8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Identity Crisis, August 18, 2011
This review is from: If Sons, Then Heirs: A Novel (Hardcover)
First of all, I would like to say that I'm a big fan of Lorene Cary. I was reading her work early on, and have recommended her over the years to many people who had never heard of her. That said, If Sons then Heirs was a good book, but not a great one. What's good: well defined and admirable (but not perfect) main characters that the reader can really cheer for. The novel also provides positive representations of the black family without being unrealistic or overly romantic. The happy ending is a great bonus. That said, this is a hybridized novel: it's not an epic family novel spanning generations, nor is it entirely a modern-day novel. Cary tried to incorporate elements of both, and it didn't work for me. The majority of the characters in the Needham family (and there are a lot of them) exist only in people's memories or in conversation, making things very confusing. As a reader, it's hard for me to care about characters who really don't participate in the action. The flashbacks attempt to provide some explanation, but often add to the confusion instead. The central conflict of sorting out the land's ownership is resolved quickly (and a little too neatly) in just a few pages at the end of the book, and the secondary issue of assisting the elderly family matriarch is left murky. Another minor problem for me is the profanity. I avoid the currently popular urban fiction genre for this reason and found it mostly unnecessary. This story would have worked much better as an epic novel. That way the reader could have developed a relationship with all the characters and dramatic irony could have been used in Rayne's fact finding mission. I would recommend it, but not as strongly as the author's previous work.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read, May 10, 2011
This review is from: If Sons, Then Heirs: A Novel (Hardcover)
This was a great read. The characters were so real, that I found myself thinking about them as if they were people that I actually knew. The author does an amazing job of drawing the reader into their thoughts, conflicts, and emotions. I also loved how she merged historical events with the present day. I have never written a review before, but I loved this book so much that I felt compelled to do so. I also lent this book to my mother, who never reads, but she could not put it down. It is one of those rare books that is so good that you are torn between reading it all in one sitting or pacing yourself, because you don't want it to end.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Land And The Family Are One, July 22, 2011
This review is from: If Sons, Then Heirs: A Novel (Hardcover)
IF SONS THEN HEIRS A NOVEL by LORENE CARY
A NOVEL
"If we know that the past also lies in the present, we understand that we are able to change the past by transforming the present."
From Philadelphia to South Carolina I followed this Family saga. At each turn of the page a character would leap on my heart and turn it upside down whether for good or bad. There is Nana Selma. She is Rayne's grandmother. Although dealing with the physical hardships of aging, the land remains uppermost in her mind. In her mind the land is the place where family can come whenever they need to retreat from the rat race in the big cities of the North. The land is to be their fortress. Each character, Jewel, Lillie, Jones, Bobo, King and all of the other characters, named and unnamed, are striving to survive life. . The hostile and sometimes brutal past is a part of a family's daily present. There are murders, beatings, raging fires and the ugly mad man lynching treated as a sport to act out hatred. Also, there is the need to fall back on "passing" even if the shame causes denial. There is interracial marriage. Whatever happens historically or in the present community is as real as the voice from the silent past. For example, there is Claude McKay's poem.
"If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!"
However, through all the ups and downs there is unconditional love cycling back and forth to cleanse and forgive the ugly sinful pass. Thank goodness because Khalil is in need of this restoration. He is one of the next generation. He is Jewel's little boy. He is loved deeply by Jewel's Rayne, although Khalil is not his biological son. Nana Selma sees Khalil as her biological grandson. She nicknames him and makes him feel at home while he is down south far from his Philly home. Nana Selma gives Khalil nicknames: Muffin Man, Cornbread, etc. Giving a nickname is Nana Selma's way of gathering Khalil into her fold. He has been adopted. He is an heir. She is his shepherdess. Khalil is a symbol of hope for the innocent. If he falls, there are so many loving arms to pick him up again.
There is Jewel. She is a brave mother and daughter unafraid to go back and find again whom she gave up. There is Rayne, her son. He chooses whether to give up the ghosts of the past and hear the voice in the present speaking like the music from a cello. He has never forgotten that voice.
"One time he had heard a cello concerto on the Temple University station....and the instrument had so reminded him of that voice that he had had to walk out."
In IF SONS THEN HEIRS by LORENE CARY, the North and the South become characters. The land is punctured with emotions running hot and unstable very thirsty for rain water. It is the land which will broaden and widen the dimensions of each person. From the land comes the promise.
[...]
[...]
"On this land, they'd been talking, but not living, the spirit of adoption for generations: If son, then heirs."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
