Billy [Paperback]

Albert French (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1995

Albert French lights up the monstrous face of American racism in this harrowing tale of ten-year-old Billy Lee Turner, who is convicted of and executed for murdering a white girl in Banes County, Mississippi in 1937. Billy is about the deaths of two children, one girl, one boy, the girl's death an accident, the boy's a murder perpetrated by the state. Though the events Billy records occur during the 1930s in a small Mississippi town, the range of characters, emotions, and social forces, and the inexorable march to doom of a ten-year-old boy and the society that dooms him, catapult the story far beyond a specific time and location. Narrated by an anonymous observer in the rich accents of the region, constructed in a series of powerfully lean vignettes, Billy imparts an intensity that is nearly unbearable. It is a tour de force of dramatic compression. Albert French evokes with cinematic vividness the picking fields and town streets; the heat, the dust, the unrelenting sun, the poverty of 1930s Mississippi. High-spirited Billy; his mysterious and passionate mother, Cinder; his friend, Gumpy; and other characters black and white are realized with depth and authority. Told in classic, unrelieved terms yet with remarkable compassion and restraint, their story is an unsentimental and ultimately heart-rending vision of racial injustice. Billy is, quite simply, one of the most powerfully affecting novels to come along in years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel starkly depicts Billy Lee Turner, a black, ten-year-old boy convicted and executed for the stabbing of a young white girl in 1930s Mississippi.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This debut novel chronicles the life of ten-year-old Billy Lee, who is executed for murdering a white girl in the town of Banes, Mississippi, in 1937. The story is related objectively in a regional dialect by a narrator who takes us into our country's recent past to witness the appalling effects of racism. This masterful style portrays a brutal and, at times, pitiful small town caught in the grip of segregation. French's stirring focus on details affords an empathic perception of events and characters, especially of Sheriff Tom and Billy's mother, Cinder. The short scene when Billy is captured is a skillful example of French's fine detail and dazzling style. The harrowing prison scenes, the absurd complications experienced by the guards when they strap Billy's small body into the high-backed electric chair, and the riveting description of the execution will leave readers numb. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- David A. Berona, Westbrook Coll. Lib., Portland, Me.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140179089
• ISBN-13: 978-0140179088
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #734,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A profoundly visceral work of fiction, September 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy (Paperback)

I felt every breath of emotion that Albert French's characters experienced. Mr. French has crafted an incredibly powerful story with a precision of language and structure. Every scene builds on the one before it. Characters and their situations evolve into a heart wrenching crescendo of emotional devastation. The screams of Billy's mother still resonate -- echo in my mind and spirit... three years after initially reading this story. Also, Mr. French brings the ignorance and prejudice of the time period alive. He masterfully bludgeons us with the brutality of it through desciption and dialogue. The reader must grapple with his/her own perspective of racism and its history. There is no easy way out. I highly recommend reading this book aloud. Many of my high school students from years past, still talk about this one book, read aloud to them in class. Like Toni Morrison's Beloved, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Ernest Gaines The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Albert French's Billy becomes a part of the way you view the world.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most heartwrenching books I've ever read, September 3, 2004

By 

T. L. Cooper "T. L. Cooper, author of All She... (Albany, Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Billy (Hardcover)

1937. Mississippi. Two teenage girls. Two young boys, ages ten and twelve. A fight ensues and one of the girls ends up dead. The community is outraged and more interested in revenge than justice. Why? The girls are white and the boys are black. Should that matter? Regardless, it does. French unapologetically drops the reader right into the times with all its prejudices glaring. It's impossible to avoid an emotional reaction to Billy. The grief of the families' losses, Billy's confusion about what's happening to him as well as what happened during the fight, and the blatant racism all serve to make the reader question whether things have really changed since 1937 or whether all that racism really just boiling under the surface searching for any excuse to break free.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling storytelling, December 2, 1999

By 

Aaron McKinin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy (Paperback)

I was enthralled by this book after I met the author at a writing class. I immediately bought the book and it has been a wonderful read all nine times I have read it. French uses down to earth language to tell a wonderful although disturbing story. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading well written, beautifully worded literature. A must read for aspiring writers!