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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Full of Every Emotion Known to Man, July 3, 2001
This review is from: My Brother's Keeper (Paperback)
After reading My Brothers Keeper, I find it hard to believe this is a debut novel. ReShonda Tate Billingsley is a name that literary readers will come to know and love. This novel is by far one of the best debut novels I've read to date and has been placed thus far as one of my best reads of 2001. ReShonda takes us inside the lives of the James' clan, at one time the picture perfect family with a loving father, doting mother and three carefree children. That is until the patriarch of the family loses his job and with that his identity as a man. Their father's only sense of self-worth is in the nearest bottle of alcohol, a dime bag of ... and the bruises he leaves on the woman he promised to love 'till death do us part'. One night during his tirade Gerald (father) goes too far and forces his children to come to the aid of their mother. Their son Eric and youngest daughter Jada comes to their mother's rescue while Aja (pronounced Asia) stands by and does nothing. The course of events that happen that night will change their lives forever. Meet Aja who thirteen years later has taken on the role of Eric and Jada's keeper. Aja seems to have it all; great looks, a job she loves and a best friend that personifies the true meaning of sisterfriend. However, Aja uses her siblings as a crutch to hold onto the past, avoiding all future happiness with handsome sportscaster, Charles Clayton. Charles is the epitome of the perfect man, willing to stand by Aja as she deals with her ghost from the past. Their romantic attempts are continuously interrupted by Eric, who's anger has become parallel to that of their father. Eric is an NBA hopeful who's so concerned with not being like his father that he becomes him anyway. Aja and Eric complement one another's anger as they continue to wallow subconsciously in the past, harming all those who love them emotionally. Jada is the only one who seems oblivious to the incident that occurred so many years ago, as it has left her mentally handicapped. Mrs. Billingsley does a wonderful job of teaching us the pitfalls of harboring hatred and anger. She immediately pulls you in from the very first page and holds you captive until the end. I found myself laughing out loud, wanting to shake the characters but she threw me for a complete loop as I got near the ending of the story and cried as if I had lost my best friend. My Brothers Keeper is a wonderful read, full of every emotion known to man. If I learned one thing from this book is that a child should be protected, but that's not always the case. We may not be responsible for the things that occur to us as a child, but we have to find a way to overcome it or it will destroy you in one way or another. Reviewed by Tanya
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?, April 13, 2002
This review is from: My Brother's Keeper (Paperback)
Am I my brother's keeper? For Aja James the answer to this question is yes. After surviving an ugly past that left scars to her entire family, Aja James still struggles to keep herself and her siblings together. When she was a child, Aja watched as her father murdered her mother in a
drunken rage. This act destroyed the family as her father went to prison and
Aja and her brother and sister were sent to live with different family
members. Aja emerged from this tragedy seemingly unscathed except for her
extreme protectiveness of her brother and sister, her hate for her father, and
her emotional scars that form a wall around her heart and block her chances for
a lasting relationship. Her brother, Eric, emerged angry, filled with rage and
violent tendencies. Her younger sister, Jada, faded into a world of silence
that locked her into the past. My Brother's Keeper is largely about how these siblings deal with their wounds
and try to figure out how to deal with their father as he approaches his
release date from prison. Aja, Eric and Jada struggle to rebuild the stability
that died with their mother long ago. Their desire for that stability both
brings them closer together and drives them farther apart. My Brother's Keeper is a compelling and bittersweet read. Reviewed by Diane Marbury (HonestD)
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forgive and Be Free, July 11, 2001
This review is from: My Brother's Keeper (Paperback)
The story of the James family takes us into their world of despair, domestic violence, anger and hatred. As the book opens you are exposed to a tragic act of violence that will haunt the children into adulthood. Aja, the oldest takes on the responsibility of being her brother and sister's keeper at the expense of her own needs. Aja was so concerned about Eric's need for help that she didn't realize that she too had a need for help. The one theme that struck this reader was Aja placing blame on her brother's behavior on the father. While that may have been the case to a certain degree, Eric needed to let it go to heal. Little sister Jada is the one that helped all to realize that to forgive is to be free. And Roxanne, aka Roxie, was funny as all get out and provided some much needed humor and insight for Aja. The one lesson learned and overall message was to forgive and overcome hatred or it can destroy you and your relationships. You will learn something about forgiveness with this one.
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