Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

Our October discussion will be A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. If you would like to lead the discussion, please let me know.

Incidentally, AKOF was just shortlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize. Chosen on this year by Tayari Jones.....See attached. Another award I’m unfamiliar with but many others in book circles are highly impressed by it. So...

https://crookscornerbookprize.com

Interesting award, and a great way to help first time novelists.

A Kind of Freedom is available for immediate audiobook or ebook download via Hoopla, if your library subscribes to this service.

Are there any ebooks/audiobooks available currently on hoopla? I’m assuming I would need an account to check myself and my library uses RB Digital instead. Thanks.

Columbus wrote: "Are there any ebooks/audiobooks available currently on hoopla? I’m assuming I would need an account to check myself and my library uses RB Digital instead. Thanks."

Columbus -

There is no wait for items on Hoopla if your library subscribes.
The library system does determine which items you can borrow, how many items you can checkout per month, and how long you have access to each item.

It is pretty easy to check if your library system subscribes to Hoopla.
Go to the Hoopla site and put in your library system, if it does you will need your library card number to "join" and set up a password.
I usually go to Hoopla directly to check if it is available, but if I am looking for a book in my library system, it also tells me if available on Hoopla.

I hope this helps.

Ok, thanks...

So, anyone who needs a copy of AKOF and has hoopla might want to head on over there. There’s no available copies on Open Library or RB Digital.

I was able to get an ecopy from my library. I swear you guys select the best books! I read this one faster than An American Marriage. I can't wait to discuss it with you all. :-)

Beverly wrote: "Columbus wrote: "Are there any ebooks/audiobooks available currently on hoopla? I’m assuming I would need an account to check myself and my library uses RB Digital instead. Thanks."

Columbus -

Th..."

Never heard of Hoopla but we do use Overdrive here and when I lived in the Midwest. I already read the book via audiobook and reviewed the book as well.

The discussion for our October selection will begin today. Here’s the schedule:

Chap 1 Evelyn ‘44: Today thru 10/4
Chap 2 & 3 Jackie ‘86 & T.C. 2010: 10/5 thru 10/10
Chap 4 & 5 Evelyn ‘44 & Jackie Fall of ‘86: 10/11 thru 10/16
Chap 6 & 7 T.C. 2010 & Evelyn ‘45: 10/17 thru 10/23

Entire book open 10/24

MWS webpage:
https://margaretwilkersonsexton.com/home

Reviews:
https://chireviewofbooks.com/2017/08/...
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book...

This book:
A 2017 National Book Award Nominee
A New York Times Notable Book of 2017
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
1 of 100 Best Books of 2017 (San Francisco Chronicle)
1 of 5 Great Reads to Fall Into (Ebony)
1 of the 10 Best Books of 2017 (BBC Culture)
One of the Best Books of 2017 (Southern Living)
One of the Best Books of 2017 by the Chicago Public Library
One of the Best Books PureWow Read in 2017
One of 2017's Best Works of Fiction (East Bay Express)
Named One of 35 Debut Authors Over 35

Chap 1: Evelyn ‘44
-Central characters: Evelyn, Ruby, Renard, Andrew, Mom, Dad
-New Orleans In 1944
-Colorism
-Racism
-Status and/or Station

Columbus wrote: "Chap 1: Evelyn ‘44
-Central characters: Evelyn, Ruby, Renard, Andrew, Mom, Dad
-New Orleans In 1944
-Colorism
-Racism
-Status and/or Station"

Enjoyed the opening chapter.

Columbus wrote: "MWS webpage:
https://margaretwilkersonsexton.com/home

Reviews:
https://chireviewofbooks.com/2017/08/...
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book......"

Wow - I did not realize that this book was on so many Best of Lists!

Great news!

Adrienna wrote: "Columbus wrote: "Chap 1: Evelyn ‘44
-Central characters: Evelyn, Ruby, Renard, Andrew, Mom, Dad
-New Orleans In 1944
-Colorism
-Racism
-Status and/or Station"

Enjoyed the opening chapter."

I too remembered really enjoying the opening chapter.

Yes, with this book you can settle right in from the very beginning. In fact, Wilkerson Sexton taught a class “Where Do I Begin? How to Grip Readers From the First Page” at the online workshop, She Writes University. Guess she’s pretty much known for that. Jesmyn Ward and Lisa Ko also taught a class on a different theme.

Okay, I'm excited! Am I the only one who hasn't read it yet? Picking up my copy tomorrow--oh boy. :-)

I'm really happy we're reading this novel. I'm a New Orleans native and this is the first book I've read that I really feel captured the city I grew up in.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. But unlike many of you, the first chapter didn't grab me right away. It took me a bit to grab on to Sexton's pace, but once I did I couldn't let go.

I wonder if the definition of femininity might also be a theme explored in that first (1944) section. It seemed like the author was deliberate in pointing out the physical differences between the sisters (Evelyn and Ruby; i.e., leg/thigh structure).

Melyssa wrote: "I thoroughly enjoyed the book. But unlike many of you, the first chapter didn't grab me right away. It took me a bit to grab on to Sexton's pace, but once I did I couldn't let go.

I wonder if the..."
I felt this way about Jackie, opening chapter, next chapter, I didn't like at all and continued reading to grasp and like it more...

Chapters 2 & 3 thru 10/10

Jackie ‘86
-Reagan era
-Relationship of sisters: Jackie and Sybil
-Jackie’s husband (Terry) and his return

T.C. 2010
-Incarceration
-Katrina
-Bon Bon & Tiger

Chapters 4 & 5 thru 10/16

Evelyn ‘44
-Evelyn’s pregnant
-Renard away at war

Jackie Fall of ‘86
-Terry moves back in
-Disagreements with family over Terry

I'm a little behind the reading schedule. I just finished Jackie '86 and just wanted to chime in that I am enjoying this book. Sexton writes in a very accessible way that has me shaking my head yes and understanding the thoughts and emotions of the characters. They are very familiar to me in many ways that I think Sexton intended. I was captivated by the first chapter.

Melyssa wrote: "I wonder if the definition of femininity might also be a theme explored in that first (1944) section. It seemed like the author was deliberate in pointing out the physical differences between the sisters (Evelyn and Ruby; i.e., leg/thigh structure)."

I think the author was definitely asserting an independent spirit and a sense of self. A sort of coming of age in 1944. I think Sexton was making some really salient points about being a woman and being a middle-class black woman in a world that sees color so vividly. Also the roles of black males in a world that doesn't acknowledge their worth. How blacks keep each other down along with the white world (Evelyn's father). How women's value is based upon the type of man they can attract sexually (Ruby). How young black people keep trying to navigate that world with so many intangible obstacles erected by both the white world and the black world. One world feeds on the other and so it goes.

Chap 6 & 7 thru 10/23

T.C. 2010
-T.C. back to using and selling
-Alicia (T.C.’s girlfriend) delivers
-Spud and the Green-Eyed monster confronts T.C. And Terry

Evelyn ‘45
-Preparing for arrival of baby
-Renard returning home from the service

Sooo, what did everyone think? Am I the only one who was waiting until we were ready to discuss the full book? So my first question is: Did Renard ever go back to medical school? Did Evelyn go back to nursing school? The only indication of their future was that they owned a daycare/school 40 years later. They seemed to be enjoying a middle class existence. What happened in those intervening 40ish years? I thought that was interesting in the way that Sexton allows the reader to imagine what transpired during these years.

I'd wondered at their intervening years, too. With the big time jumps, I wished we had some of those answers.

Lata wrote: "I'd wondered at their intervening years, too. With the big time jumps, I wished we had some of those answers."

What's weird for me is that the only story I found feeling unfinished was Evelyn's. It kind of felt like for me, we kind of knew Jacky's and TC's stories even if we had to extrapolate. Evelyn's was the one I couldn't fill in the blanks. I wonder if that is by design or is it a function of the fact that I was alive and adult in the years of Jacky and TC whereas Evelyn, I don't have the life experience to be able to fill it in.

That's a good point, Monica. I kept wondering what stresses, joys, etc. did Evelyn and Renard experience in their lives together, before we join Jackie and TC.

Monica wrote: "Sooo, what did everyone think? Am I the only one who was waiting until we were ready to discuss the full book? So my first question is: Did Renard ever go back to medical school? Did Evelyn go back..."

exactly. You are correct with your observations that it was not discussed. Jumped to their child, and that was it.

The entire book open for discussion

Monica wrote: "Sooo, what did everyone think? Am I the only one who was waiting until we were ready to discuss the full book? So my first question is: Did Renard ever go back to medical school? Did Evelyn go back..."

If Renard did go back to medical school, he didn't graduate. There's a reference, page 205 in my hardback edition: "Mama had told her once that Daddy had wanted to be a doctor like Jackie's grandfather, that he never got over the fact that he didn't make it happen." I don't see any reason to conclude that Evelyn became a nurse either for that matter. I found it more a weakness in the book since we're following the story line across generations, that Renard's and Evelyn's experiences as a married couple weren't fleshed out. It's as if it didn't really matter in my mind.

Thanks for all those that contributed to this discussion. If you have further thoughts, comments or questions, the thread will remain open for you to do so.

Any final thoughts?