Somebody Else's Mama: A Gripping African American Family Drama – A Woman's Journey Through Loss, Loyalty, and Healing

by David Haynes

As she struggles to move from antagonism to common ground with Miss Xenobia Kezee, her sick, elderly, cantankerous mother-in-law, Paula Johnson confronts her own mother’s death and her husband’s detachment from the emotional life of his family.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

360 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

David Haynes has been recognized by Granta magazine as one of America's best young novelists. The author of six critically acclaimed novels and five children's books, he is director of creative writing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

The former sixth grade teacher's short stories have been heard on "Selected Shorts" on NPR, and his novels have been recognized by the American Library Association.

--from the author profile at SMU

See also other authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Ktbird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A generational study of love and family. What does it mean to be a wife and mother? How do you navigate change? How do you come to terms with things that never change?

[Terry Polston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes cantankerous old women have their own reasons.

2nd reading in 2022. I saved this book but couldn't remember why. Just a few pages in and I was hooked again. Nothing earth shattering, no unexpected reveal. Just a family living in a small, southern, all negro town, living their lives when the grandma gets sick and is brought home to recover. Only she hates the house, Hates the town. Spent 20 years there in a disastrous marriage and vowed never to return. It is so hard when you have no say over your own life, again. It's also a story of unexpectedly taking care of somebody else's mama.
Told in alternating POV, the grandma, the son, his wife.

[Kerry Quinlisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book about ordinary people living ordinary lives. It was a fun read.