Customer Reviews

Breaking Away

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In Breaking Away by Kristen Lattany, we are shown how one racially motivated incident can affect the lives of many. For Bethesda (Beth) Barnes, a college professor of English, life is good. Although she is one of the few African-American faculty on a college campus, she loves her job. Everything is going fine until four African-American sorority sisters are assaulted by some white male students. The women decide to take action and ask Beth to be their advisor. Even though Beth sees the fight as a losing battle, she agrees to take on the girls' cause. During the tumultuous months that follow, Beth discovers how ugly racism can be and the leaps and bounds you may have to jump to overcome it.

The characterization in this book was excellent. Although minor characters, Beth's family played a major part in helping us figure out what made her tick. The righteous cop sister, the Queen of De-Nial mother and the inquisitive niece help to add dimensions to the story. The same could be said about the students on campus, Beth's man friend, Lloyd and her best friend, Sherri.

This is the second book that I have read that focused on racism this year and it was interesting to see how they differed. This one presented us with a main character who was oblivious to the racial injustice that surrounded her. We were able to see how her naivete was chipped away after each incident. The setting of the college campus also seemed appropriate since they are so many different walks of life in one area.

Breaking Away was a good read and I would recommend it to my friends and family.

Reviewed by Nicole
APOOO BookClub

This book had a greater impact on me than I expected. By the time I was done reading about the neo-Nazi attacks on tbe black sorority sisters and the racist threats aimed at the black professor who is the main character, I was angry and wondering whether I, like Beth Barnes, have been living a deluded life. It made me sad to think that the safe little world I live in -- where I eat out and spend recreational time with white people, thinking we all see each other as equals -- could possibly be a figment of my imaginiation. I was reminded of how many times I've encountered white colleagues outside of our usual settings only to become invisible to them. Many times it seems they barely speak and often act as if they don't recognize me. I'm reminded of how often at work I'm given a big assignment and then given one or two white folks to help me with it, while white co-workers are given the opportunity to succeed (of fail) totally on their own. Either way, at least they are trusted. Bottom line: The book made me think and reevaluate how I see my world. Any book that makes you do that is a good one. It's just sad to think that after my reevaluation, what I come up with is a picture of a world that hasn't made nearly as much progress in race relations as I thought prior to reading this book.

Bethesda (Beth) Barnes grew up in a household where she and her sister led a sheltered existence. Their parents never wanted them to know about the harsher realities of life for African Americans. They kept from their daughters the true state of race relations in America. As a result, Beth grew up looking at life through rose colored glasses, never seeing (or not paying attention to) the inequities and injustices Blacks faced at the hands of the racists views of some white Americans. Although she works at a prestigious university as a professor, it doesn't really faze her that her's is only one of a few faces of color on staff. She becomes complacent and tries to go along to get along. In any event, she loves her job, her students and the man in her life. Life couldn't be better.

Then the unthinkable happens. Beth gets approached by four African American female students about an incident that has rocked their world. While practicing for a Greek show on campus, the young ladies were humiliated and debased by a group of White male students. They were cursed, called racially insensitive names and had garbage thrown at them. They intend to pursue a lawsuit challenging the university's policy on harassment and want Beth to be their faculty advisor. Although not entirely sure about the merits of the case, Beth takes on the job and is immediately propelled into the chasm of racial injustice and just how far some are prepared to take it. This case and the near simultaneous loss of her father and sister will force Beth to take a long look at the way she was raised and the life she currently lives. Will she go along or break away?

In BREAKING AWAY, Kristin Lattany has written a thought-provoking, suspense-filled chronicle on race relations that could be representative of any university campus in America. Lattany writes in such a way it causes you to look within yourself and question your complacency as far as race. Have you been going along to get along, or have you stood up for your rights and those of others? Her characterizations are excellent and go a long way in providng insight and explanation as to motives. I was able to identify with many of the emotions emitted and the thought processes that were derived. Although this is my first read by this author, it was well worth the effort and I'm sure others will benefit from this insightful read.

Reviewed by Brenda Lisbon
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

I was impressed with book, but it wasn't great. I have read better. It was a little predictable.

In 1993, five African-American female students at the University of Pennsylvania were bombarded by foul epithets spewed by Caucasian males in a dormitory. Were the taunts racially motivated, as the Black women assert, or were they the juvenile rantings of White men frustrated by a loud sorority celebration that allegedly made studying impossible? That is the question that Kristin Lattany apparently tries to answer in this novel of racial hatred.

The main character of the book is a Black female professor of English at Penn. She is also the faculty advisor for one of the aforementioned female students. Previously oblivious to the racism that surrounds her, the professor's eyes are forced open by her experiences supporting the students' efforts for equal justice under university policy. This awakening is also played around her relationships with a more racially aware sister and best friend, while she struggles with a mother who espouses a more traditional Black role.

Lattany is no unaccomplished writer. She has been nominated for the National Book Award for previous work and, for the most part, ably presents her storyline in this book. There are a few moments of jumbled dialogue, minimal confused plotting, and a weak finish. But those small errors do little to interfere with her strong message.

And her strong message is where this book's weakness lies. Her message is that non-African America hates its Black populace. That White America will look askance at the neo-Nazi skinhead movements while it intimidates by violent means African-Americans. For good measure, her message belittles that sector of the African-American population that believes in a more gentle and quiet approach to minority life than that espoused by the more vocal sector.

All too often, fiction is written where a more complete nonfiction treatment would be more worthwhile. I fear that this is one of those situations. The African-American angle of the events of 1993 has likely been under-represented. The experience of those five female students deserves to be heard. But not like this. This book can only be recommended for the most uncompromising of anti-White Blacks. What a shame.