x dismiss this message
Did you know you can edit this page?
-
Sign Into Shelfari
-
Choose something to edit
-
Save your contributions
see page history
Description edit
In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, here is a portrait of a young girl — and society's ideas of race, class, and beauty. It is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Rachel Morse: Daughter of a Danish mother and black G.I. father, who has to move in with her grandmother after a tragedy strikes her family. She is not used to the mostly black community she becomes a part of and struggles to overcome her grief and learn to embrace her ethnic roots.
- Grandma: Rachel's grandmother, who becomes her caretaker.
- Aunt Loretta: Rachel's paternal aunt.
- Nella: Rachel's mother.
- Robbie: Rachel's brother.
- Jesse: Rachel's co-worker at the Salvation Center.
- Lakeisha: Drew's daughter and Rachel's friend.
- Drew: Aunt Loretta's boyfriend, a 'lizard.'
- Laronne: Nella's boss
- Roger: Nella's black husband and Rachel's father.
- Anthony Miller: Rachel's fellow classmate and suitor.
- Doug: Nella's boyfriend, with whom she moved to Chicago.
- Jamie: Rachel's long-lost Chicagoan neighbor. He goes by several names: 'Brick,' 'James,' and 'Jamie.'
- Tamika: Rachel's fellow classmate and enemy.
- Rachel: Main character
- Charles: Rachel's late brother who died.
- Ariel: Rachel's late sister.
- Tracy: Rachel's first friend, when she moved to Portland.
- Deacon James: Grandma's friend who attends church with her and Rachel.
- Jamie/Brick: Add a description of this character.
- Grandma
- Mor: Rachel's mother
- Brick: Jamie's name after he renames himself.
- Mrs. Anderson: Grandma's friend who gives her 'contributions.'
- Helen: Laronne's friend.
- Carmen Laguardia: Rachel's classmate.
- Aunt Loretta
- Drew: Aunt Loretta's boyfriend
Quotes edit
-
“I think of how Grandma makes fun of love. And maybe that’s the key.”
-
“If there’s no one else to tell another side - the only story that can be told is the story that becomes true.”
-
“The bottle is where everything sad or mean or confusing can go. And the blues--it's like that bottle. But in the bottle there's a seed that you let grow. Even in the bottle it can grow big and green. It's full of all those feelings that are in there, but beautiful and growing too.”
-
“I think what a family is shouldn’t be so hard to see. It should be the one thing people know just by looking at you.”
-
“I'm not the color of my skin”
Rachel
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
-
But when a person fakes happy, it has edges. Regular people may not see, but the people who count, they can see edges and lines where your smile ends and the real you, the sadness (me) or the anger (Grandma), begins.
Highlighted by 105 Kindle customers -
If there’s no one else to tell another side — the only story that can be told is the story that becomes true.
Highlighted by 75 Kindle customers -
“The bottle is where everything sad or mean or confusing can go. And the blues — it’s like that bottle. But in the bottle there’s a seed that you let grow. Even in the bottle it can grow big and green. It’s full of all those feelings that are in there, but beautiful and growing too.”
Highlighted by 70 Kindle customers -
When something starts to feel like hurt, I put it in this imaginary bottle inside me.
Highlighted by 56 Kindle customers -
“I can’t get rid of the sadness,” Laronne said. “Well,” David said, “then we’ll just keep it company.”
Highlighted by 55 Kindle customers -
We lie to ourselves in many ways; we write down only what we want to understand and what we want to see.
Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers -
On that last day Mor took us up to the roof, she had calculated the difference between what we couldn’t have and her ability to watch us want. The difference between her pain and ours, she decided, measured nine stories high.
Highlighted by 53 Kindle customers -
We live in the same house but we both feel lonely. We and lonely don’t belong in the same sentence.
Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers -
I don’t know if it’s better to have people laugh at what you are or just not understand.
Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers -
What if Mor knew about the blues? What if she had thought that sometimes there’s a way to take the sadness and turn it into a beautiful song?
Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
First Sentence edit
"You my lucky piece," Grandma says.
Table of Contents edit
None
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Rainy Day Books (Staff Picks for 2010). (community list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Heidi W. Durrow (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-56512-680-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-56512-680-0
Page Count: 256
Awards edit
- Bellwether Prize for Fiction (2008)
- Amazon Best of the Month (February 2010, #7)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.6
Subjects edit
Popular Tags
See all 50 tags
Links to Supplemental Material edit
More Books Like This edit
Amazon Customers Who Bought This Book Also Bought
We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.
