Customer Reviews

Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral

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

 

 

Ms. Fauset was one of the most underrated members of the Harlem Renaissance. Plum Bun is by far the strongest of her novels. I saw more in this story than simply a discussion of color and privilege, I was pleased by the complexity of the relationship between the two sisters in this novel. Ms. Fauset is one of my literary favorites, and a woman that I truly admire. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Fauset allows the reader to take an in-depth look at passing for white. Unlike the charcater in Danzy Sennas Caucasia, Fauset creates a main character who chooses to pass and lets the reader know every repercussion of that decision. Go out and get it!

I was so impressed with how Ms Fauset wrote Plum Bun, that upon completing the book I have been actively purchasing all of her other books that are in print. Her writing style proves that a good book is timeless. I highly recommend Plum Bun and There Is Confusion, which was so good I could not put it down..literally. I strongly urge all to get this woman's books post haste!! You will have some very satisfying reading hours.

Yes, this is a brilliant and wonderful book by a usually overlooked, but wonderful author. I adore the story and have read it a number of times now in my graduate work and for my own enjoyment. BUT, do NOT buy this version of the book!
(I refer to the version with a cream colored cover, and the title in large, plain Black print.)

I bought this copy and not only is the print of incredibly flawed quality - to the extent of passages which are broken up by a long string of the same letter in caps, and chapters which do not end where they are supposed to and instead trail on and on.
The publishers have ruined the author's intention by making no reference to either the original formatting for chapters and pages or making any attempt to impose their own which would give the text anything resembling form or coherence! Its a big, sloppy mess and after showing the book to a number of friends, they expressed equal astonishment over the plain garbage quality.

I strongly advise you, do not make the same mistake I did in buying cheap and being screwed over! Please buy the book, but not this version! Amazon should be ashamed to even offer this garbage.

Please see any of the positive reviews for my opinion of "Plum Bun" as a novel. This copy, however, is so riddled with typographical errors that they distract from enjoyment of the novel and make it nearly impossible to use in a scholarly manner. Splurge on an older edition; this one is a crime against a lovely book.

You could see the world black and white with black and white people. But within both races there are so many different hues upon which people are judged again as well.
Plum Bun, written during the Harlem Renaissance, is about this. It's the story of Angela and her sister Virginia, who is blacker than Angela. The story follows the life of Angela and who no one really knows she is black and how she doesn't act upon it. She tries to enter a white world, also by changing her name. It gives a good insight into the complexities of color, and therefor worth reading this novel by Mr. Fauset.

This book was recommended to me and it was a true gift. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it.

I give PLUM BUN a positive review. I first noticed it at the bookstore where I work. The Harlem Renaissance is something great; I read all I can on it. This novel is quite representative of the era.

About a month before seeing this book, I read THE POWER OF PRIDE, a coffee table book on the Harlem Renaissance which contained some wonderful photos. Having read ...PRIDE, I noticed that something about this particular edition of PLUM BUN really bothers me. The portrait drawing on the front of the book looks more like Nella Larsen than it does Jessie Fauset. Unless Ms.Marks and Ms.Edkins, the compilers of ...PRIDE, got their photos mixed up, the picture on the front of PLUM BUN is Nella Larsen--not Jessie Fauset.