Bailey's Café (Bookcassette(r) Edition) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Gloria Naylor (Author), multivoice (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1993

Welcome to Bailey's Café, the most mythically real diner you've ever walked into. Presided over by Bailey and his helpmate, Nadine, it is a magnet that draws a wide variety of the "colored" people of 1948, each with a story to tell.

Bailey tells us about his love for his strong, quiet wife, and shares his haunting memories of World War II. Then, one by one, we hear from the café's regulars. There is Sadie, whose addiction to alcohol is second only to her mania for cleanliness; the oddly maternal Eve, whose bordello accepts only fresh flowers as legal tender; Sweet Esther, who takes nothing but white roses for her particular favors; Peaches, whose badly mutilated face is a sharp contrast to her beautiful body; Jesse Bell, who cannot overcome her lust for heroin; Miss Maple (whose real name is Stanley); and Mariam, the Ethiopian child who may be the bearer of a miracle.

Gloria Naylor, author of "Women of Brewster Place" and "Mama Day" (also available on unabridged Bookcassette Audio), has created perhaps her finest work in "Bailey's Café". Her wonderful chorus of characters tell tales of woe and fortitude, prejudice and pride; Naylor has transformed the trials of these outcasts into timeless truths about the strengths of people everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A self-professed curmudgeon, the Bailey, whose eatery gives Naylor's ( The Women of Brewster Place ) powerful, evocative new novel its title, serves up lousy coffee and greasy food at that crossroads of the world, Brooklyn in 1948. Along with his taciturn wife, Nadine, Bailey (not really his name; he just didn't change the sign when he bought the place) acts as tour guide, taking the reader through the lives of the cafe's habitues--prostitutes, pimps, madams and other human flotsam. For some, like sweet Esther and Jesse Bell, Bailey's is a last stop before oblivion. For others it offers redemption and rebirth. Their lives are revealed in lyrical vignettes combining first- and third-person narration. The slightly supernatural character of the cafe recalls elements in the author's Mama Day , and the story of Miss Maple, a cross-dressing male mathematics Ph.D. who finds fortune and liberation as housekeeper at the brownstone bordello down the block, is reminiscent of Ralph Ellison's finest work. Underscoring both the specificity of her characters' lives and the general ambience of black existence, Naylor movingly captures life in New York and America ("You can find Bailey's cafe in any town") in the era that followed WW II. BOMC and QPB selections; major ad/ promo; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Like Naylor's previous works, Mama Day ( LJ 2/15/88), Linden Hills ( LJ 4/15/85), and the award-winning The Women of Brewster Place ( LJ 6/15/82), this novel offers interesting characterizations in familiar settings imbued with mythic qualities. The cafe setting allows a range of characters to tell stories from their lives, each in a unique voice. Bailey's and the nearby boarding house (which some call a bordello) offer respite for those who have been battered in the outside world, and their long-lasting scars shape the book's narrations and interactions. The characterizations, distinctly and believably drawn, are Naylor's most interesting since her first novel, The Women of Brewster Place . Recommended for all contemporary fiction collections.
- Marie F. Jones, Muskingum Coll. Lib., New Concord, Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Bookcassette; Unabridged edition (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561004952
• ISBN-13: 978-1561004959
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,004,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich read., January 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bailey's Cafe (Paperback)

This is, and has for a long time, been one of my favorite books. It is a complete package. Naylor's characters are chock full of depth, her writing is lyrical and her tales are down-right fascinating. While it's difficult to find an author these days who can provide the reader even *one* of those things, Naylor gives us the whole she-bang. Although written with humor, this novel is somewhat of a difficult read: there is an undeniable sadness surrounding many of the characters (even when re-reading it, I can hardly get through the chapter "Mood: Indigo"). Although it's easy to be saddened by the stories, it's important to note that hope, respect and recovery are common themes throughout the book. The Cafe itself is supposed to be a surreal bedrock of healing. I found this book more accessible than "Mama Day," and a little more heart-wringing than "The Women of Brewster Place." All and all, it's deeply satisfying and comes *highly* recommended. Bring on more Naylor, please!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Painfully Beautiful, November 15, 2004

By 

Marilynn Griffith (Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bailey's Cafe (Paperback)

Umph. That's about all I can say. This is far from what people would consider a Christian novel, there is cursing, violence and sorts of goings on. Yet there's more scripture in it than a few Christian novels I read lately and more truth too. Bailey's Cafe isn't defined by just one character, but rather it's world, a way station on the edge of any city anywhere, the place before there's no more places. Each day only one thing is offered, chicken one day, corn beef hash the next. There are no menus. Each customer decides whether to stay or go. Bailey is careful not to cook too carefully or people might actually think they're coming for food. They're not.

These folks, churchy Miss Cassie who comes to doom everyone to hell, Sugar Man the short pimp, Sadie [...] who carries herself with such class the glass mugs turn to china in her hands . . . And we aren't even going to start on the maid, Miss Maple, a straight man who finds comfort in summer dresses.

These are the folks of Bailey's Cafe. And that's just the beginning of it. Across the street there is a Jewish pawn shop that never opens except to tell people to go elsewhere and a blossoming home for women called Eve's, which one can only find if you know what to ask. "No woman finds this place until she's ready for it," Eve says. And she's right. God didn't let me read this book until I was ready. And thankfully, I will never recover. Use your discretion on this one. It ain't for the faint of heart.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Innovative presentation; eccentric characters, June 26, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bailey's Cafe (Paperback)

Naylor mines the denizens of a neighborhood, most of whom eat at Bailey's Cafe, for this collection of short stories, each of which inter-relates some way to the others. There are wonderful characters in this book, and each gets an opportunity to tell his or her own story, each using a very unique voice.
This fairly recent technique of writing stories on a similar theme, set in a common location, is catching on. Did Naylor start the trend with Women of Brewster Place? Whatever. It's a good idea, and Bailey's Cafe is a welcome addition to the genre.