Review & Giveaway: Glorious

Glorious
Author: Bernice McFadden
Publisher: Akashic Books
ISBN: 9781936070114
Audience: Adult
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from author's website)

Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden’s rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.


Glorious is ultimately an audacious exploration into the nature of self-hatred, love, possession, ego, betrayal, and, finally, redemption.

My Comment:

Easter Bartlett learns early in life that because of her skin color, she will be denied basic human freedoms and considerations. She watches the inhumane justice and the unfair treatment of both her family and others of her race, with helplessness and mortification. As it cripples and destroys her family, Easter moves on and tries to spread her wings and grow.

Glorious is powerfully written novel dealing with one of America's largest sins - segregation. It has been spoken of, but unless one has grown up with it, the word does not hold the shame and rage that it should. McFadden gave Easter a voice that takes the reader back to the time when freedom was only for those that were blessed with white skin and makes that horror a reality. After reading Glorious, one will never quite be able to rid the some of the horrific visions from memory.

McFadden wrote a novel that will capture your heart, break it, crush it, mend it, and then give it back to you forever changed.

The reason for Adult recommendation:  Many of the horrors of segregation are discussed - murders, rapes, lynchings, etc and some are graphic. There is also a detailed account of abortion and and a character that has an alternative lifestyle. Parents - I won't tell you not to give this to your teens, but I do ask you to read it first - if not for any other reason than to be able to discuss this novel with them.

If you missed it, please make sure to read yesterday's Author Spotlight. Bernice did a fascinating article called "My Mystical Life".

To learn more about the author, you can visit Bernice's webpage at: http://www.bernicemcfadden.com and her blog at: http://firstborngirl.blogspot.com/


I received this book to honestly review directly from the author. Thank you Bernice.

 Giveaway!!

Now, for the exciting news... Bernice has offered 2 autographed copies of "Glorious" to give away to the readers of this blog!! If you would like to be one of the lucky recipients of an autographed copy of "Glorious", you must:


1. leave a comment on this post
2. be a follower
3. include your email - no email, no entry
4. respond within 48 hours of being emailed - or another winner will be chosen.

Giveaway closes April 13, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST.