Neecey's Lullaby: A novel [Paperback]

Cris Burks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2006

The story of a girl tempered in a crucible of abuse and neglect, Neecey’s Lullaby is a superbly crafted narrative in the spirit of the bestselling novels Push and Bastard Out of Carolina.

Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s, Neecey once felt that her world was perfect. She was loved and protected by her father, Jesse, and lived in relative comfort with her mother, Ruby, her grandmother, Ma ’Dear, and her siblings. But when Ruby and Jesse’s marriage falls apart due to Jesse’s cheating ways and Ruby’s hot temper, the children are eventually abandoned by their father and end up living in poverty in a housing project.

Ruby plunges into depression and anger, yelling at and hitting her children without warning. Ruby brings shiftless suitors into her home and gives them her body and her time, leaving Neecey to learn on her own how to cook and care for her five younger siblings, some mere babies. Yet despite the trauma, Neecey’s love for her sisters and brother, and ultimately herself, helps her find the inner strength to succeed.

Cris Burks has created a poignant portrait of a child who strives to soar above a world of pain.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Burks's unflinching, precisely observed story of a girl's will to survive her hopeless surroundings—a Chicago home ravaged by poverty, abuse and neglect—follows Neecey from her childhood in the mid 1950s to her early 20s, in 1973. Burks recounts a bleak coming-of-age for Neecey, beginning with the dissolution of her parents' marriage. The sudden appearance of a man claiming to be her real father sets in motion the philandering of her de facto father, Jesse, and the jealous rages of her mother, Ruby. In a broken home ruled by Ruby's fists and extension cord lashings, self-sacrificing Neecey assumes an adult role as surrogate mother to her younger siblings, whose numbers grow from three to five as Ruby barters her body for male comfort. Giving predatory lovers free range over her home while leaving Neecey to cook and care for the children, Ruby displays a destructive self-absorption unmitigated by any sense of responsibility to her family. While Burks (SilkyDreamGirl) skillfully charts Neecey's struggles in a bleak urban landscape, she demonizes Ruby, placing a two-dimensional character at the core of an otherwise moving second novel. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Family secrets drive the action in this heartbreaking story of abuse, betrayal, forgiveness, and sibling love. Growing up in a packed tenement on Chicago's South Side in the early 1950s, Neecey, seven, is so happy to be her loving daddy's little girl. But then she discovers he is not her daddy. He disappears; her mom, Ruby, takes in a succession of lovers; and before Neecey is even a teenager, she finds herself mother/guardian of all her younger sisters and brothers, protecting them from Ruby's abuse and neglect and from the predatory men in the house. The violence, verbal and physical, is constant. But so is the loving kindness, achingly expressed ("You always did see good even when there was none," Daddy tells Neecey). Yet there is absolutely no sentimentality. Neecey tries desperately to get away and make a life for herself; the helpful relatives are overbearing; the kind teacher makes things worse; the welfare system is cruel. Best of all is the plot, with surprises that turn out to be not surprising at all. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (March 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767919831
• ISBN-13: 978-0767919838
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #907,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cris earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Columbia College where she taught fiction writing for more than seven years. She considers herself a Chicagoan although she was born in Mississippi and has lived in several states including Ohio and South Dakota. Currently she resides in Sacramento, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very moving story, April 5, 2006

By 

Grown and sexy (Fort Washington, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Neecey's Lullaby: A novel (Paperback)

This was my first novel by Ms. Burks so I took a chance on purchasing this book as I wanted to explore a new author. She brings the readers right into the lives of the characters. This book was not only moving but thought provoking. Child abuse will fester and continue to grow unless the cycle is broken. Neecy grows up all too fast out of the need to parent her siblings as her parents lack the strenght or skills to raise children. Great Read!!! Looking forward to you next book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My soul was fed, April 4, 2006

By 

tsharenee "happiness" (Chicago, Il USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neecey's Lullaby: A novel (Paperback)

After reading 'Neecey's Lullaby', I sat for some time. This book is a true example of survival. To live through the things and still believe that there is good in the world and others is an incredible testament to the human spirit. Cris Burks captured my attention from the dedication page.... "Our past does not control us." That one sentence alone changed my perception of many, many things. This book was well written and a must read. I felt Neecey's pain, and rooted for her all the way. After reading this book I passed it on to my daughter, though only a teenager, and she too was touched. I am waiting for the next book. Cris Burks has a fan for life.

L. R. Thomas

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Job Cris Burks!, February 2, 2007

By 

MUA&epicbooklover "Angel" (fromChiTown in NWI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neecey's Lullaby: A novel (Paperback)

I can't believe there are such few comments! This was a GREAT read! Neecey's Lullaby was a raw,emotional and entertaining read. Once I started I had to finish just to know how things would end up for her and her family.The character's in this novel are easy to relate to-I reccomend this book to any and everyone...Enjoy!