jackson, who has long has his “cap set for” Billy (despite her dislike of him), they all speak the same way–with “yr” and “I’ma” and “I says.” I sometimes thought I was reading a high schooler’s email! Finally, I wish authors would take the creative time to come up with original names for their characters, instead of borrowing them from previous literature. My complaint here is with Dill, the lesbian pig farmer. For me, Dill will always be the little boy from Meridian, Mississippi, in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” What’s to be gained from attaching that name to another character? The story line moves slowly, but is intriguing enough to keep a patient reader’s interest, despite my qualifications of the way it is written.
Rating: 3 / 5
Getting Mother’s Body doesn’t live up to the rave reviews here. It is an okay book, don’t get me wrong but it’s too tied up in language and details to be an enjoyable read. Parks definitely has a gift, but the flowery language fell deaf on my ears. I much more enjoyed the previous readings of Sovereign Rule and The Da Vinci Code.
Rating: 3 / 5
This novel tells a very good story “IF”, you can get past the extremely bad english. I passed this book on to a couple of co-workers and not 1 was willing to finish the book. I struggled with this book all the way to the end. It told a very good story but (I feel) it should have been written with better english. I understand where the author was going with the english but, oooooh weeeeee.
Rating: 2 / 5
There are very few authors who can both write and give a good performance on the audio of their books. Ms. Parks is not one of them. She may be a gifted playwrite and novelist, but she’s not a narrator. You’d think someone who works in theater would understand the concept of voice talent, and make her publisher hire some to read her book for the audio version. Alas, Ms. Parks undertook the job herself, and the effect leaves a lot to be desired. For example, if you’re going to have your characters speak in a regional patois, you can’t then read it as though it’s beneath you to speak that way, hesitating just slightly before each mispronunciation or grammatical error as though to disassociate yourself and make it clear that you don’t speak that way. I’ve heard electronically read books with more feeling. Stick with the printed page for this one.
Rating: 2 / 5
The book starts out with a bang! I ordered it to send to my dad for Christmas because he wanted to read some of Suzan Lori Parks books, but I hadn’t read it first. Maybe I should have! There are numerous explicit sexual scenes. The story line is exciting, and it is a quick read, although I found it a little difficult to keep up with all the characters. I also didn’t understand the significance of Dill’s character (and who she/he was)until about halfway through the book. It becomes clearer toward the end. If you don’t mind adult situations, this is a fun book to read. Her use of language to express the character’s thoughts is excellent.
Rating: 4 / 5