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Bailey's Café
Set in a diner where the food isn't very good and the ambience veers between heaven and hell, this bestselling novel from the author of Mama Day and The Women of Brewster Place is a feast for the senses and the spirit.
241 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 1992
651 people are currently reading
6604 people want to read
About the author
Gloria Naylor
24 books699 followersGloria Naylor was an African-American novelist whose most popular work, The Women of Brewster Place, was made into a 1984 film starring Oprah Winfrey.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
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February 21, 2019
I think I've read my favorite book of 2019. In February. How depressing, lmao. Gloria Naylor is my queen and saviour (Mama Day was my favorite book of 2018) and I cannot wait to read her entire work, this woman can do no wrong!
Bailey's Cafe by Gloria Naylor is a 1992 novel by award-winning American author Gloria Naylor. The novel consists of a loosely intertwined group of stories, all told in first person, about the owners and patrons of Bailey's Cafe, an apparently supernatural establishment, set nominally in New York City, whose entrance can be found from different places and times.
Bailey’s Cafe is the story of a magical place and of the lost souls who have found there, if not redemption, at least a safe haven. As the chapter and section titles suggest, Gloria structures her novel in the form of a jazz performance. Naylor begins with "Maestro, If You Please…", which sets the stage and tone for the rest of the characters. From there the novel moves to "The Vamp", a simple introductory phrase that can be repeated indefinitely until a soloist entires, those characters will step forwards, one at a time, during the "The Jam". Each of the novel’s characters, or performers, has the opportunity to tell their story or play their part. Finally, the novel moves into the "The Wrap", which indicates the music is over; the story has been told.
The novel begins with a first-person narrative by the man whom everyone calls Bailey, after the name of his place of business. Even though Bailey never does mention his real name, he does not omit anything else from his life story. He describes his childhood as the child of African Americans who were the servants of wealthy African Americans, his successful courtship of the beautiful Nadine, his failure in several jobs, and his participation in World War II. What brought Bailey to despair, ironically, was the event that assured him of surviving that war: the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Devastated by guilt, Bailey ended up on the wharf in San Francisco, then inexplicably found himself working in a rundown café with Nadine beside him.
"This is a cafe for people who are at the end of the world, in no-win situations," Naylor noted. "It's a tiny breathing space, where you get a chance to reconstruct your life. There's only two choices anyone has when the world burns down around you: start rebuilding from the ashes or give up."
The folks at Bailey's don't quite throw in the towel, though they have every excuse to. There's Peaches, a Mary Magdalene prostitute who scars her beauty so she won't be a prisoner of it, and Jesse, a former middle-class matron turned heroin addict.
The heart-rending Sadie, who retains an aura of dignity despite a life of being abused. And we have Miss Maple, a straight man who prefers to wear women's "light percale dresses" for some elaborate and fascinating reasons.
Hovering over them is Eve, the crusty guardian angel who runs a boarding house next to Bailey's as a sort of healing waystation/brothel for broken-hearted strays.
If Eve, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene were alive in 1948, they would have found themselves lingering over coffee and pork chops at this greasy spoon. Gloria Naylor, in her enigmatic and compelling novel, conjures up a kind of last-chance eatery for women (and a few men) in need of a spiritual safe haven.
Naylor spent two years doing research for the book, and another year writing it. "Early on I thought it was going to be all about prostitutes per se, and I interviewed some women who are in transition from working as prostitutes. But as I got into it, I realized I had bigger fish to fry." In an interview with The Seattle Times, Naylor explained that "the underlying theme [of Bailey's Cafe] is how people define femaleness and female sexuality, how women have been cast in sexual roles since Eve." Thus, the guests at Eve's boarding house do not fit the "easy sexual labels" used to control women's bodies.
Bailey's Cafe is the first of Naylor's novels to spotlight male characters. "Bailey", the owner of the café, frames the patrons’ stories with his running commentary as well as narrates the story of his courtship of Nadine, his wife. In addition, Miss Maples, a cross-dressing male housekeeper and bouncer, tells the story of why he came to wearing dresses. This shift in Naylor’s exclusive interest in the stories of women has been interpreted as her desire "to portray a different kind of male identity as well as to cultivate a different relationship with her male characters."
Though she penned some wrenching descriptions of men tormenting women, Gloria also devised some endearing male characters. One, an elderly Russian Jew, maintains a rewarding bond with the black cafe owner. "I'm a native New Yorker, and I grew up with Jewish teachers, Jewish neighbors," Gloria said, when asked about that relationship. "I think the tension between blacks and Jews gets blown all out of proportion in the press. What we two peoples have gone through is not the same, but like Bailey and Gabe we can find ways to listen to and respect each other."
In each chapter of Bailey’s Cafe, Gloria has a different character recount his or her life story, a story marked by failure and terminating at Bailey’s Cafe or at Eve’s place of business. What is clear from each of the accounts is that these outcasts are all motivated by universal human needs. It was the yearning for love which drove Sadie to obsessive cleanliness, then to alcohol, and which caused Jesse Bell, when snubbed by her husband’s family, to take to drugs; it was laudable ambition which eventually drove the well-educated black man, "Miss Maple", to work in a bordello, which had been established by a woman who herself had fled from Delta dust in hopes of finding a better life.
The reminiscences of these victims of human selfishness, lust, cruelty, and indifference are heartbreaking. However, what makes Bailey’s Cafe most impressive is not Gloria’s vivid accounts of her characters’ sufferings, but her emphasis on their will to endure. Through her magical vision, Gloria Naylor has revealed both the humanity of her outcasts and their potential for heroism.
Gloria foregoes the happy ending in the wrap, but she lets the maestro give a hopeful ending. Mariam dies in the wall of water that she has created to bathe in, so her young son George will be raised an orphan, never knowing that on the occasion of his birth "the world lit up with lights". In this section, "The Wrap," Bailey says, "I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. He says "Life is just supposed to make you feel". Likewise, as Naylor leaves each character arid the novel as a whole without closure she leaves the reader with the same words to live by: the blues is not supposed to make you feel good either, it is just supposed to make you feel.
Bailey's Cafe by Gloria Naylor is a 1992 novel by award-winning American author Gloria Naylor. The novel consists of a loosely intertwined group of stories, all told in first person, about the owners and patrons of Bailey's Cafe, an apparently supernatural establishment, set nominally in New York City, whose entrance can be found from different places and times.
hush now can you hear it can’t be far awayBefore the actual novel starts, Gloria graces us with this hauntingly beautiful lullaby. In this cradle song, Gloria invokes the blues as a vehicle to take her characters from one form of existence to another and takes its subsequent power prior to introduce the characters of the novel. The stories which comprise the novel echo and reecho each other, but resist closure.
needing the blues to get there
look and you can hear it
look and you can hear
the blues open
a place never
closing:
Bailey’s
Cafe
Bailey’s Cafe is the story of a magical place and of the lost souls who have found there, if not redemption, at least a safe haven. As the chapter and section titles suggest, Gloria structures her novel in the form of a jazz performance. Naylor begins with "Maestro, If You Please…", which sets the stage and tone for the rest of the characters. From there the novel moves to "The Vamp", a simple introductory phrase that can be repeated indefinitely until a soloist entires, those characters will step forwards, one at a time, during the "The Jam". Each of the novel’s characters, or performers, has the opportunity to tell their story or play their part. Finally, the novel moves into the "The Wrap", which indicates the music is over; the story has been told.
There is nothing in back of this cafe. Since the place sits right on the margin between the edge of the world and infinite possibility, he back door opens out to a void. It takes courage to turn the knob and heart to leave the steps.Bailey’s Cafe is filled with life, albeit life in deep pain, and it touches the readers, informs and enriches them. It serves as a way station, a place to go when they are defeated, to gather the strength to re-enter their lives.
The novel begins with a first-person narrative by the man whom everyone calls Bailey, after the name of his place of business. Even though Bailey never does mention his real name, he does not omit anything else from his life story. He describes his childhood as the child of African Americans who were the servants of wealthy African Americans, his successful courtship of the beautiful Nadine, his failure in several jobs, and his participation in World War II. What brought Bailey to despair, ironically, was the event that assured him of surviving that war: the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Devastated by guilt, Bailey ended up on the wharf in San Francisco, then inexplicably found himself working in a rundown café with Nadine beside him.
"This is a cafe for people who are at the end of the world, in no-win situations," Naylor noted. "It's a tiny breathing space, where you get a chance to reconstruct your life. There's only two choices anyone has when the world burns down around you: start rebuilding from the ashes or give up."
The folks at Bailey's don't quite throw in the towel, though they have every excuse to. There's Peaches, a Mary Magdalene prostitute who scars her beauty so she won't be a prisoner of it, and Jesse, a former middle-class matron turned heroin addict.
The heart-rending Sadie, who retains an aura of dignity despite a life of being abused. And we have Miss Maple, a straight man who prefers to wear women's "light percale dresses" for some elaborate and fascinating reasons.
Hovering over them is Eve, the crusty guardian angel who runs a boarding house next to Bailey's as a sort of healing waystation/brothel for broken-hearted strays.
If Eve, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene were alive in 1948, they would have found themselves lingering over coffee and pork chops at this greasy spoon. Gloria Naylor, in her enigmatic and compelling novel, conjures up a kind of last-chance eatery for women (and a few men) in need of a spiritual safe haven.
Naylor spent two years doing research for the book, and another year writing it. "Early on I thought it was going to be all about prostitutes per se, and I interviewed some women who are in transition from working as prostitutes. But as I got into it, I realized I had bigger fish to fry." In an interview with The Seattle Times, Naylor explained that "the underlying theme [of Bailey's Cafe] is how people define femaleness and female sexuality, how women have been cast in sexual roles since Eve." Thus, the guests at Eve's boarding house do not fit the "easy sexual labels" used to control women's bodies.
Bailey's Cafe is the first of Naylor's novels to spotlight male characters. "Bailey", the owner of the café, frames the patrons’ stories with his running commentary as well as narrates the story of his courtship of Nadine, his wife. In addition, Miss Maples, a cross-dressing male housekeeper and bouncer, tells the story of why he came to wearing dresses. This shift in Naylor’s exclusive interest in the stories of women has been interpreted as her desire "to portray a different kind of male identity as well as to cultivate a different relationship with her male characters."
Though she penned some wrenching descriptions of men tormenting women, Gloria also devised some endearing male characters. One, an elderly Russian Jew, maintains a rewarding bond with the black cafe owner. "I'm a native New Yorker, and I grew up with Jewish teachers, Jewish neighbors," Gloria said, when asked about that relationship. "I think the tension between blacks and Jews gets blown all out of proportion in the press. What we two peoples have gone through is not the same, but like Bailey and Gabe we can find ways to listen to and respect each other."
In each chapter of Bailey’s Cafe, Gloria has a different character recount his or her life story, a story marked by failure and terminating at Bailey’s Cafe or at Eve’s place of business. What is clear from each of the accounts is that these outcasts are all motivated by universal human needs. It was the yearning for love which drove Sadie to obsessive cleanliness, then to alcohol, and which caused Jesse Bell, when snubbed by her husband’s family, to take to drugs; it was laudable ambition which eventually drove the well-educated black man, "Miss Maple", to work in a bordello, which had been established by a woman who herself had fled from Delta dust in hopes of finding a better life.
The reminiscences of these victims of human selfishness, lust, cruelty, and indifference are heartbreaking. However, what makes Bailey’s Cafe most impressive is not Gloria’s vivid accounts of her characters’ sufferings, but her emphasis on their will to endure. Through her magical vision, Gloria Naylor has revealed both the humanity of her outcasts and their potential for heroism.
Gloria foregoes the happy ending in the wrap, but she lets the maestro give a hopeful ending. Mariam dies in the wall of water that she has created to bathe in, so her young son George will be raised an orphan, never knowing that on the occasion of his birth "the world lit up with lights". In this section, "The Wrap," Bailey says, "I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. He says "Life is just supposed to make you feel". Likewise, as Naylor leaves each character arid the novel as a whole without closure she leaves the reader with the same words to live by: the blues is not supposed to make you feel good either, it is just supposed to make you feel.
March 1, 2023
Uno va haciéndose mayor (lo de sentirse mayor es otro tema) y recuerdo Cheers, aquella serie que se emitió con mucho éxito en los años ochenta. Incluso podría lanzarme a cantar la canción de la intro con la mítica frase "Where everybody knows your name". El caso es que unos cuantos años después tuve la ocasión de ir a Boston y entré en Cheers a tomar algo. Como es lógico, nadie supo mi nombre y salí de allí del mismo modo que había entrado. Nada había cambiado en mí.
En febrero leímos en el club de lectura de La librería ambulante "Bailey's Café". Si Cheers fue una sitcom donde el humor era el gran protagonista, Bailey's Café podríamos decir que es un "sitdram", ya que las historias de las personas que visitan el local son muy duras. ¿Por qué estoy contento de haber entrado en Bailey's Café? Porque hay denuncia, porque hay trasfondo, porque Bailey es un gran narrador, porque Gloria Naylor en la capa superior es una grandísima narradora, porque la historia tiene un toque casi mágico, porque allí sí hubieran sabido mi nombre y porque salí de la novela cambiado, removido por dentro.
En febrero leímos en el club de lectura de La librería ambulante "Bailey's Café". Si Cheers fue una sitcom donde el humor era el gran protagonista, Bailey's Café podríamos decir que es un "sitdram", ya que las historias de las personas que visitan el local son muy duras. ¿Por qué estoy contento de haber entrado en Bailey's Café? Porque hay denuncia, porque hay trasfondo, porque Bailey es un gran narrador, porque Gloria Naylor en la capa superior es una grandísima narradora, porque la historia tiene un toque casi mágico, porque allí sí hubieran sabido mi nombre y porque salí de la novela cambiado, removido por dentro.
September 29, 2022
A really powerful read - quite harrowing in places, uplifting in others. More like a series of interconnected stories than a novel. I'd really recommend.
Read
May 28, 2023A ritmo de jazz y con importantes dosis de realismo mágico, «Bailey's cafe» es una novela (que tiene más de conjunto de relatos que de novela, eso sí) en la que se narran las (terroríficas) vicisitudes de distintas personas que van acodándose en la barra de un bar estadounidense de mediados de siglo. Entre licores, café e infusiones se nos narran crudísimas historias de supervivencia, marginalidad y prostitución. La autora, Gloria Naylor, mostró en este libro de 1992 un auténtico catálogo de disidencias vitales que se personalizan en retratos profundos, muy sensoriales y muy bien narrados. Este es un libro extraño, difícil de clasificar... pero lleno de belleza inesperada y de buena escritura.
February 21, 2023
No podría explicar muy bien porque la gente sigue viniendo a La Librería Ambulante a comprar sus libros. Muchos dirán que por los clubes de lectura. Ya te digo yo que no. En la mayoría de las ocasiones no sabemos ni en que hora vivimos y más de una vez hemos lanzado el "GO" horas más tarde de lo que correspondía. Hay que decir que las lecturas presenciales las hacemos en nuestro característico sofá, con té y bizcocho, pero no os creáis que es un bizcocho de alta repostería.
Tampoco se puede decir que vengan por mi seriedad. Digamos que tengo una forma un tanto cómica de tomarme la vida.
Y si vienes buscando el último premio planeta en el escaparate vas listo. Lo tenemos, claro que sí, porque todos los libros merecen ser leídos y todos están hechos para conectar con un alma, pero aquí los galardones nos sirven de nada. Los libros eligen a sus lectores por lo que llevan dentro.
Yo sinceramente pienso que vienen por Tamara, porque hasta en las noches más oscuras, donde esté ella hay luz.
El caso es que la gente no deja de venir. Y nosotros no podemos ser más felices por ello. Igual es porque aquí se encuentran libros como "Bailey's Café", de esos que se conocen poco porque no están en muchos escaparates pero hacen mucho ruido. El café de Bailey es un lugar donde las almas perdidas siempre tienen un plato, una bebida y una historia que contar. Historias tan crudas como la vida misma y tan mágicas como los mismos sueños.
Hay muchas similitudes entre esta librería y el café de Bailey. Esto también está lleno de historias que ansían encontrar un destinatario, en este caso un lector. Historias de las que nunca habéis oído hablar y que en muchos casos traspasan los límites de vuestra imaginación. Quizá por eso no deje de venir la gente. Tal vez haya quien en los tiempos que corren, todavía piense que la verdadera casa de los libros están en las librerías pequeñas, donde los libros encuentran sus almas gemelas lejos de la parafernalia de los anuncios publicitarios y de la imposiciones de las grandes editoriales.
Al igual que el café de Bailey, este también es un lugar que solo puede encontrar la persona que realmente lo necesite, y estamos en cualquier parte antes de que puedas pestañear. Al fin y al cabo somos La Librería Ambulante.
Pero hay algo muy importante que nos diferencia del Bailey's Café. Las personas que entran por la puerta o nos visitan a través de la web son sencillamente maravillosas y siempre aportan y dejan su huella en este lugar. Tanto que nos gusta pensar que somos una gran familia ambulante repartida por todo el mundo. Aquí todos nos caemos bien. Ah, y aquí se entra y se sale por la misma puerta y los sueños están en el interior de este pequeño rincón.
Eso sí, te invitamos encarecidamente a que cruces las puertas del bar de Bailey. Te aseguramos que no te dejará indiferente la visita. Te aseguramos que nos darás las gracias al salir. Pero intenta no salir por la puerta de atrás por mucho que se disipe la oscuridad y empieces a vislumbrar escenarios maravillosos. Os esperamos a la vuelta para que nos contéis la experiencia. Si os deja sin palabras, no olvidéis traeros la ciruela que os dará Eve.
Aquí tenéis el portal para entrar (No le digáis a Bailey que os lo hemos dado nosotros):
https://www.lalibreriaambulante.es/es...
PD: Que orgullosos estamos de haber elegido este libro para nuestro cofre de enero.
Tampoco se puede decir que vengan por mi seriedad. Digamos que tengo una forma un tanto cómica de tomarme la vida.
Y si vienes buscando el último premio planeta en el escaparate vas listo. Lo tenemos, claro que sí, porque todos los libros merecen ser leídos y todos están hechos para conectar con un alma, pero aquí los galardones nos sirven de nada. Los libros eligen a sus lectores por lo que llevan dentro.
Yo sinceramente pienso que vienen por Tamara, porque hasta en las noches más oscuras, donde esté ella hay luz.
El caso es que la gente no deja de venir. Y nosotros no podemos ser más felices por ello. Igual es porque aquí se encuentran libros como "Bailey's Café", de esos que se conocen poco porque no están en muchos escaparates pero hacen mucho ruido. El café de Bailey es un lugar donde las almas perdidas siempre tienen un plato, una bebida y una historia que contar. Historias tan crudas como la vida misma y tan mágicas como los mismos sueños.
Hay muchas similitudes entre esta librería y el café de Bailey. Esto también está lleno de historias que ansían encontrar un destinatario, en este caso un lector. Historias de las que nunca habéis oído hablar y que en muchos casos traspasan los límites de vuestra imaginación. Quizá por eso no deje de venir la gente. Tal vez haya quien en los tiempos que corren, todavía piense que la verdadera casa de los libros están en las librerías pequeñas, donde los libros encuentran sus almas gemelas lejos de la parafernalia de los anuncios publicitarios y de la imposiciones de las grandes editoriales.
Al igual que el café de Bailey, este también es un lugar que solo puede encontrar la persona que realmente lo necesite, y estamos en cualquier parte antes de que puedas pestañear. Al fin y al cabo somos La Librería Ambulante.
Pero hay algo muy importante que nos diferencia del Bailey's Café. Las personas que entran por la puerta o nos visitan a través de la web son sencillamente maravillosas y siempre aportan y dejan su huella en este lugar. Tanto que nos gusta pensar que somos una gran familia ambulante repartida por todo el mundo. Aquí todos nos caemos bien. Ah, y aquí se entra y se sale por la misma puerta y los sueños están en el interior de este pequeño rincón.
Eso sí, te invitamos encarecidamente a que cruces las puertas del bar de Bailey. Te aseguramos que no te dejará indiferente la visita. Te aseguramos que nos darás las gracias al salir. Pero intenta no salir por la puerta de atrás por mucho que se disipe la oscuridad y empieces a vislumbrar escenarios maravillosos. Os esperamos a la vuelta para que nos contéis la experiencia. Si os deja sin palabras, no olvidéis traeros la ciruela que os dará Eve.
Aquí tenéis el portal para entrar (No le digáis a Bailey que os lo hemos dado nosotros):
https://www.lalibreriaambulante.es/es...
PD: Que orgullosos estamos de haber elegido este libro para nuestro cofre de enero.
September 9, 2014
An artistic, intricately woven band of characters well spoken, alive and jumping off of each page.
This is an outstanding book. Ms Naylor's art for storytelling is remarkable. As soon as I started reading I was engrossed from the first page. I technically do not know why I haven't read more of her books and actually want to kick myself for not reading more of her sooner. Gloria Naylor has this writing style that's really vocal. It's as if she's not an author telling you these phenomenal stories, it's the very characters themselves who extend themselves through time, page and reality to stand before you and share the history of their lives. And these folks had ruff, real, tough, struggling, hard lives. Lives that land them in a cafe at the edge of the world. Bailey's Cafe.
Bailey's Cafe is not said to exist on "skid row" per se but I want to say it is. It's the common focal point for the whole novel. It's the place where everyone you will meet visits and this is where they tell their stories. Technically this is a book of short stories but you may never know it. I like that. The stories are so inner connected. They all work together so well for the good of the whole novel. There is a narrator of sorts who guides us through the introductions of the patrons of Bailey's Cafe. Everyone is from somewhere and has some personal event that has brought them to this place. I wouldn't say it's a place of healing but a place where they can feel free to be themselves whatever that interpretation may be. It's very entertaining meeting all these people and learning of what brought them to this place so far from home. Each story is different in the telling, the voice and even in the style. Sometimes Ms Naylor becomes very poetic or even symbolistic. Sometimes, the writing is philosophical, sometimes lyrical and sometimes just plain good story told right. This book has it all. Stirrings of the heart, sympathy, disappointment, anger, resignation and a lot of humor.
I'm giving this a 5 1/2 stars. Really good stuff. I've added several of her other books to my list and look forward to reading them. I definitely recommend this to those that like stories with interesting characters. You won't find a storybook happy ending. It's ok to not always have this. What you will find is that you will meet a cast of characters that you won't soon forget.
This is an outstanding book. Ms Naylor's art for storytelling is remarkable. As soon as I started reading I was engrossed from the first page. I technically do not know why I haven't read more of her books and actually want to kick myself for not reading more of her sooner. Gloria Naylor has this writing style that's really vocal. It's as if she's not an author telling you these phenomenal stories, it's the very characters themselves who extend themselves through time, page and reality to stand before you and share the history of their lives. And these folks had ruff, real, tough, struggling, hard lives. Lives that land them in a cafe at the edge of the world. Bailey's Cafe.
Bailey's Cafe is not said to exist on "skid row" per se but I want to say it is. It's the common focal point for the whole novel. It's the place where everyone you will meet visits and this is where they tell their stories. Technically this is a book of short stories but you may never know it. I like that. The stories are so inner connected. They all work together so well for the good of the whole novel. There is a narrator of sorts who guides us through the introductions of the patrons of Bailey's Cafe. Everyone is from somewhere and has some personal event that has brought them to this place. I wouldn't say it's a place of healing but a place where they can feel free to be themselves whatever that interpretation may be. It's very entertaining meeting all these people and learning of what brought them to this place so far from home. Each story is different in the telling, the voice and even in the style. Sometimes Ms Naylor becomes very poetic or even symbolistic. Sometimes, the writing is philosophical, sometimes lyrical and sometimes just plain good story told right. This book has it all. Stirrings of the heart, sympathy, disappointment, anger, resignation and a lot of humor.
I'm giving this a 5 1/2 stars. Really good stuff. I've added several of her other books to my list and look forward to reading them. I definitely recommend this to those that like stories with interesting characters. You won't find a storybook happy ending. It's ok to not always have this. What you will find is that you will meet a cast of characters that you won't soon forget.
June 19, 2022
“Anything really worth hearing in this greasy spoon happens under the surface.”
A case of bad timing for me with this one I think. I was confused through much of it--confused and heartbroken.
I love the blues. And I love the sound of a blue note in the middle of a musical phrase. But this novel felt like all blue notes, and I need a little Harold Melvin to balance it out, if you know what I mean.
Bailey’s Café is actually a collection of stories about people on the margins, people in tremendous pain--and that’s pain with a capital P. Horrific child abuse, prostitution, rape, poverty, self-mutilation, heroin addiction, genital mutilation … I could go on but I won’t.
The café itself is something mythical I didn’t quite understand. It’s a sanctuary for those on the extreme end of down-on-their-luck, and it seems to be located anywhere, wherever folks need it. But whatever city it’s in, it’s always between a boarding house/bordello and a pawn shop, each run by individuals willing to lend a hand. What better place to contemplate folks on the margins but on some kind of margin between the real and unreal, I guess. This book challenges accepted reality at every turn.
But it just didn’t work for me. I kept trying, because I loved The Women of Brewster Place so much, and I know Gloria Naylor is exceptionally talented. The ensemble of characters worked beautifully for me in Brewster Place, but here, before I was done puzzling over one character, another came along with even worse problems.
If you’re up to the challenge--the unusual hypothesis and the relentless pain of so many characters-- this is probably a powerful and rewarding read. But while I’m all for exploring suffering so we can face the reality of it, we all have our saturation point, and this took me past mine.
A case of bad timing for me with this one I think. I was confused through much of it--confused and heartbroken.
I love the blues. And I love the sound of a blue note in the middle of a musical phrase. But this novel felt like all blue notes, and I need a little Harold Melvin to balance it out, if you know what I mean.
Bailey’s Café is actually a collection of stories about people on the margins, people in tremendous pain--and that’s pain with a capital P. Horrific child abuse, prostitution, rape, poverty, self-mutilation, heroin addiction, genital mutilation … I could go on but I won’t.
The café itself is something mythical I didn’t quite understand. It’s a sanctuary for those on the extreme end of down-on-their-luck, and it seems to be located anywhere, wherever folks need it. But whatever city it’s in, it’s always between a boarding house/bordello and a pawn shop, each run by individuals willing to lend a hand. What better place to contemplate folks on the margins but on some kind of margin between the real and unreal, I guess. This book challenges accepted reality at every turn.
But it just didn’t work for me. I kept trying, because I loved The Women of Brewster Place so much, and I know Gloria Naylor is exceptionally talented. The ensemble of characters worked beautifully for me in Brewster Place, but here, before I was done puzzling over one character, another came along with even worse problems.
If you’re up to the challenge--the unusual hypothesis and the relentless pain of so many characters-- this is probably a powerful and rewarding read. But while I’m all for exploring suffering so we can face the reality of it, we all have our saturation point, and this took me past mine.
April 30, 2018
Gloria Naylor is one of my absolute favourites now, so much that I'll eat whatever story she feeds me without even asking what ingredients she put in to cook them. I had begun with Women of Brewster Place, but I fell for her writing and the amazing way of storytelling with Men of Brewster Place and Mama Day.
Baliey's Cafe is a book set in a magical plane and yet in the heart of New York. The magical plane stretches to a single street with a Pawnshop that never opens for business owned by an old Jew, Gabe and a women's boardinghouse owned by the 1,000 year old woman Eve, the cafe owned by the man known as Bailey and his wife Nadine and the void behind their cafe.
First off, there are many things I did not understand in the book. There were plenty of ambiguities left in the stories of each person, and I sometimes wasn't able to fill the gaps and understand the particulars, but I did get the essence of each character's story.
I have read only one book that deals with prostitution as not something taboo or lowly, Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes. This is my second, as far as I can remember. This talks about an array of characters, both men and women and one child who is also a mother, each with their own pain and sufferings and most of the women featured live in Eve's boardinghouse and are visited by gentlemen callers for their special favours.
What I love most about African American women's stories is how their pain resonates with me for some reason and this book, too, moved me. I didn't understand why Sadie refused Iceman Jones, or how Mariam could become pregnant without ever having a sexual encounter or what exactly happened to Sweet Esther down in the basement or what exactly Miss Maple did to throw away his job at the glass company or how Eve travelled all that distance and aged a thousand years. Come to think of it, I didn't understand so many things, and yet the prose is so beautiful, whatever I understood was so beautiful that I cannot give it less than four stars, because this book is beautiful. I scoured the internet to understand that the book is formatted like a jazz song, and I feel like some of the ambiguities in the text remained just that because of my distance from both the time and place. But I am still happy and content to have read this and I don't want to expose the plot because it is just a collection of beautiful stories of beautiful women and even men strung together in a neat bundle to shake your heart a little.
I just hope to find my answers now and I do recommend it to everyone out there, in anticipation of my answers. I apologise if this was not much of a review.
- Dec 25, 2016
Edit:
Now that I have reread this book a couple of times and have written my master's dissertation on this, I feel thoroughly impressed with the amount of insight I have gained into this book. The book is marvellous and would require a few rereads to absorb all the small and intricate details of life in it. It is a feminist, magic realist, African American novel which deals with so many literary genres and forms that you'll be baffled. But most of all, its a Biblical rewriting, a way of rendering Bible again, through the lives of characters, to portray themes closer to contemporary reality and pointing out problematic areas of a text like Bible. It is a book inclusive of race, gender, sexuality, religion and everything in between that you can think of. It is a delight to read and I'm surprised and desperately need to reread Mama Day to see why my heart constantly bends towards that one.
All my confusions, regarding Miss Maple, Sadie, Sweet Esther and everyone else have been clarified or answered to some extent in my multiple readings and if someone wants to discuss this novel with me, I'm 100% game.
Baliey's Cafe is a book set in a magical plane and yet in the heart of New York. The magical plane stretches to a single street with a Pawnshop that never opens for business owned by an old Jew, Gabe and a women's boardinghouse owned by the 1,000 year old woman Eve, the cafe owned by the man known as Bailey and his wife Nadine and the void behind their cafe.
First off, there are many things I did not understand in the book. There were plenty of ambiguities left in the stories of each person, and I sometimes wasn't able to fill the gaps and understand the particulars, but I did get the essence of each character's story.
I have read only one book that deals with prostitution as not something taboo or lowly, Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes. This is my second, as far as I can remember. This talks about an array of characters, both men and women and one child who is also a mother, each with their own pain and sufferings and most of the women featured live in Eve's boardinghouse and are visited by gentlemen callers for their special favours.
What I love most about African American women's stories is how their pain resonates with me for some reason and this book, too, moved me. I didn't understand why Sadie refused Iceman Jones, or how Mariam could become pregnant without ever having a sexual encounter or what exactly happened to Sweet Esther down in the basement or what exactly Miss Maple did to throw away his job at the glass company or how Eve travelled all that distance and aged a thousand years. Come to think of it, I didn't understand so many things, and yet the prose is so beautiful, whatever I understood was so beautiful that I cannot give it less than four stars, because this book is beautiful. I scoured the internet to understand that the book is formatted like a jazz song, and I feel like some of the ambiguities in the text remained just that because of my distance from both the time and place. But I am still happy and content to have read this and I don't want to expose the plot because it is just a collection of beautiful stories of beautiful women and even men strung together in a neat bundle to shake your heart a little.
I just hope to find my answers now and I do recommend it to everyone out there, in anticipation of my answers. I apologise if this was not much of a review.
- Dec 25, 2016
Edit:
Now that I have reread this book a couple of times and have written my master's dissertation on this, I feel thoroughly impressed with the amount of insight I have gained into this book. The book is marvellous and would require a few rereads to absorb all the small and intricate details of life in it. It is a feminist, magic realist, African American novel which deals with so many literary genres and forms that you'll be baffled. But most of all, its a Biblical rewriting, a way of rendering Bible again, through the lives of characters, to portray themes closer to contemporary reality and pointing out problematic areas of a text like Bible. It is a book inclusive of race, gender, sexuality, religion and everything in between that you can think of. It is a delight to read and I'm surprised and desperately need to reread Mama Day to see why my heart constantly bends towards that one.
All my confusions, regarding Miss Maple, Sadie, Sweet Esther and everyone else have been clarified or answered to some extent in my multiple readings and if someone wants to discuss this novel with me, I'm 100% game.
October 28, 2018
Bailey's Cafe was the second book I read by Gloria Naylor, a readalong with an Instagram friend. We had a great discussion about this one via DM after we both finished about characters, Naylor's style, and some of her other works.
Similar to her earlier novel, Women of Brewster Place, this one includes multiple interlocking short stories around a central theme and location. It's clear early on that the Bailey's Cafe is a unique place. Narrated by the Cafe's proprietor and his wife, we hear the life stories - often heartbreaking - of the array of characters who are drawn to the Cafe.
Some sections in this one reminded me of Mohsin Hamid's Exit West - I am revisiting this one for book club, so it is fresh in my mind. The use of portals/doors is a reocurring theme in both. The same magical realism feel as well.
Published in 1992, Bailey's Cafe remains prescient. Naylor has a timeless style and is such a strong storyteller.
Similar to her earlier novel, Women of Brewster Place, this one includes multiple interlocking short stories around a central theme and location. It's clear early on that the Bailey's Cafe is a unique place. Narrated by the Cafe's proprietor and his wife, we hear the life stories - often heartbreaking - of the array of characters who are drawn to the Cafe.
Some sections in this one reminded me of Mohsin Hamid's Exit West - I am revisiting this one for book club, so it is fresh in my mind. The use of portals/doors is a reocurring theme in both. The same magical realism feel as well.
Published in 1992, Bailey's Cafe remains prescient. Naylor has a timeless style and is such a strong storyteller.
August 17, 2011
Though packed with graphic tales of prostitutes, drug addicts, and criminals this book was REALLY well written. The cafe acts as a kind of emotional limbo, maybe even a Christ-like place of redemption. The concept is intriguing, and the stories heartbreaking rather than horrifying.
December 30, 2012
I didn’t like this book at first, and that’s mainly because there’s too much baseball in the first chapter. It’s a language I don’t speak. It’s also a little obscure in the beginning. Even though there was some beautiful writing, I thought about laying the book aside.
The second chapter was breathtaking. I put it down just because it was too intense to read more immediately. And the next day, I picked it up again. And no, there’s no more baseball after the first chapter.
It’s a very surrealistic novel. Bailey’s Café is a way station for people who need a time-out in their lives. It only exists for these people, at this moment, and it can appear anywhere in the world. It’s a strange, magical place, and it’s also a bitter, mournful place, because everybody there has been wounded.
The stories that comprise this novel are the life-stories of those who enter. They are all unique, amazing people, and the writing is hypnotic, musical, haunting – lavish without ever being over-written, ambitious yet colloquial. I loved this book and was glad I let it unfold until its meaning appeared.
The second chapter was breathtaking. I put it down just because it was too intense to read more immediately. And the next day, I picked it up again. And no, there’s no more baseball after the first chapter.
It’s a very surrealistic novel. Bailey’s Café is a way station for people who need a time-out in their lives. It only exists for these people, at this moment, and it can appear anywhere in the world. It’s a strange, magical place, and it’s also a bitter, mournful place, because everybody there has been wounded.
The stories that comprise this novel are the life-stories of those who enter. They are all unique, amazing people, and the writing is hypnotic, musical, haunting – lavish without ever being over-written, ambitious yet colloquial. I loved this book and was glad I let it unfold until its meaning appeared.
November 5, 2025
A ver............ este libro se publicó en 1992 pero no le voy a perdonar las dos pinceladas sionistas ha mencionado. Cómo que lo primero q tienen q hacer los judíos es asegurarse la supervivencia pq los han colocado en una zona donde los vecinos no van a llamar a sus puertas y ofrecerles limonada y un bizcocho... Claro tiene q ser muy jodido decidir q una tierra es santa y tuya y tener q matar a todos los q vivían allí!! Hay que ser muy pero q muy gringo (e hijodep.uta) pa soltar esto.
La realidad es que en conjunto me ha gustado: las historias están bien contadas, con crudeza, sin sobrecarga de ñoñería y con un toque de realismo mágico que hila todas las historias a través de la casa de huéspedes de Eve y del bar de Baileys. Los personajes tienen carisma y tienen sueños y es, al final, el contexto social lo que les lleva al callejón sin salida. Está cargado de crítica social e histórica, una pena no ver más allá. Creo q ya no puedo volver a leer estadounidenses da igual q sean del siglo pasado y afroamericanos.
La realidad es que en conjunto me ha gustado: las historias están bien contadas, con crudeza, sin sobrecarga de ñoñería y con un toque de realismo mágico que hila todas las historias a través de la casa de huéspedes de Eve y del bar de Baileys. Los personajes tienen carisma y tienen sueños y es, al final, el contexto social lo que les lleva al callejón sin salida. Está cargado de crítica social e histórica, una pena no ver más allá. Creo q ya no puedo volver a leer estadounidenses da igual q sean del siglo pasado y afroamericanos.
January 27, 2023
«Aunque el planeta sea redondo, hay demasiados lugares donde puedes encontrarte al borde del abismo».
🌾
Y uno de esos lugares es el Café de Bailey, cuyo dueño no se llama Bailey y que es más un purgatorio que un café. Un purgatorio, un hospital para las almas.
🌾
(Precisamente en un hospital es donde la lectura de este libro me ha acompañado, mientras yo acompañaba a mi madre. Y he pensado en cómo estos lugares de tránsito son tan determinantes, con sus rutinas, sus puertas de entrada y de salida, sus indicaciones y prescripciones.)
🌾
El Café de Bailey es un lugar donde puedes entrar para ir a otro sitio o un punto de no retorno. Allí no hay menú porque cada día hay un plato único, el que decide el dueño con su mujer Nadine. Solo los fines de semana se adaptan a lo que la clientela pide, eso sí, con una versatilidad asombrosa.
🌾
«Sadie era tan joven que no sabía que con tal de sobrevivir amaba una cáscara vacía».
🌾
Y Gloria Naylor, a través de la voz del dueño, nos cuenta de dónde vienen quienes pasan por allí. Su lenguaje es rítmico y fluido, onírico a veces, adictivo. Pero que esa belleza narrativa no nos engañe. La denuncia social de la misoginia, el racismo y la opresión recorre todas las historias como una carretera. Historias de hombres marcados por su raza y sobre todo de mujeres, a las que la discriminación por ser negras se le une la de su género. Mujeres como Sadie, Esther o Jesse. Mujeres que nacen en los márgenes y logran colarse por las grietas para sobrevivir. Mujeres que buscan la forma de mantenerse en pie por más veces que se caigan, porque no les queda otra, porque lo de la meritocracia y el discurso fácil de la superación son falacias y ellas lo saben bien.
🌾
«Es una verdadera lástima cuando no te queda otra que enfrentarte a la vida con las preguntas qué respuestas»
🌾
Ya lo dijo Angela Davis: «El género no se puede separar de la raza y la clase, debemos abordar las causas sistémicas de la explotación» y las causas se observan en estas historias que, a ritmo de jazz de bajos fondos, se nos van colando por los poros.
🌾
#GloriaNaylor #BaileysCafé #DesdeLosMárgenes #ContraElRacismo #Feminismos
🌾
Y uno de esos lugares es el Café de Bailey, cuyo dueño no se llama Bailey y que es más un purgatorio que un café. Un purgatorio, un hospital para las almas.
🌾
(Precisamente en un hospital es donde la lectura de este libro me ha acompañado, mientras yo acompañaba a mi madre. Y he pensado en cómo estos lugares de tránsito son tan determinantes, con sus rutinas, sus puertas de entrada y de salida, sus indicaciones y prescripciones.)
🌾
El Café de Bailey es un lugar donde puedes entrar para ir a otro sitio o un punto de no retorno. Allí no hay menú porque cada día hay un plato único, el que decide el dueño con su mujer Nadine. Solo los fines de semana se adaptan a lo que la clientela pide, eso sí, con una versatilidad asombrosa.
🌾
«Sadie era tan joven que no sabía que con tal de sobrevivir amaba una cáscara vacía».
🌾
Y Gloria Naylor, a través de la voz del dueño, nos cuenta de dónde vienen quienes pasan por allí. Su lenguaje es rítmico y fluido, onírico a veces, adictivo. Pero que esa belleza narrativa no nos engañe. La denuncia social de la misoginia, el racismo y la opresión recorre todas las historias como una carretera. Historias de hombres marcados por su raza y sobre todo de mujeres, a las que la discriminación por ser negras se le une la de su género. Mujeres como Sadie, Esther o Jesse. Mujeres que nacen en los márgenes y logran colarse por las grietas para sobrevivir. Mujeres que buscan la forma de mantenerse en pie por más veces que se caigan, porque no les queda otra, porque lo de la meritocracia y el discurso fácil de la superación son falacias y ellas lo saben bien.
🌾
«Es una verdadera lástima cuando no te queda otra que enfrentarte a la vida con las preguntas qué respuestas»
🌾
Ya lo dijo Angela Davis: «El género no se puede separar de la raza y la clase, debemos abordar las causas sistémicas de la explotación» y las causas se observan en estas historias que, a ritmo de jazz de bajos fondos, se nos van colando por los poros.
🌾
#GloriaNaylor #BaileysCafé #DesdeLosMárgenes #ContraElRacismo #Feminismos
January 13, 2018
Bailey’s Place is a beautiful novel that read more like a collection of interconnected stories. As many have said, there is so much to enjoy in Gloria Naylor’s amazing lyricism and odd menagerie of characters.
Personally, I most enjoyed her knack for showing the progression of these characters’ lives through peephole glimpses into their worlds. Naylor knows how to zoom in on the precise moments where children lose their innocence, and then flashes through all the right scenes of their adulthood. Despite how obsessed I became with these mysterious characters (and would’ve read entire novels about Miss Maple and Jesse Bell), I always left satisfied that each character had finally shared what they needed to about who they truly were.
I’m definitely putting more of Naylor’s work on my Want to Read list!
Personally, I most enjoyed her knack for showing the progression of these characters’ lives through peephole glimpses into their worlds. Naylor knows how to zoom in on the precise moments where children lose their innocence, and then flashes through all the right scenes of their adulthood. Despite how obsessed I became with these mysterious characters (and would’ve read entire novels about Miss Maple and Jesse Bell), I always left satisfied that each character had finally shared what they needed to about who they truly were.
I’m definitely putting more of Naylor’s work on my Want to Read list!
December 27, 2019
Rarely do I find a book that moves me this much. Every character was beautifully and richly written. The way Naylor worked in all the characters through the cafe and Eve's place was touching- the way they all acknowledged that their lives were in a transient, temporary state. It also had a touch of magical realism. People saw their dreams out back of the cafe, and many more killed themselves there. I couldn't quite grasp what exactly the back of the cafe was supposed to represent, but I think that the mystery of it all added to the story a lot. The characters were different genders from different backgrounds and they all came together in beautiful ways. Anyway, this book is really hard to describe, but it was gloriously written and definitely worth a read.
April 10, 2012
I love this author. Her use of language is beautiful and she creates really interesting characters. She deals with pretty serious topics which can be overwhelming at times. However, people actually do experience tragedy those sorts of tragedies. She gives a voice to the sadness and traumas in life.
February 28, 2025
4,5 ⭐️ por raro que parezca para mi hay algo mejor que leer un libro, y es leer un libro subrayado por otra persona ❤️ gracias paula por hacerme este regalo, porque en este libro (o mas bien tesoro) ya estamos presentes nosotras también y siempre lo estaremos. y es que, que este libro haya llegado en forma de regalo es tal cuál la sensación que ha tenido en mi, una historia que desconocía que existía y que ahora ya para siempre formará parte de mi ❤️ bailey’s cafe es un sitio muy especial y más aún los clientes que pasan por allí.
March 2, 2023
Escribo esto sintiéndome aún sentada en un rincón de la barra del “Bailey’s Café”, de Gloria Naylor. Aún escucho las voces de los personajes y distingo su olor mezclado con los aromas de la cocina; todavía veo sus rostros y distingo sus ropas, siento cómo entra la luz por las ventanas y cómo estas amortiguan los ruidos de fuera. Y no sé cuándo seré capaz de salir de aquí, ni cómo, ni si querré salir algún día.
Y es que si algo tiene esta historia es que te atrapa, a pesar de que en un inicio pueda costar un poco hacerte a ella; tiene algo en su ritmo, en su ambiente, en su estilo… que no te suelta, que te absorbe y te deja anclada a la barra del bar. Desde ahí, desde tu rincón, como un parroquiano más que ha acudido al bar a dejar algo de sí mismo para encontrar un poquito de los demás, comienzas a absorber una parte de lo que va dejando olvidado cada uno de los personajes, como un coleccionista que se dedica a recoger pedacitos de cada uno de ellos para construir un personaje final, que podría ser este momento, en este bar, en esta calle de esta ciudad.
Pero lo que vas recogiendo no es agradable, no es la parte luminosa de la vida, aunque dentro de la oscuridad que rodea a cada uno de estos personajes puede atisbarse un lucero que pugna por salir a brillar, aunque las sombras no le dejen.
Una historia (o mezcla de historias) de esperanzadora desesperanza, que comienzan en puntos diferentes para desembocar en el mismo lugar; historias sobrecogedoras, de injusticia unas, de rebeldía otras, de resiliencia y superación alguna que otra también, pero todas con una verdad y una sensibilidad que superan cualquier sensación de crueldad, de pena o dolor que se pueda experimentar leyendo sus líneas.
Un libro que merece infinitamente la pena por lo que transmite, por lo que hace sentir, por lo que envuelve. Una historia de historias que no deja indiferente y que marca, que deja huella, que se incrusta.
No sé si ya estoy preparada para abandonar mi sitio en este lugar, pero creo que es hora de dirigirme hacia la puerta trasera. Quien sabe, quizá algún día pueda volver a entrar.
Y es que si algo tiene esta historia es que te atrapa, a pesar de que en un inicio pueda costar un poco hacerte a ella; tiene algo en su ritmo, en su ambiente, en su estilo… que no te suelta, que te absorbe y te deja anclada a la barra del bar. Desde ahí, desde tu rincón, como un parroquiano más que ha acudido al bar a dejar algo de sí mismo para encontrar un poquito de los demás, comienzas a absorber una parte de lo que va dejando olvidado cada uno de los personajes, como un coleccionista que se dedica a recoger pedacitos de cada uno de ellos para construir un personaje final, que podría ser este momento, en este bar, en esta calle de esta ciudad.
Pero lo que vas recogiendo no es agradable, no es la parte luminosa de la vida, aunque dentro de la oscuridad que rodea a cada uno de estos personajes puede atisbarse un lucero que pugna por salir a brillar, aunque las sombras no le dejen.
Una historia (o mezcla de historias) de esperanzadora desesperanza, que comienzan en puntos diferentes para desembocar en el mismo lugar; historias sobrecogedoras, de injusticia unas, de rebeldía otras, de resiliencia y superación alguna que otra también, pero todas con una verdad y una sensibilidad que superan cualquier sensación de crueldad, de pena o dolor que se pueda experimentar leyendo sus líneas.
Un libro que merece infinitamente la pena por lo que transmite, por lo que hace sentir, por lo que envuelve. Una historia de historias que no deja indiferente y que marca, que deja huella, que se incrusta.
No sé si ya estoy preparada para abandonar mi sitio en este lugar, pero creo que es hora de dirigirme hacia la puerta trasera. Quien sabe, quizá algún día pueda volver a entrar.
January 22, 2023
Hasta hace unos días no tenía ni idea de quién era Gloria Naylor. Y no lo habría descubierto de no ser por Arnau y Eric, dos libreros que han decidido editar libros alejándose de la novedad. Ya tienen cuatro títulos, y yo muero de ganas de leerlos todos. Empiezo con “Bailey’s Café”, un garito en algún lugar de Estados Unidos, regentado por un matrimonio en la América posterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Te abre las puertas del restaurante su propietario, excombatiente y encargado de la plancha, y será él el encargado de presentarte a toda la extraña fauna que se refugia, a cualquier hora, entre las paredes del local. Probablemente el único lugar del mundo en el que sus historias son escuchadas. Y son historias duras, crudísimas. Historias de violencia, segregación, racismo, desigualdad, pobreza, alcoholismo. Historias descarnadas y llenas de verdad. Como la de Sadie, que no supo su nombre hasta los cuatro años, cuando preguntó si tenía porque para su madre ella era “La que esquivó la percha”. O la de Esther (“Pensé en matar al hombre cuando me faltaban pocas horas para convertirme en la siguiente perra mentirosa desahuciada. Pensé en ahorrarles el problema a las demás muchachas que esperaban haciendo cola para dormir solas en aquella cama rosa con encajes. Las otras niñas de doce años con hermanos. Pero acerté en mis barruntos: hay demasiados hombres así para matarlos a todos. Y demasiadas niñas de doce años.”
En varias ocasiones he tenido que dejar de leer, incapaz de soportar la dureza con la que Naylor relata una violación, un aborto, una ablación. Las describe sin recrearse, casi con precisión quirúrgica, pero son puñaladas en el estómago de tan reales. Y aún así es un libro con el que también me he reído, a carcajadas.
“- Nadine, me duele en el alma lo que estás insinuando. En todo momento te tratado como una dama. Y nunca, jamás en la vida, he tenido otras intenciones contigo que las más nobles.
- Perfecto. Pues acepto.
- ¿Que aceptas el qué?
Un hombre paralizado de terror representa un espectáculo lamentable.”
February 21, 2016
Bailey's Cafe isn't your typical novel about a sweet cafe and the customers that are there. The cafe isn't sweet, and the customers are beyond unusual. Many are current or former prostitutes, social outcasts, pimps, and a nun. Each chapter is devoted to telling the story of one of the customers, many of whom bored at Eve's House, a place down the street for homeless women.
The stories of the women and several men are not happy ones, and they don't end happier than they began. Naylor leaves us to hope for the best but doesn't promise anything. The main character isn't an optimistic or kind person. He is more judge mental of the women that come to the cafe than compassionate for them.
But what makes the book amazing is the amount of detail. Naylor tells many stories and doesn't leave an important question unanswered. She also writes the stories with an underlying piece of magic. The feel of the book is dark and magical. It's a very good book for people with pretty good reading comprehension and that are not too sensitive to the realities of being a black prostitute in Chicago.
The stories of the women and several men are not happy ones, and they don't end happier than they began. Naylor leaves us to hope for the best but doesn't promise anything. The main character isn't an optimistic or kind person. He is more judge mental of the women that come to the cafe than compassionate for them.
But what makes the book amazing is the amount of detail. Naylor tells many stories and doesn't leave an important question unanswered. She also writes the stories with an underlying piece of magic. The feel of the book is dark and magical. It's a very good book for people with pretty good reading comprehension and that are not too sensitive to the realities of being a black prostitute in Chicago.
October 15, 2014
What a dismal, depressing book. Could not even get through the entire book. I read for pleasure and there was not pleasure in reading this book. Other books can be unpleasant but the unpleasantness adds to the plot. As far as I could see, nothing would be resolved until the end of this book and I could not stand another 100 pages to find out how the author was going to tie this together. At times I was lost - who is talking - especially in the case of the character who spoke with two different personalities. Normally something I would flesh out but in this book, after about 10 - 15 pages, this character would go away and another random character would take over.
Did I mention that I did not like this book???
Did I mention that I did not like this book???
December 15, 2025
Haunting. Hug your mothers, sisters, friends, and daughters
August 13, 2008
Naylor is wonderful writer and her prose is fluid and drags you along its tidal pull. She does veer off into symbolic metaphor-land every once in awhile; however unlike Toni Morrison, it isn't overbearingly pretentious or bogs you down.
With that said, Bailey's Cafe is an entertaining novel but it's less of a novel and more of a collection of short stories. All of characters end up at the cafe at some point, which is a waystation in limbo for people who are at a crossroads in their lives. A place to decide whether you're going to continue on with life by walking out the front door or end it there at the cafe by walking out the back door. Yet the only connection between characters is the interludes in which Bailey or Nadine introduce the next story.
Each story is fascinating although some more so than others. Mary(Part One) and Mood: Indigo stand out the most for me. Another interesting fact is all the characters except one are women who are either prostitutes or were sexually abused. Most of them end up at Eve's "boarding house" down the street from the cafe, another waystation in limbo but also a permanent place to stay as well.
Overall, an interesting, engrossing and quick read but bear in mind it's more of a collection of stories than a novel. Naylor's equally impressive The Women Of Brewster Place achieves what she tried with Bailey's Cafe: a novel that is a collection of stories about different characters that comes together as a cohesive, connected whole. If you haven't already, I would suggest giving that a try too.
With that said, Bailey's Cafe is an entertaining novel but it's less of a novel and more of a collection of short stories. All of characters end up at the cafe at some point, which is a waystation in limbo for people who are at a crossroads in their lives. A place to decide whether you're going to continue on with life by walking out the front door or end it there at the cafe by walking out the back door. Yet the only connection between characters is the interludes in which Bailey or Nadine introduce the next story.
Each story is fascinating although some more so than others. Mary(Part One) and Mood: Indigo stand out the most for me. Another interesting fact is all the characters except one are women who are either prostitutes or were sexually abused. Most of them end up at Eve's "boarding house" down the street from the cafe, another waystation in limbo but also a permanent place to stay as well.
Overall, an interesting, engrossing and quick read but bear in mind it's more of a collection of stories than a novel. Naylor's equally impressive The Women Of Brewster Place achieves what she tried with Bailey's Cafe: a novel that is a collection of stories about different characters that comes together as a cohesive, connected whole. If you haven't already, I would suggest giving that a try too.
October 9, 2015
my third New York (Harlem/Brooklyn) novel in a row, after 'Daddy was a Number Runner', and 'The Tenants' (Malamud). And all concerned with race and racism. Pure coincidence.
Actually not set in New York, but rather 'in limbo' - Bailey's Café is where people wash up half way through life and tell their stories, mostly of deprivation and prejudice, from Harlem to the deep south, from Chicago and San Francisco, rural and urban. The stories of fighting racism, and maintaining dignity are told in zestful prose, with humour and insight into the way the world works. The novel is set between 1900-1949ish, so takes in the Second World War, the founding of Israel (in one passage Jewish and colour prejudice are combined: 'Whoever heard of a coloured Rabbi?.. There's no such thing a s a black Jew. Ain't being one or the other bad enough?) the KKK etc. But it's not gloomy: in one piece a man applies over and over for accountancy jobs that he's well qualified for, and uses his knowledge of statistics to calculate how long it would take him. He's always getting turned down when he shows up because he's black (except for once), but the knowledge he gains (he thoroughly researches each firm) is finally turned into a triumph. Individuality is celebrated, hope keeps bubbling up, the café is the place to go.
Actually not set in New York, but rather 'in limbo' - Bailey's Café is where people wash up half way through life and tell their stories, mostly of deprivation and prejudice, from Harlem to the deep south, from Chicago and San Francisco, rural and urban. The stories of fighting racism, and maintaining dignity are told in zestful prose, with humour and insight into the way the world works. The novel is set between 1900-1949ish, so takes in the Second World War, the founding of Israel (in one passage Jewish and colour prejudice are combined: 'Whoever heard of a coloured Rabbi?.. There's no such thing a s a black Jew. Ain't being one or the other bad enough?) the KKK etc. But it's not gloomy: in one piece a man applies over and over for accountancy jobs that he's well qualified for, and uses his knowledge of statistics to calculate how long it would take him. He's always getting turned down when he shows up because he's black (except for once), but the knowledge he gains (he thoroughly researches each firm) is finally turned into a triumph. Individuality is celebrated, hope keeps bubbling up, the café is the place to go.
July 17, 2017
Once again, Gloria Naylor delivered another beautifully written novel. In similar fashion to The Women of Brewster Place, Bailey's Cafe follows various individuals whose heartbreaking and traumatic journeys lead them to the cafe or to Eve's boardinghouse. In some ways, this novel highlights the underbelly of society, or those who are seemingly voiceless. Naylor not only provides a unique story for every character, but also a unique voice to each character. One cannot help but find themselves wanting the best for everyone, though the novel's ending provides little solace concerning what becomes of all the characters the reader meets. Although the book does start off somewhat slowly, hang in there and read to the end. I'd highly recommend Bailey's Cafe, as well as the rest of Naylor's work.
June 5, 2020
In Bailey's Cafe, Naylor confronts the reader with the pressures and pangs of being a woman. Baily's Cafe is bloated with people who have or are still experiencing severe trauma and go there to find a temporary escape from life as they know it.
Naylor's writing is honest and unfiltered, which allows the reader to feel every word that she puts on paper. The book is timely.
"We get more than our share this time of year, people who come in through the front door and head straight on to the rear of the cafe- and don't come back."
Though the back door of the Cafe is a metaphorical one, the reader cannot deny the symbolism it has with today's America is mind-boggling.
I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more of Naylor's work.
Naylor's writing is honest and unfiltered, which allows the reader to feel every word that she puts on paper. The book is timely.
"We get more than our share this time of year, people who come in through the front door and head straight on to the rear of the cafe- and don't come back."
Though the back door of the Cafe is a metaphorical one, the reader cannot deny the symbolism it has with today's America is mind-boggling.
I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more of Naylor's work.
April 20, 2011
After finishing Bailey’s Café, I’ve put off writing a review because I’m not really sure what to say. This is the story of a café that exists in some kind of limbo and can only be found by those in need. Interesting concept, good writing, well drawn characters. Getting started with the book, I thought this was going to be a somewhat typical story about a guy and his wife who run a café. Instead, it’s an exploration of the horrors people inflict on one another and on themselves. There are significantly more disturbing scenes than heartwarming scenes. Not much resolution at the end. I don’t know whom I’d recommend this book to.
September 6, 2017
I guess my favourite word for reviews now is "bizarre", because I've been using it a lot. I didn't know this was going to have some magical realism. Apparently that bothers some people, but you don't even notice it for most of the book. Anyway, once you get pass the baseball stuff in Bailey's first chapter, it's very readable. The stories of these women (and Miss Maple, who is a cis man) are very dark though, so some people might want to avoid this book. Or take it in more slowly, I dunno.
One thing I liked about other reviews is that some people think the cafe is in Brooklyn, and some in Pittsburgh.
One thing I liked about other reviews is that some people think the cafe is in Brooklyn, and some in Pittsburgh.
January 7, 2025
Me ha encantado. Ha sido un regalo especial para una personita especial 👭🏻
Bailey’s Cafe es un lugar especial, no por su café, no por su comida, no por la tarta de zanahoria que no sabes cuando estará para degustar, no por sus dueños. Sí, por sus clientes y todas sus historias vividas y superadas.
Bailey’s Cafe es un lugar especial, no por su café, no por su comida, no por la tarta de zanahoria que no sabes cuando estará para degustar, no por sus dueños. Sí, por sus clientes y todas sus historias vividas y superadas.
September 27, 2019
Well written, but I just couldn't get into it.
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