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Rattlebone
Set in the fictional town of Rattlebone, Kansas, in the 1950s, these eleven interrelated stories reveal the emotional, financial, and social conflicts that govern the lives of the African Americans who live there. Winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Award. Author reading tour.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
39 people are currently reading
1598 people want to read
About the author
Maxine Clair
11 books25 followersMaxine Clair was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, in the 1950s. She is a poet, short story writer, and novelist. She attentded the University of Kansas in Lawrence where she studied science. Clair went on to a career in medical technology as chief technologist at a children's hospital in Washington, D.C. It was while workingthere that Clair became interested in writing. She pursued and achieved her M.F.A. at George Washington University where she is currently an associate professor of English.
Her first book, a collection of poetry, Coping With Gravity, was published in 1988. In 1992 she published a fiction chapbook entitled October Brown, which earned her an Artscape Prize for Maryland Writers. Her next book, Rattlebone, was published in 1994 and is perhaps her most well-known work. Rattlebone is a collection of interrelated stories revolving around the life of a young African-American girl coming of age in a small African-American neighborhood called Rattlebone, in Kansas City, Kansas. Clair got the name of her book from Rattlebone Hollow, a North Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood.
Her most recent work is October Suite, published in 2001. This novel takes a character from her chapbook October Brown and her novel Rattlebone and explores her life and experiences as an unwed teacher and African-American mother in the 1950s. The novel is a journey of self discovery for its lead character, October Brown, and was well received by critics.
Her first book, a collection of poetry, Coping With Gravity, was published in 1988. In 1992 she published a fiction chapbook entitled October Brown, which earned her an Artscape Prize for Maryland Writers. Her next book, Rattlebone, was published in 1994 and is perhaps her most well-known work. Rattlebone is a collection of interrelated stories revolving around the life of a young African-American girl coming of age in a small African-American neighborhood called Rattlebone, in Kansas City, Kansas. Clair got the name of her book from Rattlebone Hollow, a North Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood.
Her most recent work is October Suite, published in 2001. This novel takes a character from her chapbook October Brown and her novel Rattlebone and explores her life and experiences as an unwed teacher and African-American mother in the 1950s. The novel is a journey of self discovery for its lead character, October Brown, and was well received by critics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
January 6, 2023
Maxine Clair’s intertwined stories play out in Rattlebone, a fictional Black community in Kansas. Set in the 1950s, Clair’s is a variation on a conventional, coming-of-age novel centred on Irene Wilson, eight when this opens, and just about to leave high school when it ends. It’s an acutely-observed collection, fierce and atmospheric, imbued with a haunting sense of time and place. Irene or Reenie, her family, and her friends are doing their best to navigate what feels like a totally capricious world in which violence and tragedy mingle with expressions of love and the hint of future possibilities. Clair’s style, her precision with words, reflects her background in poetry, her prose is impressively controlled, her characters vivid, and her imagery piercing.
July 18, 2020
I’m going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come.
They got some pretty little women there
And I’m gonna get me one. ~~Nat King Cole
Set in the fictional black town of Rattlebone, Kansas near Kansas City, Kansas where a young girl named Irene is growing up. Rattlebone isn a small community, and it is the 1950s.
It is a quiet town where there is not much to do. And by quiet, I mean, there are no power mowers, no leaf blowers, and no fast cars, although there are fast boys.
Irene and her friends get together to talk, listen to music, and just do what many kids do, only they do not have computers or other modern contraptions. So, whatelse do they do? I forgot. I know that Irene does not have a dog to play with or take on walks to the river or the hills, not like I did. I doubt if Kansas City has any hills, at least that is how I view it.
So, what happens in this book? Irene is bent on getting an education, wants to go to college, but a boy has other ideas, he wants to make it with her. And her parents want to make it with others, but this is not Peyton Place; it is a story where people are just trying to get by, trying to make things work, make a better life for themselves. A boy drowns, a girl gets pregnant, an airplane crashes in town, and Irene is intent on getting a scholarship.
Her mom and dad fight, he leaves the house for another, but he comes home on Sundays for his wife’s fried chicken and gravy on biscuits. I just made that up, because I forgot what he ate, but that was what most of us ate on Sundays in the 50s. Now, I do not recall if it was on Sundays or if it happened only once. Sounds good. I just thought it odd that he would come home after all he was doing.
Later, her parents start a laundry business, and all I could think about was the steam and heat inside the store. Then her dad moves into the room upstairs, has it all fancied up. Again, I think of the heat and steam that could rise to his room. Would serve him right.
Irene made a new friend and headed over to her neighborhood. Her friend’s parents lived in its basement, and the house’s nameplate said, The Tourist Home, another name for Cat House. Irene checked out the upstairs and saw something she should not have seen, and this, I suppose, is called, growing up. There are worse things to learn in life.
All in all, it was a nice story, a light read, just what I needed.
Kansas City here I come.
They got some pretty little women there
And I’m gonna get me one. ~~Nat King Cole
Set in the fictional black town of Rattlebone, Kansas near Kansas City, Kansas where a young girl named Irene is growing up. Rattlebone isn a small community, and it is the 1950s.
It is a quiet town where there is not much to do. And by quiet, I mean, there are no power mowers, no leaf blowers, and no fast cars, although there are fast boys.
Irene and her friends get together to talk, listen to music, and just do what many kids do, only they do not have computers or other modern contraptions. So, whatelse do they do? I forgot. I know that Irene does not have a dog to play with or take on walks to the river or the hills, not like I did. I doubt if Kansas City has any hills, at least that is how I view it.
So, what happens in this book? Irene is bent on getting an education, wants to go to college, but a boy has other ideas, he wants to make it with her. And her parents want to make it with others, but this is not Peyton Place; it is a story where people are just trying to get by, trying to make things work, make a better life for themselves. A boy drowns, a girl gets pregnant, an airplane crashes in town, and Irene is intent on getting a scholarship.
Her mom and dad fight, he leaves the house for another, but he comes home on Sundays for his wife’s fried chicken and gravy on biscuits. I just made that up, because I forgot what he ate, but that was what most of us ate on Sundays in the 50s. Now, I do not recall if it was on Sundays or if it happened only once. Sounds good. I just thought it odd that he would come home after all he was doing.
Later, her parents start a laundry business, and all I could think about was the steam and heat inside the store. Then her dad moves into the room upstairs, has it all fancied up. Again, I think of the heat and steam that could rise to his room. Would serve him right.
Irene made a new friend and headed over to her neighborhood. Her friend’s parents lived in its basement, and the house’s nameplate said, The Tourist Home, another name for Cat House. Irene checked out the upstairs and saw something she should not have seen, and this, I suppose, is called, growing up. There are worse things to learn in life.
All in all, it was a nice story, a light read, just what I needed.
September 5, 2022
This book, Rattlebone is a novel published in 1994. Many people who read it come away with the impression that the story simply takes place in a midwestern town. But for those who know where the author is from will know that she's describing life in segregated 1950s era Kansas City, Kansas. There are plenty of geographic, street and business names, and smells (i.e. the stockyards) to clearly place it in KCK. There are specific references to the rattlebone end of Kansas City. One chapter describes what is probably the 1951 flood.
Author Maxine Clair was the recipient of numerous literary awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her book Rattlebone, a fictionalized account of a girl coming of age in the real Rattlebone Hollow, is one of her most famous works. The following link tells the story of the real Rattlebone Hollow in Kansas City, Kansas:
https://flatlandkc.org/curiouskc/curi...
Rattlebone is a collection of stories with the same cast of characters and not a plot driven novel. However, once finished it has the feel of a complete work of fiction. The stories all take place within a closed community where everybody knows too much about everybody else. It's about an African-American community that is mostly isolated from the larger surrounding white community, and segregation of the races is the prevailing social norm. Whenever a white person shows up in the Rattlebone community they are either lost or want to spread their version of religion.
The stories in this book follow the coming of age of a young Irene at age 8, then at 13, then at 15, then graduating from high school. Most of the stories are focused on family and community relationships and not the limitations caused by segregation policies. However, there is one particularly disgusting story that involves Irene winning an oratory prize, but then she's not allowed to compete in a regional contest with other high schools because she's black. Everybody involved knows about the recent "Brown v. Board of Education" ruling, but the prevailing consensus is that the meaning of "all deliberate speed" is "slow" (i.e. It's illegal, but change takes time).
Since Irene in this fictional story is an aspiring writer growing up in the same community and era in which the author grew up, I as reader can't help but wonder which portions of this novel are autobiographic from the author's own experiences. I am curious to know if the denial of African American participation in a speech contest with "white only" schools was drawn from the author's personal experience. Under today's sensibilities such denial of participation seems outrageous.
Author Maxine Clair was the recipient of numerous literary awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her book Rattlebone, a fictionalized account of a girl coming of age in the real Rattlebone Hollow, is one of her most famous works. The following link tells the story of the real Rattlebone Hollow in Kansas City, Kansas:
https://flatlandkc.org/curiouskc/curi...
Rattlebone is a collection of stories with the same cast of characters and not a plot driven novel. However, once finished it has the feel of a complete work of fiction. The stories all take place within a closed community where everybody knows too much about everybody else. It's about an African-American community that is mostly isolated from the larger surrounding white community, and segregation of the races is the prevailing social norm. Whenever a white person shows up in the Rattlebone community they are either lost or want to spread their version of religion.
The stories in this book follow the coming of age of a young Irene at age 8, then at 13, then at 15, then graduating from high school. Most of the stories are focused on family and community relationships and not the limitations caused by segregation policies. However, there is one particularly disgusting story that involves Irene winning an oratory prize, but then she's not allowed to compete in a regional contest with other high schools because she's black. Everybody involved knows about the recent "Brown v. Board of Education" ruling, but the prevailing consensus is that the meaning of "all deliberate speed" is "slow" (i.e. It's illegal, but change takes time).
Since Irene in this fictional story is an aspiring writer growing up in the same community and era in which the author grew up, I as reader can't help but wonder which portions of this novel are autobiographic from the author's own experiences. I am curious to know if the denial of African American participation in a speech contest with "white only" schools was drawn from the author's personal experience. Under today's sensibilities such denial of participation seems outrageous.
April 3, 2023
set in the fictional rattlebone, kansas, a black community in the 1950’s, this novel is a unique set of eleven short stories. irene is our main character, though others do get a chance to take the spotlight. beautifully crafted, heartbreakingly written, you soon won’t forget the stories of these people. through floods, religion, death, cheating, and racism we grow close to this amazing community all the while rooting for irene. this is a wonderful collection of stories that allows you to truly view a world that doesn’t feel quite so far away. the haunting reality of segregation is woven into the page, reminding us that at every turn irene will have to fight for equality and her future.
February 19, 2024
It takes a village to raise a child is how things worked in the 1950s in the segregated town of Rattlebone, Kansas. I loved this coming of age story in which we meet Irene Wilson when she is young school age girl and we get to know her and the neighbors in her close knit town as we watch her grow up and graduate from high school.
This is a cozy story, the kind that feels like you know the people in the book. Most of what happens is told from Irene’s point of view, but of course some things are not appropriate for a young girl so those chapters are told from the pov of the adults involved.
We’re there when husbands step out on their wives and then coming crawling back; we sit with the women as they share their troubles and their joys; we sit up straighter when a mother reprimands her child; we feel for the teenage girls when they experience their first heartbreak; we cheer for the young people when they succeed. We watch as Irene tries to understand marriage, love, betrayal, friendship, loyalty, and what makes a family.
This novel is character driven and you’ll feel like you spent time in this town with Irene, her mother and father, Irene’s friends and their parents.
Another excellent novel from McNally Editions, highly recommended.
This is a cozy story, the kind that feels like you know the people in the book. Most of what happens is told from Irene’s point of view, but of course some things are not appropriate for a young girl so those chapters are told from the pov of the adults involved.
We’re there when husbands step out on their wives and then coming crawling back; we sit with the women as they share their troubles and their joys; we sit up straighter when a mother reprimands her child; we feel for the teenage girls when they experience their first heartbreak; we cheer for the young people when they succeed. We watch as Irene tries to understand marriage, love, betrayal, friendship, loyalty, and what makes a family.
This novel is character driven and you’ll feel like you spent time in this town with Irene, her mother and father, Irene’s friends and their parents.
Another excellent novel from McNally Editions, highly recommended.
November 12, 2022
Thank goodness for McNally Editions for rereleasing this lost out-of-print American classic. I’m usually amazed why books go out of print. Especially ones written only a handful of years ago. I’m more upset that this was never rereleased. I wasn’t familiar with it until McNally Editions came and rescued it. We’re all thankful now.
Irene’s story is beautifully told in Rattlebone, a small Black neighborhood outside of Kansas City. The author does an incredible job of describing her years from grade school to high school in increments. Now that it’s available again, don’t sleep on it.
Irene’s story is beautifully told in Rattlebone, a small Black neighborhood outside of Kansas City. The author does an incredible job of describing her years from grade school to high school in increments. Now that it’s available again, don’t sleep on it.
August 21, 2015
This book was first published in 1994, a series of interconnected stories about a fictional community near Kansas City, Missouri. Most of it centers around the Wilson family, told in the voice of Irene ("Reenie") and takes place in the 1950's around the time of the Supreme Court decision on Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
We first meet Reenie in elementary school, dealing with the dalliances of her father with her teacher, Miss October Brown. Reenie has some complex friendships with her school friends, male and female, and tries to excel as an intelligent, outspoken young lady in school where the students are all black, but some of the teachers are white.
Reenie makes friends with many of her classmates who seem to have no other friends, and it seems that much of the school activity centers around Reenie, and helps her to understand the failing marriage of her parents.
The other stories in the volume deal with other households in the Rattlebone community, where married couples manage to survive financially through good work ethic, renting out rooms in their houses, taking in ironing, or seeking day labor.
The one incident that I found really hurtful, was when Reenie won her school oratorical contest with her presentation of "The Creation," by James Weldon Johnson. When it was time to move up to the next level in the competition, her white teacher delivered the bad news that a "colored" child could not compete. Then the teacher suggested that Reenie coach one of the white girls to do the same poem. Reenie walked out, and I slammed my book.
I give it four stars.
We first meet Reenie in elementary school, dealing with the dalliances of her father with her teacher, Miss October Brown. Reenie has some complex friendships with her school friends, male and female, and tries to excel as an intelligent, outspoken young lady in school where the students are all black, but some of the teachers are white.
Reenie makes friends with many of her classmates who seem to have no other friends, and it seems that much of the school activity centers around Reenie, and helps her to understand the failing marriage of her parents.
The other stories in the volume deal with other households in the Rattlebone community, where married couples manage to survive financially through good work ethic, renting out rooms in their houses, taking in ironing, or seeking day labor.
The one incident that I found really hurtful, was when Reenie won her school oratorical contest with her presentation of "The Creation," by James Weldon Johnson. When it was time to move up to the next level in the competition, her white teacher delivered the bad news that a "colored" child could not compete. Then the teacher suggested that Reenie coach one of the white girls to do the same poem. Reenie walked out, and I slammed my book.
I give it four stars.
January 17, 2023
Wonderful! Wonderful. Never cloying, never lazy. One of my favorite narrators, observant and smart and nerdy Irene. What a treat to hang out with her as she learns about grownup disappointments, religion, hurt, friendship, race, femininity, shame.
January 6, 2024
3.5 rounding up! Grasps both the awkward desperations of girlhood and the malaise of American adulthood equally well
September 30, 2025
love is a wild thing…
stop playing with poets who write novels!!!
stop playing with poets who write novels!!!
July 8, 2025
I’ve had my eye on ‘Rattlebone’ for a little while, then had it on my shelf for just a little longer, but after ‘Native Son’ I needed to take a beat, given its length, and how heavy African American literature from a certain time period inevitably is. I could only stay away so long though, and actually I was surprised to find this interconnected set of stories to be much lighter than expected on that score, with ‘Rattlebone’ feeling more about girlhood and coming of age, than about the deeper issue of race. Clair almost backgrounds these societal issues in a way that makes them feel like they’re never strictly the focus but they permeate the entire book in the same way they did peoples whole lives, wrought in an impressively subtle way.
I really loved the prose and the style here. Clair’s writing was easy, almost stream of consciousness in places, very conversational. It had a similar quality to a talk with an old friend, reminiscing on old times, going off on fun little tangents along the way. It’s the kind of prose that I think it’s easy to overlook - it’s always easy to underestimate just how much effort it takes to seem effortless.
I really enjoyed how this volume was structured too; I love short story collections like this where rather than individual, distinct tales that differ on almost everything but maybe a motif or a theme, they are all small vignettes of a life (or a half a dozen lives), or a setting, or both, that gradually build into something much greater. ‘Rattlebone’ was this nigh on perfected.
Maybe the only thing I could possibly critique is the ending. I can’t say I was strictly disappointed in it or really anything else definitively negative about it, I just felt like the book kind of trailed off. This inarguably worked well with the style of the collection, but I selfishly jut wanted a little more of a culmination, a slightly more memorable to note to leave on. This is such a slight and selfish comment I’m almost loathe to make it, but apparently I can’t help myself.
Regardless, ‘Rattlebone’ was a wonderful little read, and another one of those rediscovered classics that genuinely deserves to be resurrected, which is always nice to see. Yet again, these McNally editions continue to impress me, and I’m at the point where I’ll probably pick one up anytime I see one in a bookstore now. Given the success I’ve had in the past, odds are the next one I read won’t only be great, it could easily become a new favourite.
I really loved the prose and the style here. Clair’s writing was easy, almost stream of consciousness in places, very conversational. It had a similar quality to a talk with an old friend, reminiscing on old times, going off on fun little tangents along the way. It’s the kind of prose that I think it’s easy to overlook - it’s always easy to underestimate just how much effort it takes to seem effortless.
I really enjoyed how this volume was structured too; I love short story collections like this where rather than individual, distinct tales that differ on almost everything but maybe a motif or a theme, they are all small vignettes of a life (or a half a dozen lives), or a setting, or both, that gradually build into something much greater. ‘Rattlebone’ was this nigh on perfected.
Maybe the only thing I could possibly critique is the ending. I can’t say I was strictly disappointed in it or really anything else definitively negative about it, I just felt like the book kind of trailed off. This inarguably worked well with the style of the collection, but I selfishly jut wanted a little more of a culmination, a slightly more memorable to note to leave on. This is such a slight and selfish comment I’m almost loathe to make it, but apparently I can’t help myself.
Regardless, ‘Rattlebone’ was a wonderful little read, and another one of those rediscovered classics that genuinely deserves to be resurrected, which is always nice to see. Yet again, these McNally editions continue to impress me, and I’m at the point where I’ll probably pick one up anytime I see one in a bookstore now. Given the success I’ve had in the past, odds are the next one I read won’t only be great, it could easily become a new favourite.
February 2, 2025
The community of Rattlebone in Kansas has all the drama, friendships, boredom. shock and awe, gossip, and fun that one would except in a tight-knit section of town. Irene Wilson is eight when the
novel begins and a new teacher has come to town name Miss October Brown. The novel ends when Irene is eighteen and is graduating from high school. What ensues in those 10 years will form who Irene will become as a young lady. From the death of her friend Nick at age eleven to her sexually ecounter with a Red Quander while in high school she thinks is love, read how Irene comes of age.
In the community you have Wanda Coles, Puddin, Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton, Miss October Brown, Obadele Quander, Mrs. Coles, Geraldine, Dorla Wooten, and others. Their life's each touch Irene's and she in kind touches theirs. Growing up is difficult. A very good read.
Quote:
"If I do let you go over there," she told me, "you have to act like you got some home training and don't go wandering through their house looking at all their things. And I don't want you eating over there, either," she said. "They got sugar diabetes in that house."
Let me tell you, I have known Thomas Pemberton to look twice at more than one high-yellow woman with good hair, and years ago, it near about cost him everything we had.
Evil knows where evil sleeps.
Who wanted to look like an African, even a civilized one?
Why was I so bent on impressing a white woman teacher?
novel begins and a new teacher has come to town name Miss October Brown. The novel ends when Irene is eighteen and is graduating from high school. What ensues in those 10 years will form who Irene will become as a young lady. From the death of her friend Nick at age eleven to her sexually ecounter with a Red Quander while in high school she thinks is love, read how Irene comes of age.
In the community you have Wanda Coles, Puddin, Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton, Miss October Brown, Obadele Quander, Mrs. Coles, Geraldine, Dorla Wooten, and others. Their life's each touch Irene's and she in kind touches theirs. Growing up is difficult. A very good read.
Quote:
"If I do let you go over there," she told me, "you have to act like you got some home training and don't go wandering through their house looking at all their things. And I don't want you eating over there, either," she said. "They got sugar diabetes in that house."
Let me tell you, I have known Thomas Pemberton to look twice at more than one high-yellow woman with good hair, and years ago, it near about cost him everything we had.
Evil knows where evil sleeps.
Who wanted to look like an African, even a civilized one?
Why was I so bent on impressing a white woman teacher?
September 20, 2025
Women only want one thing & it's a lovely book with a lovely cover!
I was especially drawn to the strong sense of place and time in these stories, maybe because they’re set in a fictional town just about 20 minutes from where I grew up (❤️), though also a world away.
The intertwined stories really create a sense of community that make this a special read. While there’s no real plot, the character-driven pieces feel purposeful. They offer a glimpse into Black lives shaped by a particular place and era, often beautiful, often unfair, and incredibly readable.
I really enjoyed this!
I was especially drawn to the strong sense of place and time in these stories, maybe because they’re set in a fictional town just about 20 minutes from where I grew up (❤️), though also a world away.
The intertwined stories really create a sense of community that make this a special read. While there’s no real plot, the character-driven pieces feel purposeful. They offer a glimpse into Black lives shaped by a particular place and era, often beautiful, often unfair, and incredibly readable.
I really enjoyed this!
December 1, 2014
I started it this morning, and was immediately taken with it. The writing is wonderful. The author can create a complete portrait of a family in a few well chosen words. I read, and I see a present, but also a past and a future, in one paragraph. I start so many poorly written kindle books that it is a joy to read something that delivers. Every word is carefully chosen, and just right. She became my favorite author in one paragraph.
January 19, 2023
I loved this book! It's a collection of short stories featuring the same characters, all of whom
live in a black section of Kansas City in the 1950's. There is a main character, Irene, whose
early life we follow from elementary school until high school graduation. It is beautifully written,
and the stories and connections seemed to unfold so easily. Thanks McNally Editions - would never have known of Rattlebone otherwise!
live in a black section of Kansas City in the 1950's. There is a main character, Irene, whose
early life we follow from elementary school until high school graduation. It is beautifully written,
and the stories and connections seemed to unfold so easily. Thanks McNally Editions - would never have known of Rattlebone otherwise!
December 27, 2022
A very simple, beautiful, and realistic coming of age story. The setting is Kansas City and we follow Irene as she goes through life in the small black community - she shares her struggles in identity and her complicated relationships between family members.
October 17, 2018
A solid, good, smart evocative read. Excellent storytelling.
August 9, 2025
(4.5)
Loved. Excellent use of changing POV’s, and packs a lot into a small amount of space.
Loved. Excellent use of changing POV’s, and packs a lot into a small amount of space.
Want to read
September 22, 2025“A small, perfectly formed classic”
September 30, 2022
One of my favorite reads of this year, the story is captivating and the writing is poetic and enthralling. 12/10 would read again
May 13, 2024
A radiant, sharply- written portrayal of the Rattlebone community of Kansas City, impeccably structured and deeply evocative. This needs to become a cult classic!
September 23, 2024
In Rattlebone, Maxine Clair offers us more than a nostalgic journey back to childhood; she delivers a poignant meditation on the complexity of innocence. At the heart of the novel is Irene, a young girl whose world initially revolves around the fractures in her parents’ marriage. Clair, however, resists confining the narrative to this domestic tension. Instead, much like childhood itself, Irene’s universe expands beyond her parents’ behaviors and beliefs, revealing a far richer, layered coming-of-age story.
Irene’s relationships reflect this widening perspective. Her bond with Wanda, the neighborhood girl whose diary once held a glimpse into Irene's exciting transition into young adulthood, dissolves as Wanda’s life becomes more complicated and less accessible. Irene also befriends a shy girl from school whose life has been marked by tragedy, yet Irene’s curiosity and desire for connection push her to pursue the friendship, undeterred by the girl’s difficult past. Irene also experiences love for the first time—an event that sidetracks her studies, but also gives her one of her first opportunities to openly and strongly defy her parents. Despite this, her story isn’t one of a single downfall or a fixed path, Irene is allowed to go through challenges and make mistakes without it completely side tracking her story or leading into one of squalor or hardship as many stories about African American girls can come to. Through Irene’s interactions with these characters, Clair evokes the raw, unfiltered openness of childhood, reminding readers of the beauty in approaching the unknown with curiosity rather than judgment.
What makes Rattlebone so resonant is precisely this childlike openness that permeates Irene’s journey. Clair subtly encourages readers to rekindle their own sense of wonder—a trait too often lost to the cynicism of adulthood. Irene’s character, untainted by the biases of the world around her, serves as a quiet reminder that embracing curiosity is a practice, not a relic of youth. In this, Maxine Clair’s novel transcends its time and setting, offering a universal call to reconnect with the innocence that can illuminate even the darkest corners of human experience.
Irene’s relationships reflect this widening perspective. Her bond with Wanda, the neighborhood girl whose diary once held a glimpse into Irene's exciting transition into young adulthood, dissolves as Wanda’s life becomes more complicated and less accessible. Irene also befriends a shy girl from school whose life has been marked by tragedy, yet Irene’s curiosity and desire for connection push her to pursue the friendship, undeterred by the girl’s difficult past. Irene also experiences love for the first time—an event that sidetracks her studies, but also gives her one of her first opportunities to openly and strongly defy her parents. Despite this, her story isn’t one of a single downfall or a fixed path, Irene is allowed to go through challenges and make mistakes without it completely side tracking her story or leading into one of squalor or hardship as many stories about African American girls can come to. Through Irene’s interactions with these characters, Clair evokes the raw, unfiltered openness of childhood, reminding readers of the beauty in approaching the unknown with curiosity rather than judgment.
What makes Rattlebone so resonant is precisely this childlike openness that permeates Irene’s journey. Clair subtly encourages readers to rekindle their own sense of wonder—a trait too often lost to the cynicism of adulthood. Irene’s character, untainted by the biases of the world around her, serves as a quiet reminder that embracing curiosity is a practice, not a relic of youth. In this, Maxine Clair’s novel transcends its time and setting, offering a universal call to reconnect with the innocence that can illuminate even the darkest corners of human experience.
March 31, 2023
The display table as I walked into our library got me again! I cannot go by it without my eye falling upon a book that pulls me toward it. This time it was Rattlebone by Maxine Clair. I hadn’t heard of the author, but the unusual title attracted me and I had to pick it up. The review on the back promised plot twists and new interesting characters. I looked at the inside jacket and learned that Rattlebone is a real place. I had to check it out and read it.
There are different featured characters in this series of vignettes but one shows up most of the time: Irene Wilson, just beginning adolescence at the beginning. By the end, she is a senior in high school. In between, she does a lot of growing up with a lot of events in her young life.
I learned that Rattlebone is or was a Black community within Kansas City. The story begins in the early 1950s, before Brown Vs. Board of Education, so Irene attends a segregated school. She has a troubled home life because her parents don’t get along. Still, she has a close friend or two throughout her teen years. She also keeps a secret journal. In that way, she reminds me of myself. I used my journals to pour out my heart with secrets I couldn’t share with others.
There is humor; there is drama; there is tragedy and trauma. I wouldn’t say that it would keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense, but it is a page-turner. I couldn’t put the book down. I would recommend it to anyone, especially those who enjoy historical fiction. I can’t believe I’m labeling this as historical fiction, lol, because the story mostly takes place just a few years before I was born.
There are different featured characters in this series of vignettes but one shows up most of the time: Irene Wilson, just beginning adolescence at the beginning. By the end, she is a senior in high school. In between, she does a lot of growing up with a lot of events in her young life.
I learned that Rattlebone is or was a Black community within Kansas City. The story begins in the early 1950s, before Brown Vs. Board of Education, so Irene attends a segregated school. She has a troubled home life because her parents don’t get along. Still, she has a close friend or two throughout her teen years. She also keeps a secret journal. In that way, she reminds me of myself. I used my journals to pour out my heart with secrets I couldn’t share with others.
There is humor; there is drama; there is tragedy and trauma. I wouldn’t say that it would keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense, but it is a page-turner. I couldn’t put the book down. I would recommend it to anyone, especially those who enjoy historical fiction. I can’t believe I’m labeling this as historical fiction, lol, because the story mostly takes place just a few years before I was born.
May 22, 2025
Maxine Clair’s Rattlebone presents a portrait of a neighborhood through the voice and memory of Irene Wilson. Each story builds on the last, revealing the changes and constants in a Black community in 1950s Kansas. Irene watches her parents' marriage weaken, as her father, a postal worker named Raymond, leaves to chase another life. Her mother, Prentiss, keeps the household moving forward while Irene tries to understand the silence that grows between them.
The stories shift perspective at times, allowing others from Rattlebone to speak. For example, in “Lashuawn,” a girl dreams of a future in music, but her brother’s arrest and her mother’s work at the plant push those dreams to the side. In “Water Seeks Its Own Level,” a preacher named Mr. Parnell leaves his post after a quiet scandal, causing a rift among the congregation. These events ripple through the streets, reaching even those who wish to remain outside the fold.
Irene returns in later stories, older, holding what she has learned in the schoolroom and on porches. In “The Walk,” she visits her grandmother’s house and carries the burden of her father’s absence, the presence of another man in her mother's life, and the sense that everything continues whether she understands it or not.
Clair’s book does not circle a single event, but traces lives as they move forward. Each story reveals decisions made behind closed doors, paths that cross without warning, and voices that carry on. The result is a full account of a place that holds together, even as its people step away, return, or remain.
The stories shift perspective at times, allowing others from Rattlebone to speak. For example, in “Lashuawn,” a girl dreams of a future in music, but her brother’s arrest and her mother’s work at the plant push those dreams to the side. In “Water Seeks Its Own Level,” a preacher named Mr. Parnell leaves his post after a quiet scandal, causing a rift among the congregation. These events ripple through the streets, reaching even those who wish to remain outside the fold.
Irene returns in later stories, older, holding what she has learned in the schoolroom and on porches. In “The Walk,” she visits her grandmother’s house and carries the burden of her father’s absence, the presence of another man in her mother's life, and the sense that everything continues whether she understands it or not.
Clair’s book does not circle a single event, but traces lives as they move forward. Each story reveals decisions made behind closed doors, paths that cross without warning, and voices that carry on. The result is a full account of a place that holds together, even as its people step away, return, or remain.
November 13, 2022
In this book originally published in 1994, lyrical linked stories unfold in Rattlebone Hollow, Kansas City’s historic Black quarter circa 1950, during the halting early days of school desegregation, centered around the coming of age of Irene “Reenie” Wilson, a young girl navigating the perplexing terrors and thrills of adolescence. Woven through Reenie’s impressions, readers glimpse others in this close-knit community: the longings of her wayward father on the fateful night the levee breaks; her long-suffering mother’s heartbroken musings; the wry calculations of a boarding house proprietress about her husband’s infidelities; the poignant redemption of that husband, since widowed. Veering recklessly through these lives is Reenie’s schoolteacher October Brown, a nearly mythic figure “no more careful than the sun is careful about coming up,” and the heroine of Clair’s subsequent novel October Suite. Individually compelling and collectively masterful, these resonant stories are told in cadenced prose of a ravishing, unforced eloquence. Writing this brilliant and evocative deserves a place on any shelf. Reviewed by David Wright , Nov 01, 2022
December 4, 2025
4.5 Beautiful, poetic vignettes mostly from the point of view of Irene (Reenie) Wilson growing up in the 1950s in Rattlebone, a Black area of segregated Kansas City. While plenty was happening in that area on a national stage, plenty is happening in Reenie's life in her home and on her street. She is about 8 or 9 at the start of the book and on page 2 we get the knock-out line: 'intution is the guardian of childhood: it was keen in us...." and she feels her way through events until her cognizance catches up as she grows and matures. A few others get to tell their fragments of story: Reenie's mother, father, and a couple townspeople, but most things are filtered through her lens. Definitely a coming-of-age story, but also an intense look at family and community - warts and all. The end of the book coincides with Reenie's high school graduation, but we feel we have traveled longer and farther than that, mostly by looking inward. The book's format and style reminded me a bit of The House on Mango Street, but this is entirely its own strong entity.
September 17, 2023
Irene Wilson grows up in a community that is both unlike any other... and just like so many others. The stories are beautiful, hopeful, heartbreaking, and inspiring by turns. Only lightly fictionalized (there really was an area called Rattlebone in Kansas city, there really was a massive flood that Kansas city remembers to this day, there really was a fighter jet that crashed and killed people in 1952), this book paints a stunning portrait of a unique community in Kansas in the early and mid 1900s -- a world that, but for books like this, is quickly fading from memory.
Each chapter is nearly a short story in its own right, yet Maxine Clair also weaves them together into a vivid tapestry with characters so real, you feel they could be your own neighbors.
This book will delight all those who are patient and approach with an open heart.
Each chapter is nearly a short story in its own right, yet Maxine Clair also weaves them together into a vivid tapestry with characters so real, you feel they could be your own neighbors.
This book will delight all those who are patient and approach with an open heart.
July 29, 2025
Maxine Clair’s style of writing is so different from Sandra Cisneros’ and yet, while reading Rattlebone, I kept thinking about The House on Mange Street. Both books are titled after a geographical area and both feature the coming of age of a young girl while also interspersing the stories of the diverse characters who live in the neighborhood.
Like Cisneros’ Esperanza, Irene tries to make sense of the world, especially growing increasingly confused and angry as she sees her parents’ marriage falling apart and faces discrimination and prejudice. All of these hardships, however, make her stonger and by the end of her book, she is graduating HS and looking ahead to a promising future.
Offering a series of poignant vignettes. Maxine Claire’s Rattlebone was definitely worth revisiting years later.
Like Cisneros’ Esperanza, Irene tries to make sense of the world, especially growing increasingly confused and angry as she sees her parents’ marriage falling apart and faces discrimination and prejudice. All of these hardships, however, make her stonger and by the end of her book, she is graduating HS and looking ahead to a promising future.
Offering a series of poignant vignettes. Maxine Claire’s Rattlebone was definitely worth revisiting years later.
September 12, 2022
This is a book of interconnected stories about Rattlebone, a Black neighborhood in Kansas City. The book is set in the 1950’s. The Wilson family are the primary characters of the book. James, the father, wants to be a good family man but isn’t quite there. His wife has her own secrets. Their daughter, Irene matures over the course of the book and must deal with the realities of her family life. The author writes the good and bad of the Wilson’s family relationships and connections within the community in an engaging way. Several of the characters are reintroduced in the author’s novel, October Suite, which I plan to read next.
This author is not well known and it’s a shame. Hopefully more people will read her works.
This author is not well known and it’s a shame. Hopefully more people will read her works.
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