The book "Take One Candle, Light A Room" was full of unexpected elements. The process of Antoine doing her job and constantly worrying about Victor's life cam with crime, unexpected disasters and encounters with different people. Probably the most shocking thing about this book is that the "n" word was constantly popping up. (I would never dare to use this word in my pieces.)
What I saw in the entire book was that Susan Straight had through understanding of the cultures she was writing about. Sari told the class that she calls herself "black woman trapped in white woman's body." I could truly see that here and there--her understanding of New Orleans culture, use of slangs and descriptions of people all prove this. When a writer must write something about it, sufficient amount of knowledge is always required, if they do not want to publish something with plentiful of error about the subject matter and be laughed at by the readers or the experts.
The characters seem plain, but the burdens they possess are strong. Antoine is haunted by her past constantly and Victor is lost in his path. Glorette's death could be the starting point, which means the past five years were nightmares for both of them. Having someone's death as a trigger for menacing life always works, and in this book, it really works.
Overall, the book really matches the title: Antoine is searching for a candlelight that will light up her life. The process, of course, is hard, but it is worth trying.
Hae-Lim Lee
I have to agree with you. Writing in the voice of someone with a total different background is not easy but the author does such a great job at portraying the character. Using the n word through out her piece is very risky too but you have to know how to write in a way that is artistic and not offensive to your audience and I think the author tackles this perfectly.
ReplyDelete-Felicia Tonga