Customer Reviews

Billy (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

The Truth of Racism Speaks Out Billy, by Albert French Racism is seen everyday and is avoided. Not many people take action in racism. If most people heard a racism comment, they would ignore it like nothing happen. Albert French goes straight to the point and tackles the problem in the great novel Billy. French joins the elite writers and stabs racism in the back with Billy. French draws up a masterpiece in Billy with his plot, characters and setting. This book shows the reality of racism, and it is a book that everyone should read and learn about the tragedies of the past. No one will walk away after reading this book and not be disturbed. That's how powerful this novel is. "May be the best novel by a black author since Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye." For the price of $9.95, it is a true steal. Billy takes place in Banes County, Mississippi, in 1937. Billy, who is 10, and Gumpy, who is 12, are the main characters and live in the shacks of a small town. Racism is a common occurrence in this town. The blacks live in small shacks and are separated from the whites. One day, Billy and Gumpy pass the forsaken line, that splits the blacks from the whites. No black person is suppose to pass this line. Billy and Gumpy are looking for turtles in the nearby pond. Two angry white girls come and beat and chase the boys off. Billy takes out a knife and stabs one of the girls, and the girl shortly dies later from the stab wound. The whole town hears about this and "all hell brakes lose". The newspaper hits the town, with articles saying, "Two Niger boys killed a young innocent white girl". Billy and Gumpy get caught by the local Sheriff and are placed in jail for later trial. This outrageous event affects the entire community. The white townspeople burn Gumpy's house. The white people just increased their racism ways. It's amazing how this event changes the whole town. Billy is found guilty of first- degree murder and is sentenced to death by the electric chair, but Gumpy is place in an all boys camp until he is an adult. It's amazing how much trouble, two boys get for just using self-defense. It is real disturbing. French picks the perfect setting for this story. It's hard to find a place with more racism than deep in the South, in a state like Mississippi. French chooses a small town located in the central Mississippi. The United States has a lot of racism in 1937 and has not yet healed this problem. It is a perfect setting for a great disturbing racism novel. The characters are just well written. Billy, a ten year old, is a young innocent black child living in a white's world, who looks and acts too innocent to do anything wrong. Billy never realizes what he has done or what he is going to get until the very end. Billy keeps on thinking that he is going home during the whole time he is held in jail, "Mama when do we gits to go home. I wanna to go home, Mama". Gumpy, is a perfect angel that never does anything wrong. He is always paranoid that he will get in trouble, "Come on Billy lets go home, I don't want to git in any trouble." Gumpy mixes in with Billy, which is the wrong crowd for him. Gumpy never takes any blame for any of his actions, because he never admits he did anything wrong and blames the whole thing on Billy. "Billy, I never did the killen, you did the whole thing, I'm a good boy". The plot is just well written and keeps you in the edge of your chair for the entire story. It is a definite "page turner". "Billy's strength is not strictly as a novel; it lives as theater. It is a folk opera that moves with unfaltering pace to its shattering climax". The writing style fits the story perfectly like a true masterpiece. Albert French uses the South accents in dialog during his novel. Even though during the middle of the story it tends to drag on a little bit, French's novel truly over comes this problem with great writing style. In conclusion, French wrote a masterpiece. "Although you only know Billy Lee Turner for an all too brief 214 pages, you will mourn his death for the rest of your life. That's how powerfully and dramatically written this book is". This book is a definite buy and is a crime if you do not. It teaches the truth and sadness of racism of the early 1900's. "A work of art, Billy never lets up, not for a minute. The images rush straight to your brain". Billy is relentless, powerful, and should not be missed. This author deserves congratulations for this masterpiece.

Powerful best sums up this book. This book spoke to me on a number of different levels all going back to deep seated racism. The acts of 1937 as described in this book still continue in 2003. When are we going to be able to say that it has finally come to an end. Billy, only 10 years old, a child in every way is convicted of the murder of Lori Pasko a firey tempered 15 year old red headed white girl. True he did it, but there was no such thing it seemed as self defense. The parties that were there at the time of the murder admitted that Billy- young, scrawny, frightened, was trying to get away but Lori kept coming. His remedy in a child's mind was to fight back with his knife. Those are the facts. My anger comes in to play when his friend is made to testify against him, he's not allowed to see his mother, it doesn't seem he was given benefit of seeking counsel. He doesn't understand the charges that are brought against him, he doesnt' understand the system and nobody is going to explain it to him either. He is black, no matter what the age, and because of his race he'll pay the ultimate price. He's 10 and on death row and the great state of Mississippi carries through with it.

Read this story, it will affect you, you will feel something with this work of fiction.

I've just finished reading this amazing book a few minutes ago. I've owned it for quite a few years but never gathered the courage to read it until this past week. I don't think I would have been ready for it 7 years ago. I don't think I'm ready for it now. This book will pull at your heart strings, massage your brain, and numb eventually numb you all over. I found myself wanting to hold Billy and protect him. I found myself screaming at the characters to do something other than join the crowd. I'm so filled with emotion. Just read it - you won't regret it!

I would have read this book in a single seating if I weren't a mother of two young boys. The tension and terror in this book are so palpable that I could hear my own heart beating and breaking with Cinder's. It is an absolutely chilling portrait of racism in this country. Though set in 1937, it is a story still very relevent to our attitudes about race today. I felt a bit manipulated emotionally at the end of the books and was tempted to put it down for I couldn't bear the sorrow any longer.

In the small town of Banes, Mississippi, ten year-old Billy Lee Turner awaits execution for the accidental death of fifteen year-old white girl: Lori Pasko. Young and afraid, Billy and the entire town, are affected by the incident and the consequence Billy must face. This extrodinary first novel sinks deep within the reader's mind with vivid characters and a powerful setting. Questions will arise about death, racisim, and class as the reader follows the sad and gruesome, yet everyday reality that Billy and the town face. This novel does not rest. This is one that will keep you reading, your emotions twisting and your mind racing with brilliant images and remarkable characters. Billy will effect you, no matter your race or class, and open your eyes to the reality that sometimes is too agonizing to confront.

I found myself getting angry and placing the book down for awhile. This story touched my heart deeply and brought tears to my eyes on morethanone occasion - I recommend this book to everyone.

Wow. Powerful. And the writing -- it clearly evokes time, place, people, the south. Loved, loved, loved the writing style, the brilliance with which it was done. The writing is the best and most unusual and most gifted example I've seen of fitting the story for all the above reasons. Easy to read, simple and yet somehow poetic language in a most honest kind of way. The reader will feel this story, feel the terror, love, emotions, hopelessness, tenderness, anger, hatred, ignorance, sorrow, all of it.

I liked that the author told both sides of the story, such that even the reader is torn and sympathetic to both sides. This one kept me up late reading. The 5 stars is solid for many reasons. This author has it -- show, don't tell. He didn't have to describe every thought, every environment. We get it. The story moves right along like a rushing stream and just as beautifully. This is real; if you don't like real, don't read this. If you do, embrace it.