The Darkest Child

One word can describe this book. Heavy. If it was a movie, I would have had to cover my eyes, or ears, or fast-forward through certain parts. The pain, desperation, frustration, and abuses experienced by the main characters in this book made it very difficult for me to read it straight through.

It's about the relationship between a mother, who could pass for white, and her offspring, who (thanks to different fathers) range in skin-tone from driven-snow to licorice. This mother treats each child differently, according to their skin-tone, with the darkest child being her least favorite. At some moments it was hard to believe that this woman has any love in her at all. She is actually pure evil. The way she belittles and berates her boys and forces her girls to sell their bodies was really hard for me to swallow. I kept telling myself that I would understand this mother more by the end of the novel. I had to. She has this hold on her children...it's unfathomable...I guess mother/child relationships are powerful like that. Whether they're good or bad or non-existent, they have a certain amount of power, a definite effect.

Set in the '50s, with Jim Crow in full effect, this book took me through various ranges of anger, empathy, frustration, and denial with every depiction of life back then: from the way "nigger" was used synonymously with "Negro", to the physical and sexual abuses that went unpunished, to the murder and lynching of Black men. It's hard to believe that this was only ~50 years ago...

Then again, many of our country's leaders grew up on the other side of Jim Crow. So, actually, it's not that hard to believe it was just ~50 years ago...I mean many of our leaders today are the children of those individuals who deemed it necessary and justified to deny Blacks basic rights in a country that was built with our blood and sweat...today's leaders were raised by these folks, some ARE these folks. With that in mind, how people can so quickly discount charges of racial bias or discrimination as "playing the race card" is beyond me. But, I digress. See what this book stirs up?

A strange thing happened while I was reading this book: Someone asked me what I thought of it when they saw me reading it one day, and without thinking (I'm a very goofy person, so this is actually a typical response for me) I hugged the book to my chest, smiled upward like a little kid and said between my teeth, "It's SO good, I love it!" I say it's strange because it's such a dark novel, with very few bright moments, yet I SO enjoyed reading it.

One critic described this book as heart-rending. I think that's pretty accurate. This one will stay with me for a while. I had planned to read The Icarus Girl after this, but I need some light reading to chase this one down. I'm moving The Accidental Diva to the top of my 'Next Up' list. I'll catch The Icarus Girl and 72-Hour Hold on the flip side.

Comments

[momma]

Quel, Again you wrote an excellent review of a book. I still say and hope that you would consider and start to write a book yourself.
You have inspired me to read but I am not sure I want to read The Darkest Child after reading Sugar and This Bitter Earth. I felt like a murderer when I finished. I wanted to kill Lappy myself. I could not help but remember when Pastor Coleman use to tell us not to look at certain movies cause we would start to have the mind of, or take on some of there thoughts. It is true, I wanted to kill him or I wanted someone to kill him for the terrible things he did to women.

[jdid]

great review. I had not heard of this book before. Sounds like something I need to read, thanks!

[god's child]

am i being naive if i avoid books like that? i remember staunchly refusing to read about the holocaust in JHS--not because i didn't believe it happened but because it would break my heart.

free speech is important. we should have the right to access information and so people should have the right to say it, sing it, write it. but we should have the right to not hear if we don't want to.

don't you hate those people who take pleasure in telling you things you expressly state you don't want to know?

[Quel]

To Mom- You're such a great mom.

To Jdid- Thanks. Like I said, it's pretty heavy stuff. Still a great read.

To god's child- I still haven't seen Schindler's List, for the same reason. And the only reason I watched the Pianist is because the girl who played Helena is my sister's best friend. Hard stuff. I have a friend, Summer, who would rather not hear the kind of things that might stay in one's mind and show up later in dreams, etc. So, I totally know what you mean.

[Nikki]

Thanks for doing the review. Gonna check Borders to see if they have it in my city.

[Pam - Reddy]

Peace.. I've been wanting to check out that book but have not gotten around to it yet. I used to be a book loving fool but somehow I fell off (right around grad school) and have yet to make my way back to my love of reading for the enjoyment of it

Thanks for the thorough review...

[Safa]

I would love to read this book but...I think I'm too sad already. I don't know. I'll probably put it on my list of "must reads" but right now my poor heart can't take any more heart-ache.

[HumanityCritic]

I have heard great things about that book, I definitely have to check it out.

[Kajuana]

Quel:

I wrote a post about the whole light/dark thing on my old blog. I think I will suggest this to my book club as our next book.

[Nia]

I'll definitely have to pick it up, thanks for the review.

[Proactiff]

I think the irony of mother/daughter relationships, in this story in particular, (although I've not read it - yet) may come from the stereotypical "need to be accepted" underlying theme that many of us desire. And what about the old movie "Imitation Of Life?" That was classic mother/daughter need to be accepted - BUT - in reverse. I cry everytime I see that film.

Once again, you've got me with pen and post-it jotting down the title for my next library run. Thanx;).

PS - You really. Really. REALLY. need to look into book review writing *IMHO*.

[Buck]

Quel, you might want to consider talking to my wife about the book club she belongs to (if you're not already in the club). Its a local club here in Austin, AA women, a couple of which go to our church. She hasnt been in awhile since we've been so busy, but she had a blast when she participated.

[deedee]

i think the darkest child was a freat book i understand how tha kids felt living with a evil mother.....

[flygirl]

This book had me drawn in till the last page even though it was so very distrubing. I kept waiting for it to get better and and waiting for more explaination only to be left wondering at the end. This is a powerful book that will leave a lasting impression on its reader. I need to read something lighter and happier now.

[Lorene Hawkins Jones]

This is one of the best books I have ever read. When I cannot put it down or do not want to go to sleep, it's a good book. Hooray to the author. I want to read more of your books.