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    Brown Girl, Brownstones
    Unavailable
    Brown Girl, Brownstones
    Unavailable
    Brown Girl, Brownstones
    Ebook414 pages6 hours

    Brown Girl, Brownstones

    By Paule Marshall

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "An unforgettable novel, written with pride and anger, with rebellion and tears." — Herald Tribune Book Review"Passionate, compelling . . . an impressive accomplishment." — Saturday Review"Remarkable for its courage, its color, and its natural control." — The New Yorker
    Selina's mother wants to stay in Brooklyn and earn enough money to buy a brownstone row house, but her father dreams only of returning to his island home. Torn between a romantic nostalgia for the past and a driving ambition for the future, Selina also faces the everyday burdens of poverty and racism. Written by and about an African-American woman, this coming-of-age story unfolds during the Depression and World War II. Its setting — a close-knit community of immigrants from Barbados — is drawn from the author's own experience, as are the lilting accents and vivid idioms of the characters' speech. Paule Marshall's 1959 novel was among the first to portray the inner life of a young female African-American, as well as depicting the cross-cultural conflict between West Indians and American blacks. It remains a vibrant, compelling tale of self-discovery.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMar 6, 2012
    ISBN9780486118604
    Unavailable
    Brown Girl, Brownstones

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    Reviews for Brown Girl, Brownstones

    4/5

    62 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked the book because of the fact that the plot tells the story of a family who comes from an impoverished, but pristine island nation to a place that is a lot less friendly and accepting. It describes how the mother of the family struggles to keep her family afloat in the face of racism, poverty, and the desire for upward mobility while the father of the family has delusions, negative impulses, selfishness, and other traits that seek to destroy everything that they worked for. I did not, however, like the fact that the writing style of this book doesn't challenge readers to think about the social issues that face immigrant societies. The writing style also seemed forgettable, as it did not push me, the reader, to explore additional books that describe West Indian culture. The book did not hold my interest. The main idea of this book details two central characters as they overcome difficulties from many fronts, including society and the people that are closest to them.
    • 4/5
      I probably wouldn't have ever heard of Brown Girl, Brownstones if it hadn't been assigned for the African American Literature by Women course I'm taking this semester. However, it has a deserved place among novels about the immigrant experience and coming of age.Brown Girl, Brownstones follows Selina Boyce from girlhood into college. In this time, Selina struggles over her allegiance to her father, Deighton, who romantically tries on careers in which he has no realistic future, and her mother, Silla, whose pragmatic obsession with purchasing their leased brownstone causes her to act ruthlessly. Between them and the outspoken cast of supporting characters, Selina has many options for how to model her own life.The pages of Brown Girl, Brownstones fly by quickly, assisted by the realness of the characters' voices. I particularly enjoyed Marshall's use of Barbadian dialect, which helps to locate the novel in a particular time and place. Brown Girl, Brownstones is an especially good choice for teenagers, but also for adults who are interested in stories set between the depression and the '50s.