Customer Reviews

Playing My Mother's Blues

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This powerful new novel by Valerie offers an examination of family torn apart. The Mother, Maria, leaves the man she married too young and never loved leaving behind her daughters,
Dani, who was seven and Rose at seventeen, for another man she does love. An unforgiving man heads this family as the Father, and he has nothing but hatred for Maria. Her new romance ends tragically and she fears she is forever lost to the daughters she loves.

Without understanding and forgiveness will the sins of the Mother (and the Father) forever cause a deep unhappiness in the lives of the girls? Dani is married with a son and Rose, who never marries and agrees with her father about the evil person her Mother was, go on with their lives but can they ever really find true happiness and peace?

The story is superbly told with flashbacks which dramatically allow the readers to gain insight about what really happened to Maria one night that permanently changed her life.

Wonderfully written, you will not want to put it down!

Dani and Rose have long lived with the knowledge that their mother deserted the family to be with her lover, a move that had disastrous results. Neither have heard from Maria in many, many years. But the death of their father Hilton unearths not only their long-lost mother, but secrets that shake the foundations of several different relationships....

Dani is aware that husband Chance has been unfaithful to her in the past. But she made a conscious decision to make their marriage work despite the infidelity. After all, she herself has had her own distraction. But the day of her father's memorial service not only reopens an old wound, but also shows Dani that certain mistakes refuse to stay in their place...

Rose is a successful, smart woman who has been perpetually single..or so everyone thinks. The truth is that she has been involved in a longterm relationship with a married man. And smart though she is, even the most learned of us sometimes find it difficult to face reality. But Rose's life may certainly depend on it....

Aunt Lucille is the woman that the girls have thought of as their mother over the years. Hilton's sister, she stepped in to fill the void left by mother Maria when she went off to chase her dreams. Putting her life and dreams of a family on hold, she did as her brother expected and was a surrogate mother to her nieces.

Maria is back...from a very hard, tragic life. She has always yearned for her daughters...kept from her by her bitter and driven ex-husband. But now he is gone, and Maria hopes to recapture what was lost. But is it too late? Maria's arrival opens the door to revelations that will leave them all forever changed.

A wonderful story of love, and forgiveness, betrayal and revenge. Will keep readers turning the pages, and perhaps shedding a few tears.


DYB

Valerie Wilson Wesley is best known for the Tamara Hayle mysteries, but do not be fooled, she is also a powerful contemporary fiction writer. In Playing My Mother's Blues, Valerie Wilson Wesley delves into the life of sisters Dani and Rose, and their mother Maria who now calls herself Mariah.

Mariah married too young to a man much older than she. When Durrell Alexander comes along, his sweet-talking and tender lovemaking makes Mariah feel young again. Things are going well, until Mariah shoots him to death and goes to jail for twenty years. While reading the paper, she discovers that her ex- husband Hilton Dells has died. His death brings back memories of her daughters that she has not seen in twenty years. On the surface, it appears that her daughters are doing well. Dani is married, has a young child and is a successful woman in her own right. Rose, though not married is a successful educator. What Mariah does not know is what lies beneath the smiles. Dani, unhappy in her marriage has found happiness elsewhere, and is mimicking her mother's actions. Rose, happy with the secret rendezvous with her married lover, has discovered a lump in her (...). The funeral of Hilton Dells brings them face to face for the first time in two decades. When Dani's problem becomes evident and she flees the memorial service, Mariah follows her and takes her to her apartment to console her. Soon after, an angry Rose shows up at the apartment and all three women come to terms with the feelings of anger, abandonment and sorrow.

I enjoyed how this story was told over the course of three days, the flashbacks and memories made me feel as if I was following the family from beginning to end. Flashing back in time, then fast forwarding to the present made each character complete and the story more dynamic. The transitions from past to present were smooth. I also enjoyed Wilson-Wesley's lyrical writing style. This is a book I highly recommend for your reading pleasure.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

Impetuous Maria left her spouse Hilton Dells for Durell Alexander. However, when she walked out on Hilton and became Mariah, she also abandoned her daughters seven year old Dani Carter and seventeen year old Rose. However, several months after she deserted her family for a love affair, the hotheaded Mariah killed her lover. She spent time in jail for the homicide while Hilton's sister Lucille raised her nieces especially the "baby".

Maria reads an obit that Hilton just died. Whereas Dani overcame the betrayal, but remains curious about the woman she remembers filled with élan; Rose has always acted as if their mom died years ago. Now the death of Hilton has brought to the surface the one guilt that Maria has tried to bury, abandoning her children. She wants to reconcile with them. Dani needs to understand her mom as she finds herself following her mother's path being marred with children, but having an affair. Rose, raging with rancor, wants nothing to do with the woman whose leaving devastated her. Lucille wants her former sister-in-law to stay away from her nieces. These four women meet ostensibly to bury Hilton but to exhume the past.

The viewpoint constantly switches mostly between Mariah, Rose, and Dani, and to a much lesser degree Lucille so that the audience sees the same incident from dissimilar perspectives. For instance what seems like a molehill to Maria is Mt. Everest to Rose as each looks back to the late 1960s early 1970s differently. The fine character study enables the audience to understand how a pivotal event over two decades ago still fully impacts the players. Though at times the introspection can slow down the plot, fans will enjoy this family drama starring believable protagonists struggling to understand one another.

Harriet Klausner

As a believer in what `goes around comes around', I found the story of mother and daughters very interesting. The ending did surprise me a bit, with the reasoning behind the actions of the mother, although the story does drive you to want to know - since you know there is a reason for their mysterious actions.
Mariah (Maria) was a very interesting character. It was as if she had come to peace with the mistakes she made, yet she was determined to find out if others had forgiven her. I so enjoyed the way she allowed her honest and pure motherly love come out when reuniting with her daughters - her unashamed and open-armed way of welcoming them back to her life, not really caring what they felt about her, because she knew what she felt about them.
Listening to Ms. Westly reading from the book gave me a deeper, richer insight to what Mariah (Maria) felt about her life. It's very enlightening when a reader can hear the story from the author herself.
Rose, to me, was laden with guilt...so much that forgiveness was marred. I think she should have been more open to her mother. Dani was just young and the irony of her life is what made the story so deep to me, the fact that despite her ignorance she acted similarly to her mother. Lucille, I admired. She was loyal to her brother yet, open to hear the truth.
Reading this book is highly recommended. It's a quick read that feels like a personal journal. It reads like non-fiction as it's realistic with a strong narrative.
I enjoy Ms. Westly's book very much no matter the genre she writes in, from mystery to romance she's extremely talented and her stories touch the human in all of us ... right in the eye.

I enjoyed this book. I have to disagree with the review stating that it was hard to tell who was speaking. I thought Ms. Wesley made it very clear as to which voice was being heard by giving each character her own chapter. I was a little surprised however by Rose having such a negative attitude with her mom..I mean she did play a part into the reason her mother was incarcerated. Although it does end with no closure, I am almost certain there will be a part II.

I picked up this book Sunday and can't stop reading it. This book embodies what is missing in Black fiction today, a real plot. Maria, Dani, Rose are all good examples of the complex lives women lead today. Our mothers tell us to marry rich and well, but they never tell us we may have to up our happiness in return. Rose and Aunt Lucille show the other side of the spectrum, why give your life to a man when you can get everything you want on your own. I won't give away the end, but it was a shocker

If you enjoy Ms. Wesley's story-telling, you'll enjoy this story. It's seems so real and like all her novels difficult to put down until finished.

This is what the title should be! Maria leaves her children for her lover, which ends up being a bad decision..for everyone involved. but the death of her ex husband is what brings out all of the family secrets. This is a very good book, my first time reading this author, but I enjoyed the book. I read it twice!

this book was so good it's my second time reading it. it was touching. i felt that the author left alot of things unsaid. what happen to chance an dani did the reconcile, what happen to maria, like i felt either the book should be longer or make a sencond 1 becuz the ending left you naked