Mandy Oxendine

by Charles Hackenberry, Charles Hackenberry

In a novel rejected by a major publisher in the 19th century as too shocking for its time, writer Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932) challenges the notion that race, class, education, and gender must define one's "rightful" place in society. Both a romance and a mystery, MANDY OXENDINE tells the compelling story of two fair-skinned, racially mixed lovers who chose to live on opposite sides of the color line .

136 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Chesnutt tells us as much about race after Reconstruction as any writer before the Harlem Renaissance. His Conjure Tales illustrates the tactics blacks used to preserve their culture among the ruins of abandoned plantations. The Marrow of Tradition is an impressive account of racial violence in Wilmington, NC, at the end of the 19th century. In Mandy Oxendine, a novel not published for almost a century, the ending violates the tragic conventions of the passing story. As Ralph Ellison might have put it, Chesnutt is a novelist who "changes the joke to slip the yoke."

[Tiahrjah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending wasnt what I thought it would be but Charles Chesnutt like always provided an interesting read.

[Carlos West · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short novel about race relations in North Carolina set in the 1880’s that’s an easy read. Well defined characters which besides the main 2 include a white man and a traveling preacher who are involved in the romance as well. What sets the story apart from the run of the mill is a female student who may be very young or maybe not and is emotionally driven. Plenty of dialogue which helps move the story along at a rapid rate.