I had mixed feelings about the book "Take a Candle Light a Room." The first chapter drew me in. Straight has beautiful lines that I appreciated the entire time I read the book. However, the many characters created confusion as I continued reading. Some names were similar and for some reason, I had a hard time keeping track of everyone. The main person/character that confused me was Moinette Antonie and Fatine's other ancestors. I wrote down a list, a family tree which made sense but then later in the book, Straight referred to the characters as something other than I wrote down. So, I was confused. Also, we never truly met or got to know those characters, since they were ancestors. So it was even harder to remember each.
One aspect I did enjoy was that the language used in the dialogue brought another layer to the book. Although difficult to understand at times, seeing that I do not speak Louisiana French, I appreciated the honesty of the dialect. Another thing I liked was all of the beautiful descriptions of the places surrounding Fantine in the book. Her smilies and imagery work well to combat the other confusing aspects of the piece. When I was confused about something in the story line or the character presented, Straight placed a beautiful sentence before me. One I really liked was, "I walked past all the lovely buildings, the olive trees pruned like airborne poodles, the tiny rugs of lawn." (61) There were many more that allowed me to visualize the space around them even if the characters were muddy.
Altogether, I did like the ending of the story. Even though for most of the story, it felt like Mission Impossible, I was glad to see the conclusions Fantine came to about family, finally realizing the true importance. After reading about Straight's family and her love of the African American culture, it brought a different light while reading the book. She did a good job of becoming or interpreting someone of a difference race and culture, which I deeply admired.
Angela
Angela, I agree about the characters too! I had a hard time keeping track of Fantine's ancestors as well as her friends from home. There seemed to be a lot of names that started with C, which made them even harder to remember and differentiate.
ReplyDeleteI also loved Straight's language. There was just something so beautiful and unique about her descriptions. They were fresh and believable, despite the somewhat difficult dialect writing, which helped establish the "place" of the story.
I was not as impressed with the first chapter. I felt that it was misleading for what the rest of the book ended up being about. But I do love that I flipped to the end of the book and was reminded by her picture that Straight was Caucasian, which you wouldn't know from her writings.
-Katie
Meh, I really didn't appreciate that she wrote in the voice of another race. I'm not sure it had the effect she wanted. I felt like it was white guilt than anything else. I just don't think I would like it if someone spoke for me because I have my own voice.
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