Customer Reviews

Mama Flora's Family : A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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At the center of Mama Flora's Family is the indomitable spirit of Mama Flora, the matriarch of an extraordinary family of destitute Tennessee sharecroppers. The characters are so real and believable it made this reader feel that I was right there with them experiencing all their trials and tribulations, as well as the joys. This book is much more than a poignant, hard-to-put-down story of a Mama Flora and her descendants from 1920 to the late 1990s. It, for the most part, effectively weaves into the plot much of what has transpired in American/African-American history during this time period (e.g., life for African-Americans in the South, the rise of the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, the Viet Nam war, political repression under Idi Amin, etc). Mama Flora's Family is a rich, resonant family novel that cuts across the barriers that divide us to touch the hearts of people of all races and backgrounds. I highly recommend this excellent, emotionally-packed posthumous novel written by David Stevens based on Alex Haley's notes and research.

This novel is one of the best I have read. Alex Haley and Stevens express a kind of compassion from a grandmother/mother that no one could do better. It's a very emotional book, and touches everyone that has ever experienced a good book. Once you start it, you can't put it down!

This book made you feel apart of it. I loved it! I loved the history, the story, the emotions and how it wove a story of a loving family working their way through life. This is a must read.

Pretend that there is a really good review here. I loved reading this novel. It is one that is vary hard to put down because you can't help wondering what is going to happen next.

I saw the movie first, and I was so happy to see Erika Alexander and Queen Latifah working together. Then years later, I decided to watch the movie again and then finally read the book. Usually you hear about people liking the book better than the movie, and considering the book is written by an incredibly talented storyteller (Alex Haley), I'm assuming the book is factual. So that makes me wonder why the screenwriter(s) for the movie wrote such a different reaction in some parts in the movie. In the book, Luke's first meeting with Mama Flora was warm and sweet. In the movie, it was cold and uncomfortable. There were other spots like this with Willie's children Don and Diana, and Ruthana going to Africa was completely excluded from the movie. I know a film has to be cut, but I actually liked certain people better in the movie than the book and vice versa. Luke was more of an afterthought in the book but a major force in the movie.

I think if I'd read the book first and then watched the book, I might've not liked the movie as much because there seemed to be false information. Now whether the information really was false to make the movie more exciting or excluded from the book due to editorial changes I couldn't tell you. I liked the book and the movie, but if you're looking for one to mirror the other, you're going to mentally start counting moments that don't match. The most disappointing part for me was I thought Flora was annoying, unnecessarily mean to Ruthana, catty to Pearl and way too submissive to folks who she did laundry jobs for. In the movie, she was much stronger and more likable.

With that said, the story of Mama Flora's childhood, teenage years and adulthood and the challenges she went through with plantation owners, children, her parents, her grandparents and love were fascinating.

It was a wonderful story if you loved roots and queen you will love this book.I can't beleive David Stevens wrote this book from Alex Haley's notes. Wonderful. Can't express in words.Just read it.

the book came looking brand new.
delivery was very fast. the book
was wrapped for protection. thanks so much
for making my day a happy one. harold wright

Reading this book is like cozying up with a warm blanket. The authors provide so much detail that you feel like YOUR grandmother is sitting in front of you, recounting the tales. The book spans the decades, from the early 1900s to the late 1970s and throws in a bit of history/current events to place the family's hostory in context. Great book!

this book was well structured the writer stuck to his focus.i shared everything with this family in the book because i toohave gone through similiar times like these in life. it was one of the most heart warming stories i've read in a long time and the best part is that mama-flora did'nt die in the book.... thank you alex for another job well done,.

I am an avid reader; this is one of the best books I have read in a long time!!!To write this novel from notes is great!!! It is a book for all races to read and enjoy and perhaps most of all learn from.