Fifth Born: A Novel [Hardcover]

Zelda Lockhart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2002

When Odessa Blackburn is three years old, she sees her grandmother for the last time, and so begins her story as the fifth born of eight children in a troubled family. Molested by her father, Odessa is also the sole witness to a murder he commits. Her mother guards both secrets and joins her husband in ostracizing their fifth born from the rest of her siblings.

As Odessa grows, so do her troubles. She ultimately separates herself from her parents and siblings into a new reality that prompts memory and revelation. Her choices for survival provoke an outcome that will forever alter the carefully maintained lies of her childhood.

Zelda Lockhart's Fifth Born is lyrically written, poignant and powerful in its exploration of how secrets can tear families apart and unravel people's lives. Set in rural Mississippi and St. Louis, Missouri, "Fifth Born" is a story of loss and redemption, as Odessa walks away from those who she believes to be her kin to discover the meaning of family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Mississippi and Missouri in the 1970s, this strong debut novel tackles harrowing if familiar themes of family violence and abuse. As the fifth child in a family of eight siblings, Odessa Blackburn sees herself as the "invisible middle" of her family. Sexually abused by her alcoholic father early in life and then again in late childhood, Odessa feels herself pushed away by her enabling mother and alienated by her own siblings, each of whom has a different strategy for coping with the family dysfunction. As Odessa grows up, she learns that her mother is having an affair with her father's older brother, Leland, and when her father learns of it and murders Leland, Odessa is the only witness. Unable to tell anyone what she's seen or about her own molestations, Odessa turns inward to memories of the one person who has ever shown her any real love: her grandmother, whose funeral opens the book. Odessa discovers a message in her grandmother's Bible that sheds some light on the intergenerational anguish of her family: "I lived in fear so much I couldn't show you any love." As Odessa begins her quest for a haven, she finds a long-lost relative who is also the "fifth born" and plays an important role in helping her rediscover her sense of trust. First-time author Lockhart, student of bestselling author Dorothy Allison, paints a disturbing portrait of childhood sexual abuse and its repercussions, and the strain alcoholism places on a family. While little new territory is covered here from a literary standpoint, Lockhart's narrative is straightforward and lyrical, Odessa's voice is believable and the evolution of her character in the face of overwhelming alienation is as engaging as it is heartbreaking.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Odessa is the fifth of what will eventually be eight children in the highly dysfunctional Blackburn family. She is three years old when her grandmother dies and the last shred of joy goes out of her life. The Blackburns have family ties both in a small town in Mississippi, their place of origin, and in St. Louis, where many family members have journeyed in the mostly fruitless hope of finding a better life. Their father drinks too much and terrorizes the children with his boundless, violent temper. Their mother is an ineffectual woman who makes up stories to explain away injuries and mishaps, stories that become part of family lore and skew the reality of their lives. After her mother, Odessa takes the brunt of much of the brutality, ever shrinking inside herself until she slowly learns the long-held family secrets that underlie the violence. Lockhart's first novel is evocative of Toni Morrison's Bluest Eye in its sensitive portrayal of a young girl trapped in family violence, damaged by brutality, and longing for love. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Atria (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743412656
• ISBN-13: 978-0743412650
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PAINFUL, POIGNANT, AND POWERFUL, September 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fifth Born: A Novel (Hardcover)

I knew I was in for an intense journey by the book cover and the book blurb, but I had no idea how much this story would take me up and refuse to let me go.

It has been a while since I experienced such agony for a character while reading a book. The last time I can recall was when I was reading "Push" by Sapphire. Then, as now, I wanted life to get better for the main character with every paragraph I read. I wanted all the 'bad' people to go away and for the love she so deserved, to arrive. But "Fifth Born" is no fairytale. It's the story of a little black girl name Odessa and the horrors of her family's past. A past that makes her an innocent victim, but too, a past that will ultimately set her free.

Ms. Lockhart had written a stunning debut. I finished the book an hour ago and I am still breathless by it. A thousand times I wanted to reach into the pages and rescue Odessa. I wanted to do away with her 'deddy' and shake up her mother. I wanted to bring back her dead grandmother, the only person whom she felt really loved her. This is what a great book does--it makes you reaction strongly and intensely. Ms. Lockhart had crafted an intimate, heartbreaking story, one that I will not soon forget.

Margaret Johnson-Hodge
Author of "True Lies"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Painful and Poignant!, December 8, 2002

By 

Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fifth Born: A Novel (Hardcover)

Fifth Born is the heart-wrenching debut saga of Odessa Blackburn, the fifth born child to verbally and physically abusive parents, in the tenements of St. Louis, MO. From as far back as she can remember, she has treaded lightly and second-guessed her moves to be the good, obedient child who seeks the love and approval of her parents. However, chaos and neglect reign supreme in the Blackburn household. Her father, an alcoholic and incestuous pedophile, nearly blinds Odessa in one eye during a drunken stupor and ultimately molests Odessa and other female members of the household whenever her mother is absent. Sadly, her mother discovers the incident and does nothing.

Throughout Odessa's young life, she sporadically gets encouragement from a teacher, an older sister, an uncle, and the belief in her deceased grandmother's unconditional love for her. She learns hard lessons but eventually becomes more self-reliant, self-assured, and starts to exhibit some traits of self-love. The salvation to her dark and painful existence comes from an unlikely source in an unexpected ending. She discovers that her search for truth was not in vain and it is a liberating reward for her lifelong quest. Lockhart's writing style reminds me of Alice Walker's - it is intense and pointed, but this new author has a unique voice all her own. A great debut novel!

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO Bookclub, Nubian Circle Book Club

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No child should go through this., October 3, 2006

By 

Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Carolinas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fifth Born: A Novel (Paperback)

`Fifth Born' held my attention from cover to cover! This story drew out a series of emotions; it evoked compassion for this child, and brought forth an inevitable---necessary indignation for her plight that was as intimate as if it were your very own. I felt the pain she suffered at the hands of her family.

Odessa Blackburn is a brown-skinned angel who's struggling to find her way after the death of her grandma. No one chooses her family, but Odessa's takes the cake. Her "Deddy" is a strong-willed drunk who can hardly stand the sight of her and subjects her to abuses he can't even remember. Her Mama is too busy birthing babies and appeasing Deddy to worry about what happens to her fifth born. An older sister, Towanda, and a cousin, Gretal, are the only ones who offer Odessa comfort through her suffering. But, soon, as she matures, she'll discover a new identity and a new love that she'd never known existed. Odessa exemplifies the strength of the human spirit and a drive to survive even in the midst of what seems to be insuperable odds and circumstance.

Lockhart's writing style reminds me of Alice Walker's - it is intense and pointed, but she has a unique voice all her own. She didn't attempt to tell a pretty, fairy tale story and some of the subject matter might be disturbing to some readers. But, truth is truth and everyone needs a dose of reality and all the ugly things in society that we try to hide from. This is a great novel that comes highly recommend.