BIBR - New Reviews

NEW REVIEWS / FICTION

Reel and the Unreal

They Tell Me of a Home
by Daniel Black
St Martin’s Press, October 2005
$24.95, ISBN 0-312-34187-3

Twenty-eight-year-old protagonist Tommy Lee Tyson steps off the Greyhound bus in his hometown of Swamp Creek, Arkansas—a place he left when he was eighteen, vowing never to return. Yet fate and a Ph.D. in black studies force him back to his rural origins as he seeks to understand himself and the black community that produced him. Read full review.
Reviewed by Denolyn Carroll

On Beauty
by Zadie Smith
The Penguin Press, September 2005
$25.95, ISBN 1-594-20063-7

Zadie Smith’s story of the encounter between two academic families and their deeply conflicting perceptions of life and beauty. Smith creates in her latest novel a modern-day tale in which the complexities that encompass the combination of race, class, faith and personal politics take center stage. Read full review.

Fledgling
by Octavia E. Butler
Seven Stories Press, October 2005
$24.95, ISBN 1-583-22690-7

Octavia E. Butler's science fiction novel about Shori, a young black woman of marvelous abilities who belongs to a race of vampires. Shori's blackness becomes a distinctive quality Butler uses to explore the same social issues examined in her earlier novels - e.g. race, gender, sexuality, and relationships between the powerful and the weak. A tale full of mystery, suspense, and taut storytelling that is bound to appeal to both science fiction fans and diehard vampire fans alike. Read full review.

Third Girl From The Left
by Martha Southgate
Houghton Mifflin Company, September 2005
$24, ISBN 0-618-47023-9

Third Girl from the Left, by Martha Southgate

Set against the backdrop of the blaxploitation era, Third Girl From the Left follows the fortunes of Angela Edwards, a 20 year-old who moves from Tulsa to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. The wonderful "back-in-the-day" narrative is filled with biting, perceptive prose that reads in a melodic and thoughtful way, and comes out as well-composed sheet music filled with many beats. Read full review.
Reviewed by Antoinette Dykes

Bliss
By Danyel Smith
Crown Publishers, August 2005
$23.95, ISBN 1-400-04642-4

In her sophomore novel, Danyel Smith - journalist and former editor-in-chief of Vibe - shows her musical prowess in this tale of love, spite, and angst nestled in the war-zone backdrop of the music industry. Read full review.

Reviewed by Regina Cash-Clark

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