God Bless the Child (Howard University Press Library of Contemporary Literature Series) - Softcover

Lattany, Kristin Hunter; Hunter, Kristin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0882581546 ISBN 13: 9780882581545

Publisher: Howard Univ Pr, 1987

Synopsis

Torn by the need for love and approval from her snobbish grandmother and her alcoholic mother, Rosie rises on her own, only to become a victim of the American Dream

About this title

Review

This is a novel filled with a rage reminiscent of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man or Ann Petry's The Street. God Bless the Child's Rosie Fleming grows up in an apartment where killing roaches is a childhood game. Her grandmother has always cared for and idolized rich white folks and admires anything that has the faintest whiff of "culture" (real or not). Rosie's mother is a woman whose experiences as a hairdresser and single mother have given her insights into people, but she is also an alcoholic who brings home "uncles" to spend the night, and Rosie doesn't listen to her mother's advice. Rosie grows up fast; who needs school when you could be earning money? Why earn just straight money when crooked money might come faster? For Rosie, money must bring happiness - and she needs money the way her mother needs five or seven drinks a night. Rosie doesn't understand yet what Kristin Hunter makes clear: as a black person in the United States, and particularly as a black woman, money will never give her power. Rosie's destruction is painful to watch, especially because Rosie is so vibrantly alive: "It's as natural for people to touch her as it is for them to warm their hands at a fire." The title comes from one of Billie Holliday's most famous songs: "Mama may have and Papa may have, but God bless the child that's got his own." After reading about Rosie, you might well ask, what "own" can a black child hope to have? -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister

Edition details

• Publisher: Howard Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0882581546
• ISBN 13: 9780882581545
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 313