Customer Reviews

Blanche Cleans Up

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After reading BLANCHE CLEANS UP, I went right back and re-read all of the "Blanches"--BLANCHE ON THE LAM, BLANCHE AND THE TALENTED TENTH, and BLANCHE CLEANS UP. I tried to keep track of all of the things I liked, but I got tired of making notes and folding back the pages. So I'm just going with what I remember.

I'm even more in awe now than I was the first time I read the books. Reading them all in a row, back to back, delivers even more of a wallop. The deftness with which Neely wove in the politics of race, class, color and hair, gender, homophobia, patriarchy, marital status, abuse, criminal justice is awesome. It is the same skill with which she incorporated sometimes subtle references to big city life at it's best--the politics of politics.

Blanche is confident and opinionated without being preachy. She knows how to punch somebody in the belly without looking like that's what she's doing. Thank God, though, she also knows how to punch 'em in the gut for real when the situation demands it.

I love the fact that Neely created a black hard-working woman character with dignity. The fact that she's sexual without being a hootchie momma and has a sense of justice that also allows her to retain enough smarts to run from the cops when she needs to. She's a sista with uncommon sense and balance.

Blanche is compassionate without being the least bit interested in cradling her employers' heads upon her breast, though she takes care to earn every penny they pay her by stirring up a whole range of heart-healthy food and straightening up behind them.

No smarmy music, no rose-colored glasses, no moist-eyed fantasy about what it means to have children in her life, either. Before she faced up to her obligation to family and her sister's children, Blanche ran away and gave herself time and space to think. Accepting responsibility for her niece and nephew was a matter of choice, not simply one of blood.

The way Blanche deals with her own and her niece's issues around class and color is both ! poignant and sure-footed. Without berating the girl or beating her about the head and shoulders for reflecting relentless dominant cultural influences, Blanche bides her time, guiding and helping the child to see the error of her ways and, more importantly, healthy options.

As the daughter of a domestic worker, raised by my mom in the projects in the 50s and 60s of the segregated south, and having experienced very early and firsthand the scorn of bourgeois black folk and white folk up and down the economic ladder, I'm ecstatic and in awe that Neely has done something quite revolutionary: She has given us a bright-colors-wearin', eggplant-black, size sixteen sista with a head full of natural hair and a sense of entitlement to match it all. At last, at last.

In a literary world where women authors of color still create main characters who look nothing like their African selves; in a music world where pop stars croon to video stars who look nothing like any woman in their family; in a glamour industry where ethnic clones of Barbie still rule, what a daring and refreshing change.

Barbara Neely made a tremendous splash in the mystery world a few years ago with her debut novel Blanche on the Lam. Though the mystery itself was weak, many readers fell in love with the main character. Blanche White wasn't like most other feisty feminist women sleuths: she was African-American, middle-aged, and a cleaning woman. From the vantage point of her class, her race, and her background, Blanche's observations about people and life were both pointed and highly entertaining. Small wonder, then, that Neely won two fan-based mystery prizes.

Unapologetically heavyset Blanche is a delightful change from the trim, caustic sleuths who are always jogging and taking self-defense classes to stay in shape. She has a mouth on her and doesn't put up with anyone's bull, but her real skills are insight into people and places and the connections between them, and a kind of intuition verging on ESP. Though Blanche has "done more work than she'd been paid for in her life," working in other people's homes has helped her raise her dead sister's two children and taught her a great deal about psychology.

Blanche isn't just insightful, however: she's industrial strength nosey and proud of it. Finding out everything she can about her employers isn't any different than helping solve murders. "She liked sticking her nose in where it wasn't supposed to be and finding out things other people didn't want her to know. She liked doing this the way some people liked jogging or dancing or going to the mall."

In her third foray into crime-solving, Blanche lands right in the middle of a potential political scandal working as a fill-in housekeeper-cook for a wealthy but unhappy Boston couple. They rouse her curiosity and ire: the wife's too dazed and troubled, the husband's a right-wing Republican running for Governor whose bigoted courting of prominent right-wing African-Americans infuriates Blanche.

Something is definitely wrong in this house, and it unexpectedly explodes in Blanche's face, bringing violence to her Roxbury neighborhood and threatening herself and her children. Her strong connections to the African-American community will help her save herself and those she loves, as well as bring some unexpected justice.

Though fairly predictable, Blanche on the Lam is a classic cozy in form: low on violence, high on humor, charm, and quirkiness. It's likely to expand Neely's audience primarily because Blanche is such a delightful, richly-drawn character. Blanche is human, warm, saucy, funny and believable as she struggles in herself or in her community with racism, child rearing, teen pregnancy, homesickness, self-hatred, romantic loneliness and even menopause. While Neely still doesn't write much of a mystery, the meal she lays out for you here is so tasty that it really doesn't much matter.

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I am a 20 year old, African American college student and I work at a public library in Mississippi. While shelving books one day I saw "Blanche Cleans Up." This was rare to me because I very seldom see books by African Americans at this library, so I decided to read this one. I couldn't put it down! This book was awesome! I loved the way the author used politics and racial issues that almost all African Americans can relate to. After reading "Blanche Cleans Up," I read the two previous books in the series ("Blanche on the Lam" and "Blanche Among the Talented Tenth") and needlees to say, the were also great. I look forward to reading "Blanche Passes Go."

Keep up the good work Ms. Neely!

--Toni

I've read and liked the other Blanche books but found this one to be a real disappointment. The plot was fairly predictable and not especially entertaining. The gratuitous sex (pedophilia, bestiality, adultery, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, and a visit to an S & M club all in a two week time span) was a little extreme. I'm not sure what point Ms. Neely was trying to make but hopefully she will "cleanup up" her next book...

This is my first Barbara Neely book and as I was thoroughly enjoying it I was ever aware that there are many more boudaries being pushed back in genre fiction such as this than in main stream fiction which has become so self-observing that I am put in mind of the tail-swallowing snake. Barbara Neely, you are a brilliant writer and observer and I will look forward to meeting up with Blanche again really soon Thanks

My biggest criticism is that it took so long for Blanche to reappear. She is a wonderful, grounded woman, doing what it takes to give the best for the kids. This book did have a lot of ugly in it, but so do the lives of so many important, "better than thou" people. Please, Ms Neely, don't let so much time go by without another Blanche book. I want to follow her into a lively senior age.

I love Blanche; she's down to earth, has real life problems and a woman trying to raise two children alone in the 90s. Blanche is a hero, a neighbor you would want living next door and superwoman. Who else would have time to raise two children, work, maintain a relationship with her best friend, deal with everyday problems, including other's problems, maintain a good relationship with her neighbors, can find the inside scoop on her employers without causing too much of a stir, and solve murder mysteries - no one but Blanche. This is my second Blanche mystery which I have read & I have thoroughly enjoyed both. Can't wait to read Blanche Among the Talented Tenth. I hope this author continues the Blanche series!

Blanche Cleans Up has all the classic elements of a good mystery--a body or two, but you read the Blanche series to get the exacting and acerbic social commentary from a non-traditional heroine of the a mystery novel--a Plus-Size African American domestic. Her comments on employers,bougeoise Blacks, and social causes gives this the third novel in the series a plus rating. Stronger in characterization than the second--Blanche Among The Talented Tenth--and decidely funnier, this is even better than the first--Blanche on the Lam.

Blanche White is dark-skinned woman in an America which values neither her color or her size. She is a single mother who is beginning to feel the joys and pain of raising teenagers, and the confusion, since she rather inherited her niece and nephew in the first novel. Moving to Boston, from New York and on the run from "problems" in North Carolina, Boston is as cold racially as the climate. Blanch is pressured by her Cousin Charlotte to substitute for Charlotte's friend Inez as a Cook-Housekeeper for Inez's "white folks"--The Brindles for a week. Blanche soon becomes enmeshed in the domestic problems and situation of this rather unusual family in a wealthy suburb of Boston. This suburb is a rather short distance from Roxbury--the Black section of Boston, but of course miles away in the privileges and lifestyles of the household. Blanche prefers "day work", rather than a permanent position and relationship with a family. She has enough problems with her own family and she doesn't trust whites especially whites with money and privilege. Neely's new cast of characters are varied, with some twists. Her characterizations of working class and some African American middle class persons ring true. They are as varied as the ones who reflect the generation gap among families, the emphasis among black teenage girls on piled laquered hair and wear two-inch decorated nails, to dreadlocked sisters who participate ironically now in the American &quo! t;Hair Ballet". Others such as Black politicians who outdo each other in the rush to sell out their constituencies if it will gain them money or prestige or access to an empheral sense of power are right on the money. The white characters also seem seem to abound in some of life's little evils--kinky sex, adultery, bad politicians, and other failures of character. Blanche and her children are however, a group to cheer for. The murders and deaths are sometimes bizarre and sometimes sad, but Blanche's natural nosiness gives her the edge.

For mystery fans who prefer straight who-done-its without Blache's ambiance, lifestyle, recipes, commentary and always colorful cast--stay away. But you'll miss a fun read. The Blanche series is getting better and her travails, and near misses are more fun than the solution isn't. You don't feel satisfied after reading this Blanche novel, you want more. Barbara Neely is this good.

I had read Walter Mosley's mystery novels and was pleased to see African-American characters in a murder-mystery - a genre that seems to be sadly under-represented in our community. I enjoyed Mr. Mosley's treatments immensely, but alas, the undercurrent suggested that only men should be involved in the business of solving mysteries. Then just a week ago I was introduced to Blanche White. I'm in love!!!!!!! This is a wonderful introduction to an African-American domestic embroiled in a murder mystery invovling her employer which lends itself to startlingly candid observations on life from this perspective. While I readily admit that the mystery itself tends to sometimes take a back seat to Blanche's astute observations on American life, in time, Ms. Neely will hone her murder-mysteries with Blanche as the ultimate sleuth who ranks right up there with Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, and yes, even Dirty Harry! I have already ordered all of the Blanche books because after reading one chapter, I knew one story would hardly satisfy my desire for a female detective like this one. A definite must. I applaud Ms. Neely's efforts, heartily recommend, and look forward to reading the others!

This is a good story that got bogged down in political commentary. Just as the story begins to flow, a political roadbump slows the story down again with the author's position on homosexuality and abortion (like a continuous whack on the head with a BIG stick! ), religion, white male dominance and oppression in society, men's domination of women, "ancestor worship," subjugation of blacks... the issues go on and on and on and on and one (kinda like this sentence - *wink*).

There are no positive black males in this book -- save a 12 year old child (maybe a symbol for hope for the future of black males?). Even the nice guy becomes subject for a discussion on situational ethics.

After several chapters, you begin to receive Blanche-like premonitions of the next political message on the horizon. I began reading past them to help with the continuity of the story.

It is not a broad leap to to surmise that the Blanche series is either a platform for Barbara Neely's political views or an outlet for her frustrations.

Less politics, more story...