Dead Above Ground [Paperback]

Jervey Tervalon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2001

That was Mother's life back then: planning one daughter's wedding while plotting to kill her other daughter's lover.... For feisty young Lita Du Champ, New Orleans is a place dominated by her hardworking family -- in particular, her strong-willed mother, Helen, who rules with an unshakable sense of propriety. Ever loyal to her mother, and adoring of her beautiful, restless, married sister Adele, Lita works hard to keep the family together as she attempts to establish her own life. But when Adele falls in love with Lucien Faure -- a smooth operator with "the devil's good looks" and a decades-old score to settle with Helen -- Lita unveils her mother's mysterious past to confront the Du Champs' long-buried secrets. Now, Lita finds she has one last and desperate chance to save the future of those she loves.

Award-winning author Jervey Tervalon draws from his own heritage -- and the twisting family story that has lived and breathed inside him his whole life -- to create a spellbindingly luminous novel of passion, murder, and vengeance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Los Angeles Times The city [of New Orleans] shimmers to life through the perfect pitch of the people who inhabit the tale.

The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) Tragic, violent, but ultimately transcendent, Dead Above Ground draws the reader in and never lets go.

About the Author

Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground. An award-winning poet, screenwriter, and dramatist, Jervey was born in New Orleans, raised in Los Angeles, and now lives in Altadena, California, with his wife and two daughters.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671034693
• ISBN-13: 978-0671034696
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,053,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jervey Tervalon(fiction) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but moved to the Jefferson Park/Crenshaw area of Los Angeles, California, with his family as a young boy. He attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where he graduated with a BA in Literature. He received his MFA from UC Irvine where he studied with Thomas Keneally and Oakley Hall. His thesis project became the novel Understand This for which he won the 1994 New Voices Award from Quality Paper Books was based on his experiences teaching at Locke High School. He's had four novels and a collection of stories and two anthologies and numerous short stories, essays and articles published. His most current publication is "Golden: The Education of a Young Pootbutt,"in Slake Magazine, published in July 2010.

Literary L.A.
David L. Ulin
published: February 12, 1998

JERVEY TERVALON sold his first poem to Scholastic magazine while he was still in junior high school. "'My God,'" the Pasadena resident remembers thinking, "'I can make money at this.' And I've been deluded ever since." Raised in Los Angeles, he attended Dorsey High School and UC Santa Barbara, where he wrote stories about his neighborhood, publishing them in "little magazines that no one reads." After graduation, Tervalon taught at Locke High School before entering the MFA program at UC Irvine; there, he returned to a work in progress about South-Central that ultimately became his first novel, Understand This. Although the book won a Quality Paperback Book Club New Voices Award in 1994, Tervalon has been stymied in his attempts to publish subsequent work - his second novel was bought but never issued, and a third book is circulating now. "Most publishers," he says, "feel like they can't lose money underestimating the intelligence of the black reader, and there's no one out there to balance their preconceptions, and prove they're wrong. It's especially hard coming from Los Angeles,

Honors, Awards: Disney Screen-writing Fellow, 1992; Quality Paper Book Club's New Voices Award, 1994; Finalist, Discover New Writers/Barnes and Noble Award, 1994; Honorable Mention, Pushcart Prize, 1996; Gold Crown Award from the Pasadena Arts Council, Remsen Bird Artist in Residence, 2001;. Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Excellence in Multicultural Literature, 2001; California Arts Fellowship, 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FASCINATING, March 25, 2000

By 

D. LEE "dml48221" (Palo Alto, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead Above Ground (Hardcover)

This is one of those books that makes you go "Hum"! I found the discussion of 1940's life in New Orleans very fascinating. However, that which made the book incredibly intriguing was the portrayal of 3 strong African American women who were all fighting the same demon but in very different ways and utilizing very different techniques. Coupled with that is a little bit of a Stephen King mentality and flair which I thought brought a certain level of mystique, fascination and drama. This novel brought back scenes from the novel "Carrie". Although there were some areas that could have used a little more exploration, all in all, I thought this was one of the most fascinating novels I have read in quite some time. Good read and worth the price of a hardcover novel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diamond in the Rough. An absolute Gem!!!!, April 30, 2001

By 

Nancy Flowers Wilson (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Above Ground (Hardcover)

This book was awesome. It was set during the 1940's in New Orleans and took me back to that place and time barring the fact that I was born in the 1970's in Brooklyn, New York and have only visited New Orleans once.

I did not want to put this novel down because it stimulated me to continue reading all throughout. It was enthralling, evoking and well put together. I highly recommend that if you are a true avid reader you will appreciate all that this great novel has to offer.

Lita Du Champ was a strong young woman who fiercely believed in the ties that bind a family together. Her mother Helen made mistakes in the past and tried to protect her family from an ill fate while her oldest daughter Adele was a free spirit and lived for the moment. The men lacked compassion and were thoughtless to a great extent, but to be expected in those days and sadly still very reflective in today's society. Overall it was a splendid read.

Dead Above Ground is definitely a keeper and a must read. This novel deserves a resurgence. I don't think that it received all the praise that it should have in the past!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving account of 1940s Afro-Creole Life, July 18, 2000

By 

Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Above Ground (Hardcover)

I wouldn't categorize this story as mystery although there were some elements of suspense. Mr. Tervalon paints a look in slow motion in an almost surreal manner of life as it was in 1940s New Orleans. The DuChamps are by no means the perfect family but in fact the dysfunction among them is the root of the story. Some reviewers have criticized the switch from first person to third, but this Faulkeneresque technique was most effective in recalling the past in order to comprehend what is going on in the present. The author also does not shy away from the issues affecting Creoles of Color in that era-- the ever present reality of living in two worlds, chastised on one hand for "looking white" and looked down upon for not being white. He even shows Lita getting on a Jim Crow bus, sitting in the white section, enjoying her sense of entitlement her appearance affords enabling her to "passe blanc". At the same time Lita expresses the great pride passed on to her in being proud of being black. For those who want to get a look into the life of the culture of New Orleans this is a good read along with Robert Skinner's mystery series which include "Skin Deep, Blood Red" and "Cat-Eyed Trouble".