Gloria Naylor
1989
Gloria Naylor is a masterful storyteller and in Mama Day she shares with readers a suspenseful generational saga filled with love, wonder and magic. The story is not necessarily an easy read, but just like spring can be frustrating in its inability to commit to the release of winter, Mama Day is a tale that keeps pulling you in.
Much has changed since this novel was first written. Even the contemporary characters live in a world that is more than 20 years ago. But the story still has the same power that made it a sensation and a book club favorite in the '90s. Set on the island of Willow Springs, off the Georgia coast, the story is about the summer, “When Cocoa came visiting from New York with her first husband, a stone city boy name George. It was the year of the last big storm that blew down [Mama Day’s] pecan trees and even caved in the roof of the other place.”
Mama Day is the dominant force on the island, and she only plays mind to the weather. She is a direct descendant of the legends of generations past and the keeper of the magic passed down through the years. She is also the great-aunt of Cocoa, a stubbornly emancipated women who is at risk to the darker forces.
The book lends itself to solid discourse on a number of topics: voodoo, slavery, folk traditions, love, families and island life. Ms. Naylor conveys these sentiments with literary devices, including references to Shakespeare, the time period of the novel and the dialects used by the narrators. There is no question that the locales -- both Brooklyn and coastal Georgia lend context and romance to the story.
The story comes to an emotional crescendo, which makes it worth the read. It’s a story about listening. “Think about it: ain’t nobody really talking to you. We’re sitting here in Willow Springs, and you’re God-knows-where. It’s August 1989-ain’t but a slim chance it’s the same season where you are. Uh huh, listen. Really listen this time: the only voice is your own."
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor is the American Book Award-winning author of The Women of Brewster Place published in 1983 and Linden Hills, published in 1985. She is a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University.
Related Links
Gloria Naylor Quotes
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/gloria_naylor.html
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