nomadreader

The backstory: Just Wanna Testify  is the sixth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of  Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do ,  Babylon Sisters ,  Baby Brother's Blues ,   Seen It All and Done the Rest , and Til You Hear From Me .) The basics: As always, Cleage combines a mix of familiar West End faces with new characters. In this case, the Too Fine Five, a group of tall, skinny supermodels seek Blue Hamilton's blessing to do business in the West End neighborhood this week. Note: this review contains spoilers of the plot and the ending. Proceed at your own risk. My thoughts: When I sat down to read the last West End novel, I was filled with happiness and sadness. I've re-read and read all of Pearl Cleage's novels in 2012. I sought the comfort of the familiar: characters, social justice, and people working to change the world. I got that, but I also got something I absolutely didn't expect: vampires. I appreciated Regina's pondering...

The backstory: Til You Hear From Me  is the fifth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of  Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do ,  Babylon Sisters ,  Baby Brother's Blues , and Seen It All and Done the Rest .) The basics: Fresh off working on Obama's 2008 campaign, Ida B. Wells Dunbar is losing hope she'll be offered a job in the administration. Meanwhile, her father, Rev. Dunbar, a famous African-American preacher and civil rights icon is still irked with Obama about the Rev. Wright fallout, is making headlines with his some unfortunate statements. At the pleading of familiar West End face Miss Iona, Ida B. comes to Atlanta to check on her father. My thoughts: I adore Pearl Cleage and her work, but I'll be honest: Til You Hear From Me  started a little rough. The story felt rushed, the writing felt either too flat or too flowery, and one character, Wes, felt flat: "Wes liked women. He didn’t consider them his equals, although like most...

The backstory: Seen It All and Done the Rest  is the fourth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do , Babylon Sisters , and Baby Brother's Blues .) The basics: Like all the books in this series, Atlanta's West End neighborhood is the main character. The people who live, work, and love in this neighborhood appear in major and minor roles throughout these novels. In Seen It All and Done the Rest , actress Josephine Evans returns to Atlanta after thirty years in Amsterdam to visit her granddaughter, Zora, a pivotal character in Baby Brother's Blues , and check on the duplex she inherited. ( note: Zora's story contains major spoilers from Baby Brother's Blues .) My thoughts:   It's no secret Pearl Cleage is among my favorite authors, and this novel has many of her trademarks: themes of social justice, community empowerment, and the nature of home. What's new about Seen It All and Done the Rest , how...

The backstory: Baby Brother's Blues  is the third title in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  and Babylon Sisters .) The series takes place in the West End neighborhood in Atlanta and features recurring characters, but it isn't a series you necessarily need to read in order. The basics: Blue and Regina Hamilton shift to main characters again in Baby Brother's Blues . Regina is pregnant and growing concerned with the number of women seeking haven in West End. Regina's friend Aretha is considering her husband Kwame's pleas to leave West End for Midtown to strengthen their marriage. Meanwhile, Baby Brother, a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq who has a brief bereavement leave, arrives in Atlanta angry at the world and with no intentions of going back to Iraq. My thoughts: While Regina and Blue return to the spotlight in Baby Brother's Blues , Cleage works wonders with a large number of narrators. These seeming...

The backstory: Babylon Sisters  is the second novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series. Although this book isn't a sequel to Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  ( my review ), the main characters from Some Things  do pop up a few times here, which will delight readers who enjoyed the first novel. I first read Babylon Sisters  soon after it came out, and I'm re-reading and reading all of her novels this year. As I re-read it, I was amazed how many of the details I recalled. The basics: Babylon Sisters  focuses on Catherine, who describes her work perfectly in this passage: "What I do is coordinate and integrate services for programs assisting female refugees and immigrants. Atlanta is a magnet for people trying to make a new start in a new country, and even though the town’s natives still think in terms of black and white, in reality we’re looking more and more like the Rainbow Coalition." She's also a single mother to a smart, confident seventeen-year-...