Customer Reviews

Proverbs For The People: Contemporary African-American Stories

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Wow! The contributions to this anthology are breathtaking and thought-provoking. Travis Hunter makes a solid impression with his contribution -- a touching and honest family-type story that keeps it real, and provides a future and a hope. Tanya Marie Lewis paints a vivid description of prison and a certain shocking way that a man seeking forgiveness breaks out, and Margaret Johnson-Hodge plants hope inside those who might be ready to give up. This anthology is filled with strong and important writings; it's a must-have and should be added to your book collection pronto!

I really enjoyed this book. All of the stories are wonderful and the connection to the proverb that they all wrote about was simply masterful! I particularly enjoyed the story Franklin White gave us. His proverb dealt with "no matter how long a log stays in the water, a log it will remain." His story about a black actress in Hollywood who did everything under the sun to become more mainstream was brillant. I will not spoil it for others but the story really made me think about all the black actresses who have to jump through hoops to finally get a part in a mainstream movie. After they read this story-maybe they won't be so hard pressed to get in the mainstream!

I think this book was long overdue. This is what the AA community needs. Travis Hunter, who is head and shoulders above any other writer in the business right now, brings us a story so filled with love I cried. Omar Tyree's story needed some work but he tried. I loved Pearl Cleage's story as well and Margerette J. Hodge touched my spirit. She's a great writer too. I liked Tonya Marie Evans story. This should've been made like the coffee table books so everyone could read it like a conversation piece.

This book was absolutely superb and the best collection of short stories that I have read in my entire life. Each story had a moral from an African proverb or saying and the stories were woven magnificently around them. These stories helped me relive some lessons I have learned in my life and also opened my eyes to a lot of things that have yet to happen to me. The people who breathed life into these characters should get a standing ovation.Well Done! You will not be disappointed. By the way, I am a 20 year old college student so age doesn't matter. This is a book for everyone.

I really enjoyed Proverbs for the People. The diversity of the authors and the stories they wrote with strong lessons that jumped from the pages was nothing short of amazing. My favorite stories were "Women Drive Buses too" and "Consequences."

I recommend this anthology and applaud the efforts of the authors and diversities.

We have all heard proverbs at some point in our lives; little truths that teach morals, tell stories, or teach us how to live. In PROVERBS FOR THE PEOPLE, authors take insightful African, African American, and Biblical proverbs and utilize them to create extraordinary short stories that depict truths and leave marks on the heart.

This unique anthology contains stories from well known authors such as Travis Hunter, Omar Tyree, Margaret Johnson-Hodge, Pearl Cleage, and others, as well as stories from up and coming authors. Like the proverbs they represent, the stories are diverse and full of emotions. Although all of the stories were wonderful and touching, some of personal favorites were Gwynne Forster's "First Thing Monday Morning," which taught the morals that actions speak louder than words and to be careful what you wish for, because you just may get it, and Robert Fleming's "A Crisis of Faith," about a man who is wrongly incarcerated.

PROVERBS FOR THE PEOPLE is a wonderful novel that will teach, inspire, and entertain. It has a story that everyone can relate to, and will make a wonderful addition to any book collection.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I really enjoyed this book. All of the stories are wonderful and the connection to the proverb that they all wrote about was simply masterful! I particularly enjoyed the story Franklin White gave us. His proverb dealt with "no matter how long a log stays in the water, a log it will remain." His story about a black actress in Hollywood who did everything under the sun to become more mainstream was brillant. I will not spoil it for others but the story really made me think about all the black actresses who have to jump through hoops to finally get a part in a mainstream movie. After they read this story-maybe they won't be so hard pressed to get in the mainstream!

I've always liked reading books like this is because it introduces me to authors I've never heard of. For example, one of the most phenomenal stories is by a 15-year old recently published, young lady named Tierra French with "A Difficult Lesson". I read each story and the ones I really dug include: "Something Special", "Flimsy and Raggedy", "Not Tonight", "A Crisis of Faith", "Senseless", "Queen", "First Thing Monday Morning", "If He Didn't Go", "A Difficult Lesson", "Back Then", "Dancing at Esperanza's", "The Consequence", "Young Ballers", "Panhandling", "John Q's Blissful Journey", "Trick Dice", "The Cycle", "Pass It On", "Felicia and the Prodigy", "Ultimate Forgiveness", "Dead to the World", "Detour", "Colours", "The Day Chano Died", "Charitable Roy", "The Fire This Time", "The Willow Tree", and "She Planted Faith in her Dream". You may be thinking that I liked every story in here, but believe me, there are quite a few I didn't care for. One example would be the very twisted "The Bag Lady" that I did NOT appreciate the humor about killing a dog because I am crazy about dogs the way most are crazy about babies. I thought "Sink or Swim" was an excuse for women to not lose weight. Yeah, the husband's explanation was rude but the theme behind this story is why the black community has such bad health now--we try to excuse everything. And "My Momma Said..." was a great story for golddigers. A prize is a man with money? It's like the main character didn't learn a damn thing. I hated that story. "Death of a Salesperson" needed the editor to catch that the main character said she worked at the company thirty-two years (twice!) but then switch to thirty years. And I don't know what's on Omar Tyree's bird but the use of the n-word really bugs me regardless of whether he switched it up in the end and "Playin' the Role" EMBRACED the word. Guess some people still got a lot to learn!
Anyway, I ended up joining a book club so I could buy books from each of these published authors. Thank you for all the hook-ups and the people to avoid. And Travis Hunter's story was the best of all, but I'm not surprised because I'm crazy about this author's work.