I suppose this blog should start off with one of the better autobiographies I've read in recent years. Having been burned by books like Running with Scissors and A Million Little Pieces I've nearly stopped reading the genera. However, when I picked this up, it makes me want to seek out more.
I often judge books like this by their voice and not their content. Moody's book gives us both a fantastic voice and wonderful content. Growing up poor and black in small town in Mississippi she takes us to places where the stories are mainly told though oral history. She starts us in a small house as a sharecropper and places us right at the start of a series of events that would change the United States on a fundamental level. We go with Moody though grade school, high school, and college. We understand her involvement with groups like CORE and the NAACP. We also understand her mother's terror as she writes Moody letters begging her to stop.
The book ends with the assassination of JFK. Moody is getting on a bus to testify in front of Congress about voting rights in the South. She leaves us wondering if she will ever see full equality in her lifetime.
There's a reason this book still remains in print, and is often taught in African American literature classes. It's earned it's spot on my shelf, and will remain there for quite some time.
*********
My next read is Jellicoe Road I'm about 150 pages though it and will do the write up when I'm done. The way I read, that should be some time this weekend.
Also, Jasper Fford's new Thursday Next novel came out this week. Just giving everyone an FYI on that.
No comments:
Post a Comment