Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

CBR Facebook Page. Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Instagram. The CBR Tumblr CBR on Goodreads
  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started
    • FAQ
    • CBR Book Club
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Fan Mail
    • AlabamaPink’s Book Reviews
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • CBR Merchandise
    • How You Can Donate
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • Contact
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Follow Us

Can I live?

Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson

February 15, 2017 by vel veeter 8 Comments

There’s nothing true about this play that I didn’t say about the others. It’s well-written and the language is so perfectly captured I can hear it being said as I read. And like the other plays, something I didn’t mention, because it was originally cast with a couple of well-known actors, I can even imagine it being performed with specific faces and specific voices.

This is the earliest, by chronology, of August Wilson’s Century Cycle, taking place in 1904. Like I mentioned in the Faulkner novels, the spectre of the Civil War permeates this play like almost none of the others (except Joe Turner’s Come and Gone) and the character are at most one generation removed from Emancipation and still in the midst of the Great Migration.

This is a story told many times over the 20th century, but it’s one that sinks when it’s told because of how much in implicates whiteness. The destruction of black-only spaces has a real and present history in the landscape of American history. And even though whiteness is to blame for it, whiteness, being wily, usually escapes responsibility. Given how the news, the state, and plenty of people have for centuries implicated every Black, Brown, Asian, and now Muslim persons for the act of individuals, the winnowing down of every act of racial terror, racial jealousy, and racial destruction committed by whiteness, even directly in the name of the law to the singular act of singular people is infuriating.

I live in a city where the formerly strong “Black Wall St of the South,” where the first black-owned bank in the US was founded, was split in several pieces by multiple highways, thus ending that economic self-sufficiency. That’s policy based terrorism. But in places like Oklahoma or Ohio, where the on-book violence of Jim Crow is not the law, have histories similar to this.

So placing this play in Pittsburgh, where again the false safety of the North looms, speaks to this specific history of violence.

 

Related

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean

Share the post "Can I live?"

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • E-mail
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
2/15/2017 vel veeter's CBR9 Review No:52 |
Rating:
| Tags: August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean | Category: Fiction | 8 Comments

vel veeter

I want to read more older things and British things this year, and some that are both. Oh and I’ll probably end up reading a bunch of Italian and French writers this year too. I think.

CBR11 participantCBR11 LevelsCBR10 participantCBR  9CBR 8

Recent Reviews:

  • The girl anchors the stage, sucks in the male gaze, and, depending on who she is, throws her own gaze back out into the audience.
  • There was something of the pavilion about one raincoat…
  • A small-scale happiness and a modest harmony
  • View all reviews by vel veeter»

Related

Comments

  1. Beth Ellen says

    February 15, 2017 at 9:40 am

    Congratulations on the Cannonball!! I can’t believe how fast everyone is this year!

    Reply
  2. emmalita says

    February 15, 2017 at 12:14 pm

    Happy Cannonball! I haven’t read this play, and I must go find it.

    Reply
  3. narfna says

    February 15, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    Happy cannonball!!

    Reply
  4. Scootsa1000 says

    February 15, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    Congratulations on your cannonball! So amazing.

    Reply
  5. Malin says

    February 15, 2017 at 4:26 pm

    Second one to 52, already? Wow. Happy Cannonball. Great work.

    Reply
  6. MsWas says

    February 16, 2017 at 4:05 am

    Congratulations! I can’t believe 2 of you are already at 52. It’s going to be a banner year.

    Reply
  7. faintingviolet says

    February 16, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    Happy first cannonball!

    Reply
  8. ingres77 says

    February 17, 2017 at 3:18 am

    Holy moley! Happy Cannonball!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Search This Site

Recent Comments

  • Caitlin_D on “I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”I actually found the book because of the adaptation!
  • Tracy on Diets Don’t WorkI'm glad it was helpful. There was also some info about exercise that stood out. For years I've joked that I don't have endorphins, and...
  • Alexis on would you say it’s time for our viewers to crack open each other’s skulls?I am impressed that you had the fortitude to read this. Assuredly I do not. Most of the bestselling nonfiction books now are political in...
  • narfna on Not Every Essay ResonatedI ended up not rating this one because it was so hard to get through in a way that was unrelated to the actual writing....
  • Scootsa1000 on The girl anchors the stage, sucks in the male gaze, and, depending on who she is, throws her own gaze back out into the audience.I’m in a Starbucks right now and Kool Thing is playing. Weird. How did I not know this existed? Buying on audible right now!
See More Recent Comments »

Support CBR

Give Today. Cannonball Read donates all profits from the site to the American Cancer Society. Help us fight cancer!
Donate Today »

Review Genres

  • Biography/Memoir
  • Book Club
  • Children's
  • Comedy/Humor
  • Cooking/Food
  • Fantasy
  • Fiction
  • Graphic Novel/Comic
  • Health
  • History
  • Horror
  • Mystery
  • News from MsWas
  • Non-Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Religion
  • Romance
  • Science Fiction
  • Short Stories
  • Speculative Fiction
  • Sports
  • Suspense
  • Uncategorized
  • Western
  • Young Adult

Book Ratings


a favorite


a great book


a good book


an ok book


a book
you didn't like

Need Help?

Visit our FAQs to find out how to add stars, select genres, and more. Drop us a line if you can't find your answer.

Shop on Amazon and Support CBR

One of CBR11's #CannonBookClubs will be about Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett to coincide with the BBC Miniseries.
Buy it on Amazon today, get a head start, and help us stick it to cancer, one book at a time!

© 2019 Cannonball Read | Log in