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Gathering Of Waters (2012)

by Bernice L. McFadden(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

161775031X (ISBN13: 9781617750311)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Akashic Books

review 1: McFadden's completely realized, multi-generational fictional world intersects seamlessly with the historical figure of Emmett Till in a small Southern town that is itself both character and narrator in this amazing novel. I recently struggled to read Song of the Shank, which offers a committed reader significant literary rewards but which is technically difficult to follow. Not so McFadden, who beckons her reader to follow a complex narrative that feels deceptively simple. Stepping back after finishing this novel, I wondered how a story that spanned five generations, encompassed many characters, evoked magical realism, and travelled across the country could be so easy for me as a reader to understand. While I appreciated Jeffrey Renard Allen's ambition and the scope of his... more project in Song of the Shank, it was a hard novel to read. McFadden's work is no less important but the ambition is directed towards luring the reader into experiencing her fiction both intellectually and emotionally. The sentences don't necessarily stand up and insist the reader notice their brilliance but each phrase is turned so perfectly that I never once stumbled over an awkward or unmusical sentence. Here's a lovely one: "Running vines speckled with yellow thorns coiled around trees, rocks, and the carcasses of animals and people who had stopped, dropped, and died there." Sentences like this don't just happen--they are made, and McFadden is a craftswoman of her prose.
review 2: McFadden's writing grabbed me immediately so that I finished this book in 24 hours and only a few sittings. Money, Mississippi is the narrator of the story which is kind of the history of families in the town of Emmett's Till's murder. The first half of the book was excellent. I got into the lives of Doll and Cole immediately. The magical realism was definitely interesting but I found the use of Esther's evil spirit a little inconsistent especially at the end. Also, the connection to Emmett Till seems to be weak. Part two could stand alone from part one. That being said, the first half of this book grabs you immediately and the characters are addicting. less

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