Play Book Tag discussion

-First let me say that the cover for M Shelly Conner's novel, Everyman is gorgeous, but it did not inspire me to read it rather a favorable review which I read did. As I picked it up and began reading, I was struck at the beauty of Conner's writing:

Small southern towns change slowly. Perhaps it’s just the natural pace of southern spaces unencumbered by city-slick speed. It’s best represented by the southern drawl, like golden honey dripped onto biscuits. Larger northern cities are au jus, but small southern towns are thick sausage gravy. Everything is thicker in the South. The air is thickened by the blossoms of various trees. Speech is thick on the tongues of its inhabitants.

Everymann is a story about a young Black woman, Every Mann, who in 1972 decides to venture to Ideal, Georgia, to discover her origins. Perhaps, that is the story about the story, as there are many in this layered book.

We all have stories, but some don't know theirs and that is a loss, or rather a void, that requires filling or is conceivably insatiable. Conner has filled this novel with many interwoven stories, which move backwards and forwards across the historical landmarks:

The past is an unfixable thing. It cannot be mended. Its deeds are always irreparable. The past is read-only. It does not allow for revisions. Yet it remains tethered to the present, waiting for visitors who can only watch it replay itself. Its most salient lesson is not that past wrongs can be made right, but rather that they do not have to be repeated. The past says to remedy seekers, “Look upon me and learn, but do not seek to change me.” It stares at daughters from their mothers’ eyes and is as implicit in the handshakes of strangers as it is in the burial of secrets.

I mentioned how much I love this cover and the novel reminds me of the cover, a woman, who is a tree and all the branches and roots are twisted together. so it is hard to unravel them. I hope others are encouraged to do so and are not disappointed, because the other day, I was discussing books which I hope others would love and read and this is one of those.