2013 Clutch Reading Challenge discussion

Our May 2013 book discussion is Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden. Here's a synopsis of the book, bio, review, and interview.

Synopsis
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/boo...

NPR offers us a review:
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/17/1453576...

Bernice McFadden reads Chapter 1 of Gathering of Waters:
http://akashicbooks.blogspot.com/2012...

Bernice McFadden talks about Gathering of Waters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JjETM...

Hello everyone. I am late joining the group but I am happy to be a part of this challenge.

Hello! Just checking in...looking forward to this book and the group discussion.

Thanks for the helpful links!

Welcome, Tamara!

I am so excited to start this book... I should be starting it tomorrow.

Initial thoughts?!?!

I got my book today from the public library. I can't wait to get into this book.

Continualknowledge wrote: "Initial thoughts?!?!"

Initial thoughts...initial thoughts...initial thoughts...my initial thoughts...

Well...I just started reading the book last night and I'm now more than half way through...past Part II. I was ABSOLUTELY enthralled, just taken in by the first few pages and I am totally absorbed in this book as I preceded through the remaining chapters. I expected another great, interesting read. But, I must say, McFadden is simply a masterful, amazing storyteller. I enjoy how her rich dialogue and entertaining prose bring to life each character in every detail. Like 'em, love 'em, despise 'em they just pop! Pop off the page!

... this has been my experience thus far and these are my initial thoughts...can't wait to finish!

Kanita, I agree. McFadden is a pro at dialogue. Her diction and the cadence of the characters' speech is so authentic!! I find myself talking with the characters, asking them questions: Who are you? Why are you in this story? Why are you do conniving? Why are you so naive? And even without their direct answer, you know their back story, the psychology and sociology of who they are. That's how GOOD McFadden is. I'm so sorry to say that this is my first experience with McFadden's work, but I must say it is definitely the first of many.

I'm only a couple chapters in, but already I'm like, OMG! lol... I can't stop my mind from wondering what in the world is going to come of Doll.

Writing wrote: "Kanita, I agree. McFadden is a pro at dialogue. Her diction and the cadence of the characters' speech is so authentic!! I find myself talking with the characters, asking them questions: Who are..."

Oh my gosh!! I find myself engaged in the characters in the same way! And, YES that IS how GOOD McFadden is. That's great character fiction. Creating believable, realistic characters is one of the cornerstones of good fiction. I read 2 of her other books recently, Sugar and This Bitter Earth, and the diction and the cadence of the characters' speech in those 2 novels is just as authentic as it is here. Gathering of Waters is my 3rd McFadden novel and I am more than pleased with her narrative, her overall style.

Felicity wrote: "I'm only a couple chapters in, but already I'm like, OMG! lol... I can't stop my mind from wondering what in the world is going to come of Doll."

Felicity, I was seriously stunned speechless. Everything just developed so fast for me in the beginning chapters that I paused a moment (a quick moment to try and gather my thoughts) before entering Chapter 4! I don't want to reveal anything too soon before the discussion gets underway but I think I can safely comment that Doll = a hot mess! Lol!

I have finished the book. I will say that Bernice L. McFadden had me at I am Money. I could not put this book down. This is my first time reading one of her books and I intend on reading more of her work.

Kanita you are so true Doll= a hot mess, I would add some other words, in between hot-holy @ss-and mess. But without her, we would have a totally different story. I too have enjoyed every book and short story I've read by McFadden, she creates these characters that you instinctively feel for, even if those feelings aren't always positive. She makes you want to know what happens to the characters, to the story in that way her novels are more character driven than plot driven and you can't go wrong with a good character.

Just finished! This was such a great pick... I had never read anything by McFadden either, but I am so glad I did. She took me through some emotions with this one...

Side note, though: Did the story scare anyone else? I felt like I was spooked all while I was reading it... lol.

McFadden is a master!! Even when I wasn't reading the novel, I was thinking about it. McFadden combined history and fantasy and great characters to create an unforgettable work. It definitely deserves a second read. Thank you Money for telling us this story. I'd give it 4.75 stars!!

Since so many of you have mentioned money as the narrator, Why do you think McFadden choose to have the town (Money) narrate the story? Did this help or hinder the story? How would the story have been different with a third person narrator?

I thought the narration of the story was genius. It was so different... We had this really cool omniscient character that was giving us all the tea, lol. I don't think I've read any story with an omniscient narrator that was so much like an actual character of the book. I definitely loved that aspect of the book.

I think Money as a narrator speaks to McFadden's use of supernatural as a medium in most of her books. While never the town as a narrator, there is always an undercurrent of the supernatural or spirits in McFadden's novels. I think she does a great job convincing those who disregard the supernatural as something truly believable, like the fact that towns have souls and personal characteristics. I think the story might not have been so great if there was a third person narrator. It would've been a good story but a different story. Money as the narrator adds a different feel to the story.

Discuss the importance of water as a symbol in the novel. What does water have in common with the life, both literally and metaphorically?

Finished the book. What a whirlwind story! Wow, the importance of water. I see it as something that flowed continuously through each story and every spirit whether good or bad. The spirit life theme was amazing, I was confused towards the end by what happened to 'Esther' (maybe she was just a cancer) and why we followed 'Emmett' for 40+ years without much warning.
Overall, it was a great book and it comes highly recommended. These books are getting better every month. Can't wait for the June selection.

I finished the book and had some time to think about it and I thought it was great. Water is symbolically many things in the story but mainly rebirth. The personification of Money was a brilliant idea. What better reliable narrator than the town. Following the three generations of women showed the changes that were occurring as the years went on. Gathering of Waters is also symbolic of that fragile junction where blacks and whites meet. I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who don't know who Emmet Till was.

I agree Deidre! I thought it was an amazing way to tell the story. I have recommended it for our library reading group next semester. I grew up in Southeast AR and currently live in Northwest MS, so I'm very familiar with the area...

Deirdre I've heard plenty of people that are upset about the use of Emmet Till in the novel, in that they feel the novel is billed about Emmet Till but it misses the beat in that sense. I'm a little on the fence in the sense of being about Emmet Till, I think folks miss that's it's about the town and how towns have spirits and a characteristic and trait of their own.

Yes that's possible but I feel it's brilliantly executed. McFadden has taken the time to weave a hear and now story about a monstrous event that even today some people still don't know about. Frankly speaking I don't know how they can say it was billed incorrectly because what's in the inside flap is what happens in the story. Emmet Till was a real person. He wasn't just this horrid incident. He was a young boy with desires hopes and dreams and McFadden has done that and more.

Continualknowledge wrote: "Deirdre I've heard plenty of people that are upset about the use of Emmet Till in the novel, in that they feel the novel is billed about Emmet Till but it misses the beat in that sense. I'm a litt..."

Great point re: him being an actual person and that the incident happened to someone. I'm stretching I'm sure but I think it makes it easier for people to cope with the incident, but like I said I could be stretching.

No I don't think it makes it easier to deal with. Those men acted worse than animals. they took someone's life and didn't think a thing of it. That scene in the book made my skin crawl. I felt all things possible outrage, anger, disgust, etc. I think the fact that she's integrated it in her book makes people not forget the horrors African-Americans went through that a lot of people would like to ignore. There are some people white and black don't even know who Emmet Till is. That incident should be written in the history books, but it's not. I'm 46 years old. I wasn't born when this incident happened. I know about it because my mother and my grand-mother told me about it. So I say kudos to Bernice L. McFadden.

Continualknowledge wrote: "Great point re: him being an actual person and that the incident happened to someone. I'm stretching I'm sure but I think it makes it easier for people to cope with the incident, but like I said I..."

I read this book in two days. Like Tamara, she had me from the very beginning. I thought the idea of a town narrating the story was unique, and I don't think anyone else could have narrated it better. I seemed to identify with every character. Well, not really identify, but I felt like I knew them, and I sincerely felt FOR many of them, in good times and in bad. I think that goes to show how amazing McFadden is in her writing and storytelling.

One thing I am curious about is that after JW died, where did Esther's spirt go? It couldn't have been in hiding until "the end." I don't want to spoil it for others in case they haven't read it but she certainly came back with a vengeance.

And to Felicity, I was definitely scared while reading this book. Not Stephen King scared, but anxious enough that it made me want to keep reading. Would something really scary happen, or would the book take a turn and go back to talking about the people in the town? I had many different emotions while reading this book, but at the end, I just smiled and set it down. Great selection, ladies! Thank you for choosing it!

I assumed that her spirit went into Katrina.

I thought the same.

That Esther was some nasty piece of work.

I just finished it! Excellent choice. Like Tamara, I was hooked from the first sentance. And like Dierdre, I say kudos to Bernice McFadden for the historical aspect and bringing the Emmett Till story to a whole new generation. All the awful/terrible events that African-Americans lived through should not just be forgotten or have been in vain. As for the evil spirit of Esther/Money, it think it followed Tess to Detroit in the plant (see end of Ch. 27) and wrecked a lot of havoc there. Then it became Katrina. Anyway, I enjoyed this book and will be recommending this to my local book group. My only question - Any ideas of who Tess' father was?

Exactly right Rosa!