Her [Paperback]

Cherry Muhanji (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995

novel set in 50s/60s Civil Rights era Detroit

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A latecomer to writing, Muhanji speaks of a down-and-out life intensely observed. Set in the early 1960s, her first novel concerns Southern black women out of place in Detroit. Sunshine (alias Kali) is the pregnant "high-yellah" child Brother marries: "Momma's baby , Daddy's maybe ," in the words of her mother-in-law. She stares out the "marriage room" window, watching the day world turn at night into a prostitute-filled strip, familiar bodies hiding beneath strange garments. Muhanji gives us brief, sympathetic glimpses into more characters than can be kept track of, alternating between day and night, past and present. The lyrical, image-filled sentences are beautiful in themselves, but the sketchy narrative continually shifts focus, and only in the last 50 pages are connections made. Although temporarily engrossing, this ambitious book finally tries the reader's patience.
-Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"Houses collect things: old newspapers, junk mail - Her. She had come under cover of night, a stowaway with Brother's child tucked in the bottom of her belly. He had stuck his Alabama dirt farmer finger in her Dee-troit urban-ghetto Ford Motor Company hi-yellah hole and she had went from somewhere to nowhere, somehow." From the opening sentence, Her is a novel whose words refuse to be constrained by the boundaries of its pages. Like jazz that reaches out to both heart and gut, it is deep, throaty and rich; its language and characters wail, leap, glide and moan as Cherry Muhanji describes Detroit in the late 1950s and in particular a place called John R. Street. During the day John R. is filled with black women on their way to clean white women's houses and black men going to the factory where "The metal would roll out as they 'picked' their way through the field of Henry Ford's new invention - the assembly line." At night, the neon lights come on and John R. is "the strip" - full of nightclubs, pimps, hookers, female impersonators, and cruising johns. Whether day or night, John R. Street and its inhabitants are painfully, angrily, vibrantly alive, fighting a world that prefers light skin over dark, heterosexuality over homosexuality, money over spirit. From a central core of strong women characters, Cherry Muhanji experiments and elaborates, playing variations, solos, and combinations up and down the register. Her creation is both eye-opening and sensual. -- 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 Erica Bauermeister

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Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Aunt Lute Books (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879960028
• ISBN-13: 978-1879960022
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,688,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Characters I Could Care less about..., June 20, 2010

By 

thatnew09 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Her, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book initially seemed like it would be a great read. It promised black lesbian characters/story set in a different time (the late-50s/early 1960s...I'm not sure why the previous reviewer said early 1900s/1920s Harlem Renaissance). In actuality any lesbian content could be compiled into about 2-3 pages out of the entire book (which was a disappointment for me). Further none of the characters, including the main character Sunshine/Kali, were likable. The author did not make me feel for any of them, except perhaps briefly at the very end.

To the author's credit it was well written, though the multiple storylines that did not come together until the end got annoying.

2.0 out of 5 stars Complex image of black life in the early 1900s, January 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Her (Paperback)

This book is not "Color Purple" or "Harlem Nights": anybody that is trying to read a simple narrative about black lesbians or the Renaissance will not find it here. Muhanji's characters come from various race, gender, and sexuality backgrounds. This book has twists and turns that may surprise those not up for the challenge of this reading. I didn't particularly love this novel, but I do think Muhanji has talent and will go places one day.