And Do Remember Me [Paperback]

Marita Golden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 1994

"An engaging saga of unconditional friendship, love, and foregiveness...Golden's style is modern, refreshing and accurately captures a slice of African-American life."
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
In the exciting, yet frightening days of Freedom Summer in 1963, two very different African-American women meet, each to discover in the other an elegant completion of herself. Jessie, running from her sexually abusive father and distant mother, is a born actress. In the movement she discovers an unknown world of personal freedom that could shape her into an extraordinary talent or destroy her from within. Macon, beautiful, fearless, and brilliant, knows she is too good to settle for less than she's worth, but her activism threatens the man she loves.
In a vital time of politics and passion, dedication and distress, two women struggle to recreate themselves and their world--and learn to love the fight.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The compelling opening chapters of this novel that limns the troubled coming of age of a black woman from the Mississippi Delta excite expectations that the rest of the narrative does not fulfill. Initially, readers will find much to admire in Golden's ( Long Distance Life ) depiction of Jessie Foster's flight from her sexually abusive father and her meeting with civil rights worker Lincoln Sturgis, who sweeps her into the movement during the turbulent Freedom Summer--and into a new world where she forms relationships with black and white activists from all strata of society. Golden's portrait of the idealism and exhilaration of people coming together in a conflicted time is authentic and engrossing, but when her protagonist leaves the South and moves to Manhattan, the tale loses dramatic momentum. As Lincoln struggles to make his name as a playwright, Jessie discovers her vocation as an actress, but her transformation is too swift and never becomes convincing. Moreover, when she changes her name to Pearl Moon, the reader's identification with her character is broken. Jessie/Pearl's inability to return Lincoln's love, due to her haunted memories of being raped by her father, makes her emotionally distant and her behavior predictable. Although Golden's command of language in the early part of the book is impressive, the later sections are dry and mechanical, as though she is fleshing out a story in which she has lost interest. The facile denouement involving Jessie/Pearl's psychological breakthrough leaves the novel limping to a close.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Like Golden's previous books-- Long Distance Life ( LJ 10/1/89), Migrations of the Heart ( LJ 2/1/83), and A Woman's Place ( LJ 8/86)--this novel offers an insightful view into the lives of individual African American women. It opens as Jessie Foster escapes incest by running away from home and subsequently becomes drawn into the Civil Rights movement. With the help of her activist/playwright boyfriend, she discovers a love of acting and later becomes a professional actress. Golden offers a resonant description of the consequences of Jessie's sexual abuse, and her characterization and images are skillfully drawn and believable. However, the novel's episodes are strung together with all-too-visible contrivances, and the segment devoted to Jessie's friend Macon is unnecessarily disconnected from the narrative flow. Nevertheless, this is recommended for contemporary fiction collections and is a necessary purchase for libraries with serious collections of African American fiction. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/92.
- Marie F. Jones, Muskingum Coll., New Concord, Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345382714
• ISBN-13: 978-0345382719
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,565,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I think I came into the world called to write. I have been a passionate reader and writer since I was a child. Books and language have provided me with a way to live in the world with an enlarged sense of my possibilities. Writing has thrust my personal questions and inner dialogues into the public space. In the process I have inspired others and learned from them through my work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant!!!, November 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And Do Remember Me (Paperback)

'And Do Remember Me' is one of the best books I've read in a long time! The characters are appealing and the story sad but triumphant. And as an extra added bonus, included toward the end of the book is the most romantic scene you ever want to read. I read the book cover to cover in less than 12 hours, it was that good.

4.0 out of 5 stars And Do Remeber Me by Marita Golden..review by Annina, October 15, 2003

By 

annina (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And Do Remember Me (Paperback)

Marita Golden creates a unique telling of the struggles of the African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement by using an uncommon perspective in her utterly enjoyable writings.
In And Do Remember Me Golden tells a story of a young girl living in Columbus, Mississippi, named Jessi Foster, later known as Pearl Moon, who is traumatized by her sexually abusive father. The abuse ends one day when she can no longer handle the pain, she strikes her father in the head and sends him the hospital. She runs away to her aunt's house and only returns to pick up her things. Jessi decides she should go live with her grandmother who her herself is not financially stable or even knows Jessi is coming. Jessi then runs into a man named Lincoln Sturgis who will soon change her life forever. Lincoln is working in the movement, and tells he all about how it was about time that they got the same rights as the white people. He persuades Jessi into going with him to Greenwood to stay in a house set up for the movement people and surprisingly she goes. There, she meets a woman named Macon who inspires her and is a part of her new life. During the movement and all of Jessi's, Lincolns and the others involved in the movements hard work Jessi finds herself falling in love with Lincoln, who has already had his eyes set on her. But, conflict comes along when things between Jessi and Lincoln become more intimate. Her past strikes her; she has a secret and can never tell Lincoln because she is scared she might lose him if she did.
Over time, they are still together and Lincoln, who had written several plays, introduces Jessi to the acting world. She is a born actress and loves being on stage, but when the secret from her past affects her relationship again Jessi has trouble identifying fiction from reality. Macon, whom she had always admired, is a guide to her throughout the story. Macon, surviving breast cancer, has fought many struggles, as has Jessi. Another secret, between Jessi and someone she dislikes, that she hides from Lincoln becomes the final barrier that separates the two, and Jessi unwilling to share her struggle with Lincoln, makes Lincoln feel he has no choice but to leave and stay in L.A. Macon, is the only person throughout the whole story, besides family who already knew of her struggles, who she had told. Macon had been her light and the only person she felt she could be real to. Macon knew of her love of acting and was aware of her stage name, Pear Moon.
Time passes and Jessi only runs into Lincoln a few more times before the death of her father. Jessi finally returns home and reunites with her brothers and sister and most importantly, her mother. Her mother reveals the reasons why she had never stopped the abuse her father had done to her and reveals facts about how her father really felt about her.
Throughout the story Jessi's secret haunts her, it ruins her most powerful relationship with a man she loved, and ruins her ability to communicate with others. She was loosing herself and was afraid to take chances in order to progress in her acting abilities. Golden creates an atmosphere that captures the reader and locks then into this harsh time. Golden serves as not only a storyteller, but also a teacher, and tells this story from as absolutely different perspective. Golden goes inside the mind of workers in the movement, not only people being hurt and killed and shows readers the internal struggles of African Americans and others in the struggle. The Civil Rights Movement was no joke and was no easy, and Marita Golden poetically reassures all readers of this. I would recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate fine writing and can sympathize the hardships we face in the world.