A story of family secrets and taboos, No Pockets in a Shroud unfolds like a Chinese box, a story within a story. The core story involves two brothers in love with the same woman. In the first generation, the mother, Miss Magg, loved the younger brother, Tigter Godbolt. However, an insecrure orphan, Miss magg wound up marrying the older staid brother, Reverend Godbolt, for secuity. Irnonically, years later, the daughter, Nefertiti, also marries the brother who was her parents' 'pick,' as the original love triangle is mirrored in the next generation.
--This text refers to an alternate
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From the Author
The story is a vivid portrait of Reverend Godbolt's family and his forebears. The family's secrets set the stage for a profound and provocative debate about black identity and destiny in America's past and present. We see the saga of Reverend Godbolt, who has always ruled his family with a steel glove, and who is questioning his faith, near the end of his life. A secret has kept him from truly trusting his wife and even loving one of his children. We see his spirited daughter, Nefertiti, who harbors a secret of her own, which keeps her from being able to actualize as a woman. We have the love triangle of the two men who loved Nefertiti, Pharaoh Curry, her first lover, and Isaac Thorne, her first husband, who both are trying to win her back. This situation is compounded by Nefertiti's current interracial marriage. It was this last act of insurrection against the family's mores which has ex-communicated Nefertiti from her insular family for the seven years preceding her father's seventy-fifth birthday celebration. At the opening of the novel, Nefertiti has returned from Santa Monica, California to Shallow's Corner, Michigan. In her return as the prodigal minister's daughter, the scene is set, as past and present ghosts of hidden sins come home to roost.
Although the kernel of the story takes place from a Wednesday through a Sunday, the story is told out of sequence, in order to reflect the way that the memories of past regrets haunt the characters.
As the formerly owned chattel of white America, there seems to be a propensity among the characters in the novel to own people, places, things, (lucre). In one instance, this is exemplified where the character goes so far as to steal heir property from his brother. Throughout the Godbolt family's struggle for upward mobility, there co-exists the denial of their violent ancestral history, fraught with lynchings, murder and fratricide. The family's violence can be seen as a microcosm of the larger society, yet at the same time there is a kind of self-hatred turned inward, a social implosion of sorts, going on with the Godbolt family. The denial of their ancestral past reflects the denial of an entire nature of its historical past. That is, this country's refusal, one hundred years later, to deal with the lingering effects of the cancer of slavery.
The title and the theme are intertwined. The characters, in their search for wholeness, whether through materialism, classism or religion, lose sight of the main issue. Just as they will carry nothing out of the world with them when they die, they can not own one another's soul. They can only love one another freely. It is the ability to connect, therefore redeem, one another, which determines the success, or lack thereof, of the characters in the book.
In addition, through out the novel, there is an adoption search which operates on two levels as an allegory. The search of the Diaspora of Blacks for wholeness in America (in that they were torn from Mother Africa) is mirrored by the search of one of the characters for her family tree. The novel deals with the issue of adoption which often runs counter to African American culture due to the history of children being sold away from their mothers. At the same time, the struggles a mother faces who has given a child up for adoption faces, is universal. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
Dr. Maxine Thompson received an honorary doctorate in the humanities on 4-9-05 from Loyola Marymount University in Westwood, CA for her work in the literary arena. She has opened many doors once closed to African American authors through her literary services and her internet radio shows. She also owns her own radio station at Maxineshow.com. She is the author of The Ebony Tree, A Place Called Home, upcoming novella, Second Chances, Ebooks, The Hush Hush Secrets of Writing Fiction That Sells, The Hush Hush Secrets of Creating a Life You Love, and How to Promote, Market and Sell your Book Via Ebook Publishing.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Truth--- Naked and Uncovered,
By
This review is from: No Pockets in a Shroud (Paperback)
Like so many, I read Maxine Thompson's "The Ebony Tree" before "No Pockets In A Shroud." The characters, Jewel Shepard and others, took us on an emotional rollercoaster with leaps and bounds through shame, betrayal and secrets. However, I wanted to know what started this journey of disgrace. The answer is given in "No Pockets In A Shroud," the forerunner of "The Ebony Tree.""No Pockets In A Shroud" is the ultimate definition of ...."What's done in the dark will come out in the light." It is written with the boldness and tenacity that has become the signature for Maxine Thompson. Imagine Nefertitti, absent from her family because of her imagined shame. She returns only to find that she was the only one who didn't have a reason to be ashamed. This is 244 pages of fast-paced drama, with one secret after another being uncovered. You cry, you laugh, you challenge your own motives of keeping secrets. But, you will also wait at the bookstore for another riveting book from Maxine Thompson.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An inter-generational story of triumph!,
By
This review is from: No Pockets in a Shroud (Paperback)
One decision sets in motion a ripple that will affect a family for years, until finally a daughter is faced with the decision whether to break the chain, even at the expense of her own future. This book is deep, but written in a style that is easy to read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Pleased Reader,
By Pamela Guinn (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
This review is from: No Pockets in a Shroud (Paperback)
Maxine Thompson is an excellent storyteller for the new millinneum! I couldn't put this novel down. She draws you into her work of fiction immediately along with dropping tidbits of African American History that must be told. I must admit, I was still thinking of the people of Shallow Grove and their problems days after I finished reading. If this is a sample of Ms. Thompson's literary works, I can hardly wait for her future novels.
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