Gorilla, My Love [Hardcover]

Toni Cade Bambara (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1972

In these fifteen superb stories, written in a style at once ineffable and immediately recognizable, Toni Cade Bambara gives us compelling portraits of a wide range of unforgettable characters, from sassy children to cunning old men, in scenes shifting between uptown New York and rural North CaroLina. A young girl suffers her first betrayal. A widow flirts with an elderly blind man against the wishes of her grown-up children. A neighborhood loan shark teaches o white social worker a lesson in responsibility. And there is more. Sharing the world of Toni Cade Bambara's "straight-up fiction" is a stunning experience.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Starting with "A Sort of Preface," Toni Cade Bambara lets her readers know for sure that the fifteen superb stories that follow are not autobiographical fiction "cause the minute the book hits the stand here comes your mama screamin how could you and sighin death where is thy sting..." Most of the stories are told in the resonant voices of a young women with views. "My Man Bovanne" is an affectionate story about blind and aging love. "The Hammer Man" tells the girl's side of the story in her fight with Manny, who "was supposed to be crazy. That was his story. To say you were bad put some people off. But to say you were crazy, well you were officially not to be messed with." "Raymond's Run" tells how twelve-year-old Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker - a girl with "a big rep as the baddest thing around" - takes care of her big brother Raymond and beats Gretchen P. Lewis in the 50-yard dash. In "Mississippi Ham Rider" an aspiring young reporter from New York - called, "in the third person absentular," a "high-yaller Northern bitch" trying "to hit on evil old Ham" - tries to interview and tape an old southern blues guitar player. In resplendent and affectionate language, Toni Cade Bambara writes "straight-up fiction" with the powerful and lasting force of good strong love. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

In these fifteen superb stories, written in a style at once ineffable and immediately recognizable, Toni Cade Bambara gives us compelling portraits of a wide range of unforgettable characters, from sassy children to cunning old men, in scenes shifting between uptown New York and rural North CaroLina. A young girl suffers her first betrayal. A widow flirts with an elderly blind man against the wishes of her grown-up children. A neighborhood loan shark teaches o white social worker a lesson in responsibility. And there is more. Sharing the world of Toni Cade Bambara's "straight-up fiction" is a stunning experience. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 177 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394482018
• ISBN-13: 978-0394482019
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,902,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Here we are . . . the Johnson girls.", May 8, 2004

By 

M. Emery "michaeleme" (MO, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gorilla, My Love (Hardcover)

The posted reviews make clear that students are being asked to read this book at too young an age. I teach the book to my college students, and they too struggle with the stories, which are sometimes puzzling. At a first go-through, the reader is in the position of the two Northerners in "Mississippi Ham Rider," who go down South to interview a famous blues singer and get tested by locals who won't make the task of locating the singer easy. In fact, the book teaches you how to read it as you move through it. Rarely has a collection of stories been more tightly unified and balanced. The stories vary point of view, and do not reflect the perspective of one person, although some characters come back in various stories.

Perhaps the hardest one in the book is the title story ("Gorilla, My Love"). Here the author uses a difficult stream-of-consciousness style to convey the mental condition of Hazel, a young girl heartbroken to learn that her uncle ("Hunca Bubba") is not going to marry her like he promised he would. Hazel innocently believed that that when you say something, you stick by it. The point of view initially obscures the problem Hazel has, but finally reveals it: she hasn't grown up yet. Bambara introduces difficult flows of thought and unclear words into the story to confuse the reader and make her feel like Hazel does. Thus the reader identifies with the character just by reading the story. (By the way, the film Hazel sees named "Gorilla, My Love" is about the crucifixion of Jesus, and it has no gorilla in it--which is exactly the point: you often don't get what you expect out of life, but must take what it gives and work with it.)

The strongest stories here are "My Man Bovanne," "Gorilla, My Love," "Raymond's Run," "The Hammer Man," "The Lesson" (my personal favorite), and the final story, "The Johnson Girls," which pulls the themes of the book together when Gail stands up and says that as a group, all the women can come up with "a sure-fire program" to help one of them win back the man she wants. That's the author's ultimate message: in isolation we lose out, but together there is nothing we can't accomplish. Of course, Bambara is right.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How a young, streetsmart black girl sees city life, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gorilla, My Love (Paperback)

Bambara's short-story gems are invaluable for letting us look at the world from the view of someone who is more often seen ( and scorned) than heard. This all-too-often ignored narrator is that nameless, smart-ass lower-class girl who is intelligent but limited in her exposure to life.

Bambara seduces us into not only liking these annoying scamps but in seeing that their view of the world can teach us a lot about race, economic injustice, the hidden riches of the 'ghetto' and the sterility of money-obsessed bourgeois culture.

Her stories must be read by everyone--the haves and the have-nots --particularly young black kids who have never connected to school, to reading and are at risk of dropping out. She gives them characters to relate to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A favorite!, October 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Gorilla, My Love (Paperback)

There are beautiful stories in this highly recommended book. The title story and "My Man Bovanne" are two favorites. Poignant, funny, sad, inspiring, these stories are destined to be American classics. Buy this book!