Customer Reviews

Flesh and the Devil

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had the pleasure of listening to Kola Boof's interview on KPFK radio in Los Angeles yesterday and I went down to ESO WON books and bought a copy of "Flesh and the Devil" and read it in one night. It's sublime.

I was not familiar with West African culture to this extent previously, but after reading this book and after hearing Queen Kola talk about her life, I consider myself truly intrigued and infatuated with her. The book does have some grammatical errors in the text that I thought were too large to overlook, so I gave it four stars for that reason. However, this novel about Shane and RooAmber is a riveting and beautiful story about black lovers and about the beauty and worth of Africans and African-Americans as a people in general. I enjoyed the way Kola Boof writes her "love scenes" in particular and I thought she is very bold the way she writes about men. The color complex was touched on unsparingly and I applaud her for being brave enough to do that. I look forward to more of Kola Boof's work.

DANCING IN THE LAND OF DREAMS.
Out of the blue, a daringly provocative new voice.

Now that we've passed the year 2000, it's time for us lovers of Black literature to begin considering that our old favorites like Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison will soon no longer be with us, that they will become LEGENDS and that it will be time for new voices and new faces to inherit the runner's baton and carry literature into the next century.

This is the SECOND TIME that I've read and reviewed "Flesh and the Devil", but I just have to reiterate that one of the most magical and unexpected of those new voices is the gifted and totally original African beauty from Sudan, KOLA BOOF.

I can't say enough about the beauty and wonder I experienced while traveling the worlds within "Flesh and the Devil". The book is nothing less than astounding, an artifact of one unique author's belief in true love, in the power of heritage and tradition and in the humanity of black folks. Not since "Song of Solomon" have I felt so touched and swept up in the odyssey of such a passionate story and such larger than life characters. And topping it all off is the braven audaciousness of its regal author---her breasts bare as she poses like an ancient African Goddess on the back cover of the book. Her smile literally blessing and welcoming the reader, to know themselves.

The book is life affirming and needed.

Some writers make RAIN. Some writers just whine about the weather.

Kola Boof is a rainmaker.

REVIEW/5 stars
FLESH AND THE DEVIL by KOLA BOOF

Shaking my head. Astounded.

I didn't expect to like this book after I saw the author TOPLESS on the back cover. Maybe, I have to admitt, I am not used to African type images like that. But the minute I started reading the book, I was just blown away.

This book is so hard to describe. It's a ROMANCE love story covering thousands of years and it's extremely rare, because it convincingly depicts a Black Man and a Black Woman being DEEPLY in love. Their relationship is nothing like what we have here in America TWEEN brothers and sisters. The book also makes you think of "dark black" beauty in a whole new way, because it magically describes the way black people's hair, noses, lips and bodies look to African people without WHITE MEDIA conditioning.

For that alone, I would like to see every black person in America read this book. The story was good, the writing is very poetic and unpredictable, the author is more interesting in real life than any of her books and the book actually has a happy ending--although I didn't like the ending.

I give it 5 stars for just literally blowing me away. Kola Boof also has a book called "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin" and a poetry collection called "Nile River Woman". I have not read them all the way through, but I have read enough of them to know that she is like--TOTALLY MAJOR in the next generation. She is so much more than just a writer. She is like an activist who is speaking for the Black Women of the world, especially the DARK SKINNED dark women.

FLESH AND THE DEVIL
A Novel By Kola Boof/Reviewed by Patrick Wolmar
(*****) FIVE STARS

[...]
The story begins as the planet earth is being created by a war between the Sea and the Sky and in order to create land, so that they can "touch"--the Sky and Sea throw one of the two moons down to earth and out of that comes Africa and our eternal lovers, Shango Ogun and Princess Ife Ife.

The author brilliantly weaves their journey through thousands of years of passionate love and tragic circumstances as they battle to be together and to overcome the forces of a curse that the moon has put on mankind. What I loved about the story was that the Moon was such a believable villain (raping Namibia and making her pregnant with the first WHITE baby). The twists and turns of the African portion of the novel, the first half, were my favorite because Boof writes so beautifully and poetically about life, love and tragedy in Africa. She also sets up this historical novel's powerful storyline by showing you exactly what led to "slavery" and how the Africans both fought against it and sold out to it. Kofi Hoodi (a King) and King Katanga (who opposes slavery) are brilliantly etched portraits that set the stage for Queen Ambi (keeper of the bees) to camp it up and be a symbol of black women's strength, beauty and earthiness. I L-O-V-E-ed me some Queen Ambi, especially when she led her people into battle against the whites.

The sad part that was hard to get through was the slavery scenes when the Europeans tricked the coastal Africans and took over their lands. This had some gut-wrenching scenes that made me cry, especially the enslavement of Mother Iyanla and her grandson.

Skip to 1993

The book picks up as all the Africans from the first half are now African Americans, mostly living in Washington, D.C.

The ill fated African lovers, Shane and RooAmber, who were both jet black chocolate in the first half---are now light brite yellow and struggling with racial identity. Both are married to white people (although a secret later on reveals that one of them aint so white as we thought). The writing in this portion becomes slicker and more commercial or let me put it this way---reading the first half of the novel was like reading Gloria Naylor or Toni Morrison, but the second half is like reading Terry McMillan AT HER VERY BEST. Shane's white wife Rosaria is especially off the hook. A superior, colorstruck "Puerto Rican" CAUCASIAN (OK???), but Kola Boof is such a good writer that she still makes you feel and care about Rosaria, because some major tragedy strikes and she can't stand losing her husband to a black woman (RooAmber, who turns his world upside down, even though she tried to resist cheating on her White husband).

The second half sounds like a soap opera, but it's not. The social issues that Boof raises and the powerful way inwhich her characters come to grips with love, heritage and responsibility is rich enough--but when SULA JONES'S character takes off at the end and presents a vision of the future for black people and black love, the book becomes pure masterpiece IMO. I loved it. It's the kind of book that makes you believe in love again, it makes you proud to be black, and for those of us who are "GAY", there's even a strong gay presence in the book, both in ancient Africa and in the present, culminating at the end with a "gay wedding". THAT groundbreaking fact is why I gave Miss Kola the whole five stars, because she definitely takes risks with this story and when it comes to a passionate, hot, sexy BLACK love story---she delivers big time.

I got nothing but praise for this book. It's totally unpredictable and totally beautiful.

At the beginning of the world, the Sky and Sea have a war that creates land and the first two people on earth, GOD (man) and Ajowa (goddess of love). From there--ITS ON. The nation of Africa rises up from their love and two powerful empires are formed that set the base for a Romeo and Juliet set of "moon" crossed lovers who actually have to fight against the MOON itself, who is raping women and killing people. It's a trip, but it's really really good. Then after all the exciting love, drama and grand history of Africa--the book and the characters switch to modern Washington D.C. where the African Prince and Princess are now African-Americans and married to white people. By a twist of fate they meet at work and begin having unbearable desire for each other (the SEXLOVESEXLOVESEX in this book is off the hook!). Shane's wife is not just white, she's a real demon in a beautiful body and she uncovers her true face while trying to do everything to stop RooAmber from taking her husband. It's not as "soap-opery" as it sounds, though. A lot of the book deals with major political issues and I got the feeling that there is the underlying theme of "skin color" and "shade" prejudice running all through the book. The GOOD THING is that every shade of black beauty is covered in this amazing book from the darkest black African princess to RooAmber who is persecuted for having green eyes and yellow skin--by her "lightskinned" Mama no less!!! The book is really a surprise to me, mainly because I had never heard of Kola Boof until one of my Professors at Spelman was talking about her work. I read the reviews at Amazon and quickly ordered this book. I am just too impressed. It was worth every penny and I hope the rumor is true that Beyonce is going to star in a movie based on this book with Angela Bassett playing Queen Ambi, because that would be the greatest love story every made and the black community--both male and female-- could really get into this.

This is a tie with J.California Cooper's book "Some Place, Some Other People" for the Best Book of 2004.

I put everything on that.

I read this book and was left in awe due to its purity and truth. It touched my core of self and affirmed who I am -a black woman.
Black america wake up! we need to know who and whose we are before we disappear altogether. Kola reminds us to "remember" our beautiful beginnings and to stand up for the black woman, the mother of all things noble and virtuous.
If you want to learn something and be shocked out of numbness- read this story.

Is this the best book I have ever read in my life?

I almost want to say yes. It's so beautiful and passionate to me that I have now read it three times. The layers of the story and the idea that these characters could very well be my ancestors in the old world, while the new characters in the second half reminded me so much of myself and family right now today, was just too much to get over. I cannot get over this book!

It is a love story, but like all Kola Boof work it explores so much more than just romance. It tells about our race, our origins, our beliefs and why we are truly lost. I understand that now from reading this book. This book is possessed or something. Kola Boof is a black magic woman. Not a dull page.

From the first 80 pages of "Flesh and the Devil" I thought I was reading a page turner that I wouldn't want to put down but then the book just took a huge nose dive after that, the characters became less developed and the story just tanked. It was as if Kola had used all the good material on the beginning and ran out of steam before the book was even half way through.

Needless to say by the end of the book I was very disappointed and felt cheated considering all the rave reviews the book had gotten.

If you're thinking of spending your hard earned money on this book DON'T...if you really must read this book I suggest you wait for it to hit your local library that way you can keep your money in your pocket.

This book is a banquet I needed to eat in several sittings. The opening mythology made me so sad I cried. I remembered that African centered fairy tale reality as if I had dreamed it myself. Her telling of the creation story made me happy, and then I cried again. I always have difficulty reading about the cruelties of slavery, white man to black man and man to woman; so again, when the story came to that part I had to put the book down. I let that course digest. The modern incarnations of the female and male leads in this journey of many lifetimes, was most foreign to me. If you are of African descent and have pursued some form of Afro centric consciousness raising. Plus you no longer or never have lived in urban ghettos, no longer watch commercial television and mass market films, like me; you have no awareness of the pitiful state of affairs of the consciousness of most African Americans. You have long ago recognized the poison of the brainwashing of colonialism and race. You want to vomit it up, like the reaction of one of the characters in the story. But I held it down and ate more. When I finished the book I was left with a full but uncomfortable feeling. I thought, if only we could nourish our bodies with this meal and then evacuate the toxins that Kola Boof has shown not to be good for growing strong healthy bodies and minds; we would know how to give birth to and feed our children.

I have to say that this book was one of the best books that I have read in a long time. Not only were her words powerful, but her over all abilty to pull you into the story. This book is only for people who are willing to know the truth.