Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (7)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (1)
- Georgia (2)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (3)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (8)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (2)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (2)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Australia (2)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (1)
- England (20)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (1)
- Russia (1)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


44 / 50 books. 88% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


36 / 40 books. 90% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


17 / 40 books. 43% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 25 books. 84% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles (3rd lap). 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


38 / 100 books. 38% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


92 / 104 books. 88% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


125 / 165 books. 76% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


76 / 100 names. 76% done!
Thursday, October 03, 2019

Historical Gentrification Novel Intimate and Poignant

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

To outsiders, it may look like a grungy, aging slum.  To others, Brooklyn—a mostly Black community in Charlotte, North Carolina—is a vibrant, colorful neighborhood full of good folks, long-time residents whose families have lived, loved and died in the close-knit area.  When the city decides to raze Brooklyn, the community erupts.  Despite promises of new housing and the relocation of businesses, local families know nothing will ever be the same for them.  It may have its problems, but Brooklyn is their home.  Losing it will change their lives irrevocably.

Tomorrow's Bread by Anna Jean Mayhew is told from three viewpoints—that of Loraylee Hawkins, a single mom who must keep her relationship with her child's white father a secret; Ebenezer Polk, the aging reverend of Brooklyn's St. Timothy's Second Presbyterian Church; and Persy Marshall, the sympathetic wife of one of the white men in charge of "redeveloping" the community.  Through their eyes, the reader comes to know Brooklyn in all its variety and its people in all their complexity.  With this intimate knowledge, the reader really feels the tragedy of the neighborhood's demise.  Based on real events, the story brings the conflicts and controversy surrounding gentrification to life.  That's the beauty of Tomorrow's Bread.  The novel doesn't have much of a plot and the storyline it does have is at times disjointed, confusing, and slow, making the read a bit of a slog.  In the end, then, I liked this one but didn't love it.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:



If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, mild sexual content, and depictions of illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Murder is Bad Manners by Robin Stevens

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive