I can’t say there’s much anything wrong with this novel at all. In fact, it’s quite good. So don’t take my 3 star rating as a knock. I give 3 stars for two reasons: one, something is as good as 3 stars allows; two, it should have been better. The latter is for books that are highly regarded or highly rated and just aren’t as good as those who would otherwise say they are. I especially like to give 3 stars to books “beloved” but I think are annoying. Anyway, this is just a solid 3 star book.
This is about a wedding between a local black woman and a white (possibly ne’er do well). Everybody has opinions on this pairing. There’s a real real real ne’er do well, read: fuck up, who plans on crashing the wedding. There’s her parent who really feel like their middle class carved out niche should have really really allowed her to find a nice black man, especially a nice black doctor to marry. But alas, the heart wants etc. etc. etc.
I think one of the reasons I liked this novel is also one of its limiting factors. It’s told in a very conversational tone, with slightly airy narration that creates some distance between the plot and the speaker’s voice. There’s nothing wrong with this, but this ultimately means there’s a kind of ephemeral sense of setting. So I find this to be a limiting factor sometimes. In some novel’s it’s every thing and it works. In others, it’s fine, but not as good or as effective as it could be.
(Photo: http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/cvvpw/gallery/west.html)