Customer Reviews

The Bull-Jean Stories

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

 

 

This text was amazingly refreshing, not only because it's theme was southern black womanlove, but because Bridgeforth's phrasing, her dialogue/dialect and her detailings of lost love are as profound as they are poignant; as lyrical as they are lovely; as heartwrenching as they are humorous. If I have any complaints, they would be that the stories were so few that I literally ached for more, almost as I ached for the character of Bull Jean; and that I have yet to see these pieces/stories/epiphanies performed. Bridgeforth's work is dedicated to revealing the premise, the promise and the pain of black lesbian love, southern style, conjuring up images of Shay Youngblood, Ntozake Shange and dare I say Dorothy Allison. I for one am richer and feel rewarded for having laughed and cried with Bull Jean and her many lost [and found] loves.

In the haze of a Michigan Women's Festival delerium, standing next to Sharon Bridgforth in a bookstall, I bought her book, along with any other lesbian book of poetry I thought I might like. I've since reread this book repeatedly, recommended it repeatedly, and offer this opinion: If you like women, if you like to laugh, if you like a heart-breaking, soul-warming story, buy this book. Buy 12 of them.

Sharon Bridgforth is a conjurer. She captures the voices of folks on the pages of this book whose stories would otherwise be lost in the wind. I laughed out loud, big old belly laughs, and read the stories aloud to friends and family. This writer is a descendant of Langston Hughes and all the folks who tell stories on the corner, in the back of the church, in the beauty parlor and on the porch, looking at the sunset. Her deeply felt prose and poetry is redeeming. Thank you for one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had as a reader in recent memory!

the openess to love that bulljean expresses and the ability to bounce back once a love is gone is so present in us all. I felt bulljean, when she tells Mina-Mina be my woman. Madam Bridgeforth has brought back the power of love to poetry and she didn't have to be political about.

I have had this book for several years and each time I reread a story I gain a new appreciation for this book. I want more of Bull-Jean.

I echo the thoughts of the previous reviewers...I was taken back in time and felt Bull Jean as I read her story I longed for her to find her Mina! I cried at the end of the book. I'm a student as well as thespian and wish that one day I can bring Bull Jean alive on stage..This is a most have!