Cotton Song

by Tom Bailey

In World War II–era Mississippi, the aftermath of a tragedy takes on all the intensity and heat of the Delta summer when the town of Ruleton copes with violence, racism, and a vengeful spree that threatens the life of a young girl and the soul of the small town.In Hushpuckashaw County in the 1940s, many things are desperately unfair. Letitia Johnson, a young black mother and the nanny for one of the town’s most distinguished couples, knows this only too well when the couple’s baby is found drowned in its bath. Accused by the grieving family and the enraged townspeople, Letitia quickly sends her twelve-year-old daughter, Sally, out to hide in the brush before she is taken into custody. The angry mob would get revenge when they drag Letitia from her jail cell and hang her that very night. But they wouldn’t get Sally.Baby Allen, a courageous social worker, is assigned to Sally’s case, and gradually coaxes the young girl out of hiding, wins her trust, and secures her protection. But once Sally is safe, Baby is left with the greater mission of uncovering the truth about who is responsible for the infant’s death—a shocking revelation that will change the ways and attitudes of a town that has been long in need of changing. Beautiful and gripping, Cotton Song is the story of a woman’s fight to save the child left behind after the horrific lynching that took her mother’s life.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adult Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Chloe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not going to lie, this was really tough for me to get through. It had me pained and nauseated about half of the time. If you are interested in disturbing, graphic accounts of rape, incest, and necrophilia, this is the book for you. If you sympathize with the KKK, this is the book for you. If you consider yourself emotionally attached to the wellbeing of the characters, or if you have a weak stomach for violence and injustice, do not read this. The only redeeming qualities were one or two well developed, and likeable characters, but they were merely a subplot to the rest of the cruelty and bloodshed. I was personally offended by this book and feel frankly dirtier for having finished it. But maybe I'm a sap who just craves a happy ending. Or at least nothing with gratutious torture written about in such gleeful detail.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as gripping as "...Grace..." but a good story nontheless. Can the South really be that way?

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of the sheer ugliness of racial injustice in the south in the 1940's when the lives of black people were seen of having little or no value. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I found some of the book to be bit too graphic. Some of it was just sick!!!

[Rachel Consoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a World War II era Mississippi, COTTON SONG starts with the lynching of Letitia Johnson, a black domestic servant who cared for the affluent Tisdale family and is accused of drowning their infant daughter in a bathtub. Mary Allen, a recently separated welfare agent, who risks her life to find the orphaned Sally a new home and Jake Lemaster, the one-armed former football star and second in command at the state prison, tries to stand up for what he thinks is right the aftermath of this tragedy that could claim multiple lives. It's a bleak look of the ugliness and injustice of racial discrimination and incarcerations and how so much of it, unfortunately, still resonates today.

I very much see what is TRYING to be done with this book, I just think it unfortunately misses the mark with the second half. This is the kind of book that lives in the dark, dank underside of our society and it tries to be all 'look how bad it was back then' but then offers no hope or solutions and doesn't even seem to realize how much still is the unchanged today. This book is DEPRESSING and the second half just shows it, I very much did not appreciate the ending and am unsure what the message is trying to send. That the world is just an ugly place and it'll immediately snuff out any hope of goodness? Like why?? There's also this whole prelude of explaining why Bailey picked this time period/setting for the lynching and treatment of black Americans, but then doesn't really do anything with it. Especially in a time of WWII where we're fighting alongside them eventually, like what's the point?

There are elements of the book I really liked, Bailey's prose is as engaging as I remember and he has a knack for setting a scene and really making this world feel tangible and lived in. BUT he also has some tropes that he's obsessed with like romanticizing adultery or leaning on slurs/racism/bigotry to show how horrible characters are without much else to flesh them out. And then I'm just stuck in the black hole of that ending and if it were really necessary to be that depressing.

I just don't think this worked, GRACE THE KEEPS THIS WORLD is FAR better (from the little I remember, but I remember loving it) and this one just didn't work for me.

SPOILERS

So Tom was my former professor and we straight up had to buy his books for his classes lolol talk about vanity projects. I liked a lot of the other books, but I was never forced to read this one so I've just had it forever and am kinda disappointed NGL. Kind of wish I did read it back in college so I could complain to Tom's face LOL. But here's my main issue:

Why the fuck did Jake have to die?????????????? Like was that genuinely necessary??? What was the point of that??? And there's so many great moments between him and Mary, but then most of them are in dreams, like what's real?? The check in with Sally at the end was good, but it was barely scratching the surface and I feel like more scenes with her and Mary Allen or with Jake could've been such a stronger through-line than the prison drama and then Jake dying for fucking nothing, like why?!?! I'm still mad about it. I just don't know and am truly missing the bigger picture/point of the story. It was just so mean and bleak, and for what? Like I'm ok with using that to develop a story because it's true, but give us a reason other than you like saying horrible taboo things and getting away with it. Just didn't work for me.

[NYLSpublishing · Rating 3 out of 5]

My next door neighbor, at my New York City residence, insists on wiping his feet on my doormat before entering his apartment. Though I can find no sustainable argument on which to hang my protest without feeling petty, the truth remains that I find this practice irritating.

Bailey’s, Cotton Song, is a World War II era story which begins with the lynching of Letitia Johnson, a domestic servant who cared for the affluent Tisdale family of Hushpuckashaw County for two generations. Accused of drowning her employer’s infant daughter, Dorothy, in a bathtub, Letitia Johnson, a Negro woman, was forcibly taken from her jail cell and summarily tarred, feathered, and lynched by an inebriated and angry mob led by a local razor-back named Calvin McGales – the still owning, tobacco chewing, semi-literate Grand Dragon of the area’s Klu Klux Klan. It is McGales that seeks continued retribution against Letitia Johnson’s daughter, a twelve-year-old named Sally. Of course, there are other characters that play in this cacophony of misfortune. There is Mary Allen, an agent of the Hushpuckashaw Welfare Office, who risks her life to find the orphaned Sally a new home. There is also Jake Lemaster, the one-armed former football star and second in command at Parchman Farm, the notorious Mississippi state prison. Jake, unfortunately, doesn’t rise to meet the challenges of his convictions and wouldn’t be worth the mention if he wasn’t, for some reason, a leading character in the story.

Cotton Song should come with the disclaimer, “Reader discretion is advised”. Readers squeamish of the practice of necrophilia and images of disinterred human fetuses being eaten by wild animals should find sufficient reason to retch as they pass along the pages of this work. This is a good thing since it is Bailey’s attention to detail and his skill in weaving these details into a three dimensional picture that stimulate the reader’s senses ultimately causing the stomach to heave. With respect to the characters, it should be noted that though it is Mary Allen’s actions that most readily come to view under the microscope of reader scrutiny, the true heroine of this narrative is Sally whose remarkable cunning, resilience, and sheer determination to survive is the understated triumph of this story. It is Bailey’s own cunning to imbue the most vulnerable character with the greatest inner strength.

Cotton Song is a work written in a taunting Mississippi dialect, and as such may be the wearing away of some readers. Also, there are times when Bailey goes on at length describing the backgrounds of minor characters. This is irritating but, juxtaposed with the larger work one almost feels petty in mentioning it. Bailey’s, Cotton Song, is certainly worth a read.



© Joel Glenn, Book Critic –The NYLS Book Review, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate a 3.5. This is difficult material to read, but a poignant reminder of history. Tom Bailey is a great story teller, but I much prefer "The Grace That Keeps This World" to this book.

[Ida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking, tragic, gruesome, a novel that is gripping from beginning to end, but is foreboding from the start. Although I initially balked at the Mississippian dialect-style of writing, I was easily drawn into the story and had a hard time putting the book down despite how difficult some of the brutish descriptions are and the sick and depraved manner in which many of the Southern characters conduct themselves throughout the pages of "Cotton Song". Not only did the KKK element and their despicable actions make my blood boil, the self-righteous manner of others did the same. This is not an easy novel to read, especially as lynching has been a horrific part of the South's past. Tom Bailey creates an all too vivid image of how totally depraved man can be. This book made me cry.

[Jessica Nooney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmmmm... Where to start. I did not enjoy the book. I did not think it was well written - I struggled to read the book. I have read another book by this author and like that book very much, so I had high hopes for this one. Too many odd sexual situations in this book - rape, sex with a corpse, incest, odd breast feeding fetishes. The characters in this book were not well constructed. The villians were all flawed in very dramatic, almost psyhotic ways. I feel like this story has been told before, in much better ways. I read this for book club and I am intersted in seeing if my opinion of the books changes after we discuss it.

[justablondemoment · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been awhile since I read this book, and normally I don't like to write reviews, unless they are fresh on my mind. This book, although, details are sketchy, is definitely one I remember. It grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let go. A flowing timeline that was easy to follow from one event to the next. Another great story to an age-old problem...prejudice.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Until the ending that went on and on forever, I would've given this book 4 stars. The ending was very unsatisfying even though I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and found the multitude of characters very recognizable. Bailey's writing is extremely wordy; sometimes too much so, leaving me as a reader to not give enough thought to passages. All of that said, I expect I'll look for his first one.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it was difficult to read in that it graphically depicted race relations in the South in the 1940's. The author's previous book "The Grace That Keeps This World" was much more enjoyable.

[B.T. Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most heartening stories I've ever read. The writing style was intricate yet easy to read. It had all of the realities of life's ups and downs, moments of happiness and times of sadness. I loved it.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not for the "faint of heart". There are some pretty gruesome descriptions. That being said, the plot will suck you in! From my understanding of the era, I would say one could probably find real-life accounts that are eerily similar to this story!

[Kay]

Cyber gift from Allyson Xmas 07

[Wendy]

Gift From Allyson

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just happened along on this book at my local London library and I read it in one day- granted I had nothing else to do. It was a very good read.

[Toshana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, gripping historical fiction

[Mary-ann]

Very good. Should make it into a movie. I picture Matthew McConaughy in the main role.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, although I liked the ending.

[Tracyj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really didn't like this book. Too many ugly-hearted people. Every angle of this story was over-kill. Very disappointing after how much I loved The Grace that Keeps this World.

[Carolyn Feltus-atkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good one. Always good to be reminded of history so we don't repeat it. (ok, not exactly an original thought)

[Ann Parfet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Racism in Mississippi post WW2

[Jennie-Lynn Knox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superbly written...but at times, very rough. The times were scary. I'd have never made it then.