by Tara M. Stringfellow
Overall: This is an incredibly powerful book. Memphis tells the story of the North family through the voices of Hazel, her daughters Miriam and August, and Miriam’s daughter Joan. These women’s lives span the 20th century, but aside from being united by blood, they are also united by their experiences as Black women in America. The reader jumps back and forth in time as each woman’s story unfolds, showing how the past informs and shapes the present for each woman.
Likes: I loved how the book follows the threads of events in 20th century history through their impact on these specific women, including the assassination of Dr. King, the Gulf War, and 9/11. The details in each of the interlocking stories ground the reader immediately in place and in time – hairstyles, shoes, music, types of cars. The neighborhood in Memphis, Douglass, is a character in itself, with a Jewish deli, a decaying pink plantation house that has a tree growing through it, and the North family home, built by Hazel’s husband, with lush gardens, a small army of cats, a pearl-handled telephone, and a basement beauty parlor. There is a lot of grim reality in this book. The North family men in Memphis are all gone: left behind because of domestic violence, dead, murdered, lynched, or incarcerated as part of a cycle of racism, desperation, despair, and trauma. But I also loved how hopeful the book is, and how it celebrates the ways beauty and art help people rise above the darkness around them. In particular Joan’s story, with its beautiful descriptions of her drawing, painting, and otherwise creating, spoke to me about how brave someone has to be to pursue art, and how much the rest of us need their work. And I loved how the book focused on the bonds and tensions between sisters, mothers, and daughters.
Dislikes: really nothing.
FYI: domestic violence, racism, racially motivated murder, racially motivated violence, rape, child abuse, PTSD.
Liz Helfrich 