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Kentucky Voices
The Birds of Opulence
From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street comes an astonishing new novel. A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness.
The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive.
Crystal Wilkinson offers up Opulence and its people in lush, poetic detail. It is a world of magic, conjuring, signs, and spells, but also of harsh realities that only love―and love that's handed down―can conquer. At once tragic and hopeful, this captivating novel is a story about another time, rendered for our own.
The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive.
Crystal Wilkinson offers up Opulence and its people in lush, poetic detail. It is a world of magic, conjuring, signs, and spells, but also of harsh realities that only love―and love that's handed down―can conquer. At once tragic and hopeful, this captivating novel is a story about another time, rendered for our own.
216 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2016
114 people are currently reading
4577 people want to read
About the author
Crystal Wilkinson
18 books437 followersCrystal Wilkinson, a recent fellowship recipient of the Academy of American Poets, is the award-winning author of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, a culinary memoir, Perfect Black, a collection of poems, and three works of fiction—The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, an O. Henry Prize, a USA Artists Fellowship, and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. She has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, The Hermitage Foundation and others. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures. She was Poet Laureate of Kentucky from 2021 to 2023. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Kentucky where she is a Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews
December 29, 2018
"The Birds of Opulence" is a lyrical novel about four generations of women in an African-American family in Kentucky. They love each other, but worry about inherited mental illness. The stain of rape and illegitimate children has come down upon the Goode-Brown family and the nearby Clarks. Everyone in the rural town of Opulence knows everyone else's secrets, but they also provide a sense of community. The men in Opulence range from the helpful, caring Joe Brown to the men that casually use and discard the young women.
The book opens on the day that Yolanda is born. Crystal Wilkinson paints a sensuous picture with words: "Imagine a tree, a bird in the tree, the hills, the creek, a possum, the dog chasing the possum. Imagine yourself a woman who gathers stories in her apron. The sun peeped through the silver maples the day I was born." (3)
The multi-generational story is told in a group of vignettes mixing their lives in the later 20th Century with their memories. The relationships between the women is complex with four generations living together under one roof. The women are the birds of Opulence in one sense. There are also many types of birds in the background during some of the more emotionally charged vignettes: "By June, the summer birds have returned and this thing Francine Clark has done is still fresh on every tongue." (51)
The gorgeous bird on the cover will grab the reader's attention. Crystal Wilkinson's partner, the poet and visual artist Ron Davis, designed the African Sankofa bird which ties back to the African heritage of the women and memories. Author Wiley Cash chose "The Birds of Opulence" to be the September selection in his new online Open Canon Book Club. This beautifully written book is a great choice for a book discussion. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
The book opens on the day that Yolanda is born. Crystal Wilkinson paints a sensuous picture with words: "Imagine a tree, a bird in the tree, the hills, the creek, a possum, the dog chasing the possum. Imagine yourself a woman who gathers stories in her apron. The sun peeped through the silver maples the day I was born." (3)
The multi-generational story is told in a group of vignettes mixing their lives in the later 20th Century with their memories. The relationships between the women is complex with four generations living together under one roof. The women are the birds of Opulence in one sense. There are also many types of birds in the background during some of the more emotionally charged vignettes: "By June, the summer birds have returned and this thing Francine Clark has done is still fresh on every tongue." (51)
The gorgeous bird on the cover will grab the reader's attention. Crystal Wilkinson's partner, the poet and visual artist Ron Davis, designed the African Sankofa bird which ties back to the African heritage of the women and memories. Author Wiley Cash chose "The Birds of Opulence" to be the September selection in his new online Open Canon Book Club. This beautifully written book is a great choice for a book discussion. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
April 28, 2017
More like 4.5 stars.
In The Birds of Opulence, Crystal Wilkinson takes the reader to a home in small town Opulence, Kentucky inhabited by four generations of Black women: great grandma Minnie Mae, Grandma Tookie, Mama Lucy, and baby of the family, Yolanda. Each woman is touched by trauma or mental illness, having either caused it or grappled with it their entire lives. The men in their lives, Lucy's husband who is a salve, and Yolanda's big brother Kevin, who makes space for himself with any woman he can find outside of the home, move around the feminine space filled with hurt and tragedy hoping to fit in wherever they can.
Motherhood, womanhood, girlhood, and love are splashed across these pages to examine in multiple heartbreaking circumstances. Friendship is also big subject, as Yolanda grows up with a close girlfriend with issues reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Sula. The subject matter is heavy, but the writing is touching and exquisite. I didn't want this one to end. This is the kind of read that made me want to slap myself for not having read Wilkinson before now. Lush, touching, Southern, captivating prose.
Wilkinson won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence last year, and it was rightly deserved.
In The Birds of Opulence, Crystal Wilkinson takes the reader to a home in small town Opulence, Kentucky inhabited by four generations of Black women: great grandma Minnie Mae, Grandma Tookie, Mama Lucy, and baby of the family, Yolanda. Each woman is touched by trauma or mental illness, having either caused it or grappled with it their entire lives. The men in their lives, Lucy's husband who is a salve, and Yolanda's big brother Kevin, who makes space for himself with any woman he can find outside of the home, move around the feminine space filled with hurt and tragedy hoping to fit in wherever they can.
Motherhood, womanhood, girlhood, and love are splashed across these pages to examine in multiple heartbreaking circumstances. Friendship is also big subject, as Yolanda grows up with a close girlfriend with issues reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Sula. The subject matter is heavy, but the writing is touching and exquisite. I didn't want this one to end. This is the kind of read that made me want to slap myself for not having read Wilkinson before now. Lush, touching, Southern, captivating prose.
Wilkinson won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence last year, and it was rightly deserved.
September 4, 2024
As I began reading this slim novel, I realized that the 200 pages would not be a quick read. The writing was too beautiful, the speech patterns too familiar and so much like those of my own grandparents and Aunts and cousins, that I had to pause several times to appreciate the way it sounded. Also, as I read, I understood that much of this story must have been semi-autobiographical. I had just read her newest book, a cookbook/memoir titled "Praisesong For The Kitchen Ghosts". Wilkerson's own mother was mentally ill and had to be hospitalized a great deal of the time, so she was raised by her grandparents. I recognized almost all the characters in this novel as being a part of her own life. You can also see that food and cooking took on a lot of importance in that family.
"Moonlight pours across the porch like a big bowl of creamy soup."
Just a small sample of the wonderful, descriptive prose which became an homage to the women in her family.
"Moonlight pours across the porch like a big bowl of creamy soup."
Just a small sample of the wonderful, descriptive prose which became an homage to the women in her family.
September 5, 2024
A deeply charged character study that begins in 1962 and ends in 1995, focusing on four generations of women, the “birds,” who inhabit the small town of Opulence, Kentucky. I was grateful this novel was only 216 pages because there is some heavy, painfully graphic living in these lives. Dying was almost a “blest” release for some of the women here, plagued by loss, violence, what-ifs and mental instability. Food, and its harvest, preparation and celebration, filters through the whole novel making me wish I’d been invited to dinner. It comes as no surprise to me that this novel won the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Ms. Wilkinson’s gorgeous prose, flawless dialogue, and authentic sense of place and time are most deserving. I appreciated that she painted several of the men here in a loving, supportive and positive light - that was refreshing. Joe Brown was the hero of this novel for me.
“By then, Daddy was devoted to Mama, devoted to all of us. He had already learned how to blend into this river of crazy women.” ~ Yolanda
“By then, Daddy was devoted to Mama, devoted to all of us. He had already learned how to blend into this river of crazy women.” ~ Yolanda
July 15, 2023
This family saga covers multiple generations of women (1960s-1990s) living in the rural black community of Opulence, Kentucky. The storyline follows births, deaths, relationships, scandals, mental health issues, and daily living of the characters. We trace the lineage of matriarch Minnie Mae, her daughter Tookie, granddaughter Lucy, and great granddaughter Yolanda. Yolanda becomes friends with Mona, daughter of Francine, who retreats from society after her husband dies. Though focused on the women, the men are important to the story, especially Joe Brown, the local mechanic married to Lucy, a good-hearted man who wants to help but is ill equipped to handle his wife’s mental instability. I particularly enjoyed the vignette about how the town was founded. The writing is poetic, and the characters seem like real people. They are drawn with sensitivity and depth. I need to read more from this author.
April 13, 2016
If you don’t know how much mad love I have for Crystal Wilkinson’s writing, you’re going to hear all about it in this review of The Birds of Opulence, newly released in March 2016. The story explores life in small town Opulence, focalizing on the Goode-Brown family. The four generations of women, led by the spirited and strong-minded Minnie Mae. For more..... https://browngirlreading.com/2016/04/...
March 10, 2017
I was fortunate enough to hear a reading from the book by the author. I was captivated by the rich language and Appalachian culture. The writing was inspirational and a learning experience. The stories of the women from two families were raw and truthful, delivered by the author's excellent prose.
August 6, 2018
Too few stories are shared about the lives of Black folks in Appalachia. The mountainous Southern region looms large in the American imagination, but the Black people who have deep ties to the land do not.
Crystal Wilkinson is incredibly talented; that is undeniable. 'The Birds of Opulence' follows four generations of women in two separate families over many decades in Opulence, Kentucky. Life is beautiful and harrowing for these women. They've all experienced some sort of trauma, and Wilkinson unpacks the large and small ways in which these traumas manifest themselves in the women's lives. So many questions can be mined from the novel--questions about family, friendship, and place; questions about generational wealth, class, and money; questions about the countryside and rural spaces and how these places are (de)valued in comparison to urban landscapes; questions about gender, sexuality, and deviance; questions about rape, abuse, and shame. Wilkinson's novel shines thematically because it does a great job of mining the complicated thing we call "interior lives."
The novel's structure, however, is challenging. Each chapter reads like an independent short story. The chapters are connected and related, so they form a novel quite easily. The difficulty is that the chapters jump ahead in time quite abruptly; it feels as though seminal moments in the characters' lives are missed. Beyond this, the characters possess so much untapped potential; they aren't as developed as they could and should be. As a reader, you think you know the characters well because Wilkinson has told you a lot about their histories, feelings, thoughts, etc. Through her character portraits, however, Wilkinson has shown very little about the characters. I'm a big fan of "show, don't tell" in fiction. I think that excessive telling works in short stories, but not so much in novels. Since each chapter of 'The Birds of Opulence' can stand as a short story, I get why there is so much telling, but it takes away from the novel's stylistic merit.
The chapters themselves flow fairly well until the last quarter of the novel. There was a fascinating chapter on Kee Kee/Kevin, but it felt out of place and left me wondering why it was included when so little about his life had been shared until that chapter. I also think that the novel would have benefitted from a more in-depth exploration of Yolanda and Mona's adult lives. I found it strange that the novel did not end with a chapter from Yolanda's point-of-view given that the novel opens with her birth.
The characterization and frequent gaps in the storyline made my reading experience with this book less fulfilling than I'd hoped. Nonetheless, I appreciate Wilkinson's writing and commitment to sharing the stories of Black Appalachia.
Crystal Wilkinson is incredibly talented; that is undeniable. 'The Birds of Opulence' follows four generations of women in two separate families over many decades in Opulence, Kentucky. Life is beautiful and harrowing for these women. They've all experienced some sort of trauma, and Wilkinson unpacks the large and small ways in which these traumas manifest themselves in the women's lives. So many questions can be mined from the novel--questions about family, friendship, and place; questions about generational wealth, class, and money; questions about the countryside and rural spaces and how these places are (de)valued in comparison to urban landscapes; questions about gender, sexuality, and deviance; questions about rape, abuse, and shame. Wilkinson's novel shines thematically because it does a great job of mining the complicated thing we call "interior lives."
The novel's structure, however, is challenging. Each chapter reads like an independent short story. The chapters are connected and related, so they form a novel quite easily. The difficulty is that the chapters jump ahead in time quite abruptly; it feels as though seminal moments in the characters' lives are missed. Beyond this, the characters possess so much untapped potential; they aren't as developed as they could and should be. As a reader, you think you know the characters well because Wilkinson has told you a lot about their histories, feelings, thoughts, etc. Through her character portraits, however, Wilkinson has shown very little about the characters. I'm a big fan of "show, don't tell" in fiction. I think that excessive telling works in short stories, but not so much in novels. Since each chapter of 'The Birds of Opulence' can stand as a short story, I get why there is so much telling, but it takes away from the novel's stylistic merit.
The chapters themselves flow fairly well until the last quarter of the novel. There was a fascinating chapter on Kee Kee/Kevin, but it felt out of place and left me wondering why it was included when so little about his life had been shared until that chapter. I also think that the novel would have benefitted from a more in-depth exploration of Yolanda and Mona's adult lives. I found it strange that the novel did not end with a chapter from Yolanda's point-of-view given that the novel opens with her birth.
The characterization and frequent gaps in the storyline made my reading experience with this book less fulfilling than I'd hoped. Nonetheless, I appreciate Wilkinson's writing and commitment to sharing the stories of Black Appalachia.
March 20, 2018
This book is beeeeeeeeautiful. I don’t normally read a lot of litfic because I have to be in a very particular kind of mood and that doesn’t happen very often, but boyhowdy am I that this book was here when the mood struck. This is the kinda book where in 2 years I’m not really gonna remember any character names or what happened but as I move through life, lines or feelings from this book are gonna bubble up. It’s gonna stick in my stomach like oatmeal. And I love oatmeal.
March 13, 2024
Crystal Wilkinson has written a novel honoring and acknowledging the generations of strong women in two families, like birds (either tame or wild, nurturing or unmindful, but always alert to danger within their family). The book is about their relationships with each other, their land and how they handle all of life's trials. The writing is down to earth, and the stories are realistic. Highly recommended.
December 5, 2018
My first wilkinson read. I Love This .
April 8, 2016
Crystal Wilkinson develops a vivid sense of the people and the places in this story. The language is lyrical and the imagery captivating. The main criticism I have is that the book is too short. You get to know the women who drive the story, their family, and the people of Opulence and you care about them. Then it is over and you want to know what happened to Yolanda and Mona and Kee Kee. I recently have read a couple 500 page books that should have been 200. This 200 page book should have been more, or there should be a sequel.
I did struggle with the first chapter. I wasn't sure I would like the book after that. But it grows and draws you in. When I finished, I went back and reread the first chapter. It was different, better, knowing who everyone was. But I also realized that it was told in first person voice by Yolanda. It is the only chapter that is and I don't know why. It makes it seem that the story is about her. But the real arc of the story concerns the whole family and the Home Place that is the setting at beginning and end.
It's a great book. I recommended it to my wife and she enjoyed it very much as well.
I did struggle with the first chapter. I wasn't sure I would like the book after that. But it grows and draws you in. When I finished, I went back and reread the first chapter. It was different, better, knowing who everyone was. But I also realized that it was told in first person voice by Yolanda. It is the only chapter that is and I don't know why. It makes it seem that the story is about her. But the real arc of the story concerns the whole family and the Home Place that is the setting at beginning and end.
It's a great book. I recommended it to my wife and she enjoyed it very much as well.
January 1, 2019
Dangdangdangdangdangdang.
This book. This book is phenomenal. Crystal Wilkinson writes lush, vivid prose which pulled me in from the first paragraph. This book makes me want to write. It makes me aspire to create worlds that bloom off of the page. Dear Lord, why aren't more people talking about this book? Affrilachian writers = 👏
Seriously, make this a 2019 read. An early 2019 read for your TBR list. If you love voices like Jesmyn Ward, you will love this book.
This book. This book is phenomenal. Crystal Wilkinson writes lush, vivid prose which pulled me in from the first paragraph. This book makes me want to write. It makes me aspire to create worlds that bloom off of the page. Dear Lord, why aren't more people talking about this book? Affrilachian writers = 👏
Seriously, make this a 2019 read. An early 2019 read for your TBR list. If you love voices like Jesmyn Ward, you will love this book.
November 16, 2016
It's a beautiful nest of stories.
November 4, 2020
Rereadx3 for Appalachian Lit
March 1, 2022
Man. That was beautiful.
April 11, 2016
You know that phenomenon called a "book hangover"? Well, suffice it to say that I have needed some grounding today because just after midnight, I finished Crystal Wilkinson's "The Birds of Opulence." Do yourself a favor and hightail it to Wild Fig Books & Coffee and purchase a minimum of one of these books. Once you read it, you will think of many people who will also love it, and you will want to share it with them. But you also are not going to want to ever take a chance on it escaping from your mind, your imagination or your library. Imagine a book that is sheer poetry, that opens up your soul and shines pure light on the way family dynamics are wired and play out, and makes you sad and fiercely proud at the same time... a book about strong women, who are mighty in very different ways, yet a book that does not fail to include men and so many aspects of what separates us yet really brings us together, if we are brave enough to look at it head on and accept it. Yep, imagine that book. And then rejoice. It exists. Because Crystal Wilkinson has written it.
September 2, 2020
The Birds of Opulence is a family saga set in rural Kentucky, painting the lives of 4 generations of the Goode/Brown family, primarily women. It opens in 1962 with the birth of Yolanda, the youngest generation, and moves generally forward. We see through the eyes of Yolanda, her mother Lucy, grandmother Tookie and great-grandmother Minnie Mae, as well as Yolanda's best friend Mona and (less so) her mother. Towards the end, we get very small glimpses into the lives and hearts of Yolanda's brother Kee-Kee and father Joe.
The book is undeniably beautifully written. The prose is evocative of time and place. If I'd been reading this on a Kindle, I would have highlighted paragraphs throughout as just being gorgeous. But ultimately, I felt a little unsatisfied. I read another GR review that said that each chapter could stand as its own short story, and that is a good description. I think I wanted .... a little more.
The book is undeniably beautifully written. The prose is evocative of time and place. If I'd been reading this on a Kindle, I would have highlighted paragraphs throughout as just being gorgeous. But ultimately, I felt a little unsatisfied. I read another GR review that said that each chapter could stand as its own short story, and that is a good description. I think I wanted .... a little more.
September 15, 2018
So well-written, but so, so very depressing, with an ending that left me wanting more. Reading this book was like living little slices of other peoples' lives at different points in time from the 1960s through the 1990s -- the lives of rural black people, particularly women experiencing all manner of different bad experiences with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum depression. Hard lives these folks lived, for the most part, yet there was love of all different kinds to at least partly sustain them, is what I took away. (Note: This was a Wiley Cash Open Canon Book Club book.)
February 8, 2022
This is one of the best books I've read this year. The author brings her considerable poetic sensibilities into a prose narrative about a group of country women tied by memory, tradition, troubles and love. I slowed down my reading to take in all the wonderful images of this family which reminded me so much of my own even though we are from different cultures. The characters are so authentic they seem to grow out of the earth itself. I am waiting a few months to revisit this world and drink in more of the lives and language of this book. Can't recommend it enough.
September 2, 2021
This lovely little novel looks at the lives of several generations of women in a small black southern township called Opulence. There are arrivals of new babies and the death of loved ones. Strong relationships and destructive ones. The writing is lyrical and engaging. The narrators of the audio do a fantastic job but I might revisit this one in print. I am sure there is more to savor there.
August 11, 2023
Focused on two families and three generations of Black women, I appreciated the story’s centering the bonds of family while exploring the mix of trauma and love of the women’s lives. Both a coming of age story of Yolanda and Mona and a story of place.
February 20, 2016
Set in what I assume is an imaginary town in the rural south, The Birds of Opulence is the story of women in an extended family, including the matriarch Minnie Mae, her three children (Tookie, June, and Butter, with a focus on Tookie), and Tookie’s daughter Lucy, Lucy’s husband and their children (KeeKee and Yolanda, with a focus on Yolanda). There is a connected story about a neighbor, Francine, and her daughter Mona. The author brings the reader into the community and provides a good sense of what their lives were like. The writing is lyrical and descriptive, but there is also a lot of dialogue. There is more about what happens than what people think, but we know how the characters feel. Chapters progress chronologically from 1962 to 1995 with the past revealed in memories.
A major theme of the book is the complexity of unintentional pregnancy, including growing up without a father. Some women aren’t clear about how they got pregnant. There are a lot of judgments from family and the community about the pregnancies. Another thread that affects more than one character is depression/madness; however, the author doesn’t dwell on this or explore what is going on in the women’s minds. I would have liked to know more about this.
The book is primarily about the relationships. I particularly liked the development of Mona and Yolanda’s friendship and coming-of-age; also, the relationship of the ‘city brothers’, June and Butter with the rest of the family, especially how their mother felt about their visits. The ritual of “dinner on the grounds” - the food, the judging of each other - was interesting.
I like this book more in retrospect than while I was reading it when I had to make an effort to remember who was who - now that I’ve written it out is easier to hold together and I like looking back at their lives. Surprisingly, I can’t think of other books I have read that are “just” an extended family story in one town. The stories of these women’s lives are important to know.
January 31, 2017
Being a writer is both a good thing and a bad thing when reading other writers' work. You can't just kick back and enjoy; you see the skeleton underneath, the thousand decisions that were made, the weight of the choices, the price of the book that isn't listed on the sticker or back cover. The Birds of Opulence had me walking all around in it, looking under the hood, in the trunk, kicking the tires, on a model of novel I hadn't seen before. I loved it. The writing is beautiful, the characters and setting so real and alive. I love the tenderness of the portraits, the lack of judgment, the embracing of people as they are. Most of all, the book is so brave for its willingness to tackle difficult subject matter, but just as much for the unusual structure of the novel and Wilkinson's willingness to create her own unique example. It starts in 1st person and then moves to the typical 3rd person, it leapfrogs across years, it does not exactly carry one clear narrative line, but reads more like connected short stories. But this works. Beautifully.
July 5, 2021
Quick easy read. Certainly kept my attention. The author, Crystal Wilkinson, has a style that has the words lilting on each and every page like music notes.
I wanted to read because I found out about this novel from my book club, a book club of my, and the author's, alma mater, Eastern Kentucky University. That and the story taking place in a fictional town in KY.
It is a story of four generations of southern black women harkening back to their generations from slavery to near modern times of black farmers.
(I admit i had to draw a chart to follow the women and their placement in the ancestery lineup.)
I enjoyed reading and getting caught up in their individual stories. But the 3 star review stems from being let down to learn it is simply a recounting of their lives with nothing to learn from it, no upbeat endings for any of the players, no lessons learnt, quite gloomy and depressing, actually.
The end result was "why read then?" I can be depresssed on a daily basis on my own.
I wanted to read because I found out about this novel from my book club, a book club of my, and the author's, alma mater, Eastern Kentucky University. That and the story taking place in a fictional town in KY.
It is a story of four generations of southern black women harkening back to their generations from slavery to near modern times of black farmers.
(I admit i had to draw a chart to follow the women and their placement in the ancestery lineup.)
I enjoyed reading and getting caught up in their individual stories. But the 3 star review stems from being let down to learn it is simply a recounting of their lives with nothing to learn from it, no upbeat endings for any of the players, no lessons learnt, quite gloomy and depressing, actually.
The end result was "why read then?" I can be depresssed on a daily basis on my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2016
I'd give it a 3 1/2 if Goodreads let me. It started slow but eventually picked up. Loved the women in the book. Wish more of Kevin's & adult Yolanda's stories could have played out.
July 6, 2016
More of my thoughts on this book can be found here https://youtu.be/5JKRBdAjd2s
November 20, 2020
Maybe I missed the point of this book......
June 10, 2022
"The Birds of Opulence" is an absolute gem of a book. The writing and characters have left me breathless. It packs one hell of a punch for its length.
The novel focuses on 4 generations of the Goode/Brown family with a few additions from the Clarke family. Each chapter is written in a different year and viewpoint. The story begins in 1962 with the birth of Yolanda Brown and Mona Clarke. It wraps up around 1995.
This is a relatively short book. The audiobook is only 5 hours long. All the same it is packed with some pretty heavy themes. It is unflinching in its examination of mental illness and Black womanhood.
Wilkinson writes beautifully with prose more like poetry. Her use of language is masterful and the way she builds atmosphere and paints a picture with words is outstanding.
Characters are fully fleshed and relatable. I enjoyed spending time with the cast of this novel and wanted to know more about them.
This is a beautiful story. I think this will find a way into my personal collection.
The novel focuses on 4 generations of the Goode/Brown family with a few additions from the Clarke family. Each chapter is written in a different year and viewpoint. The story begins in 1962 with the birth of Yolanda Brown and Mona Clarke. It wraps up around 1995.
This is a relatively short book. The audiobook is only 5 hours long. All the same it is packed with some pretty heavy themes. It is unflinching in its examination of mental illness and Black womanhood.
Wilkinson writes beautifully with prose more like poetry. Her use of language is masterful and the way she builds atmosphere and paints a picture with words is outstanding.
Characters are fully fleshed and relatable. I enjoyed spending time with the cast of this novel and wanted to know more about them.
This is a beautiful story. I think this will find a way into my personal collection.
August 11, 2025
The Birds of Opulence almost feels like a prerequisite to Crystal’s latest publication Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts as the author explores the shattered fragments of self one becomes after they lose someone that they love. Most people don’t consider who their mother was before she became one nor do they consider the lives lived before their own existence. I appreciate the author for taking the time to tell this story and others like it.
Her choice of using Opulence Kentucky to set her scene inspires me to tell stories of my own childhood and environment. This book feels like a porch conversation with an elder, a story that needed to be told in order for the audience and author to better understand themselves. She did a great job of describing love in its many layers as well as exploring dark themes of life such as death, rape, and becoming a woman despite it all. I’m so glad that I came across this book and author.
Her choice of using Opulence Kentucky to set her scene inspires me to tell stories of my own childhood and environment. This book feels like a porch conversation with an elder, a story that needed to be told in order for the audience and author to better understand themselves. She did a great job of describing love in its many layers as well as exploring dark themes of life such as death, rape, and becoming a woman despite it all. I’m so glad that I came across this book and author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews