Customer Reviews

Rising

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In "Rising" Darnella ford masterfully weaves enthralling prose, tumultuous story, and dark psychology into a most tangible piece of artwork. The 3-dimensional aspect of her tale allows the reader to not only "be" in the moment with the leading character, Symone, but also permits the reader to "feel" their way through the journey of survival alongside her as well. The more gentle reader may find this re-hashing effect to be too shocking, but victims of abuse (as well as readers who wish to learn more about the experiences of childhood trauma)will certainly find a safe haven to explore their pasts and continue the path towards healing. Although the story is entertaining in its vivid imagery, skillful detail, and sincere meaning, let us not forget the focus of the piece. It is an acknowledgement and tribute to the "survivor". An embracing of the resilient child within us all. A most memorable and engaging read.

Darnella Ford's story about a woman dealing with sexual abuse and other heavy issues, is outstanding. This book will have the reader's complete attention until the very last page. While dealing with very heavy subjects, Ford adds humor and wit and the reader develops a general liking of the main character, Symone. Thanks for the awesome tale, Ms. Ford, and I look forward to your next venture!

Darnella Ford's book "Rising" was far and beyond what I thought the book could be when I bought it. It took me 4 days to read. This book was a page turner because the thoughts and storyline was believable, and it put you into the scenes and moods of the book. Darnella is a wonderful writer, I can personally relate to the emotion in this book in many different ways. I can clearly see the people, the places and actually feel like I was there. Simone was a very strong character in this book yet so volunerable. She reflected the struggle of many children today, dealing with big things as little people. With those things they become big people with even bigger problems. But "dealing with the problems" and "dealing with the issue that you have problems" are two different levels, something Darnella expressed wonderfully. I gave this book 5 stars because; one: characters, two: storyline, three: experiences, four: life lessons and five: brillant writing style. She deserves all five stars! I can't wait until "Crave" comes in 2004. This is a wonderful book to start such a bright career. It was definitely a deeper level of writing. Lastly, I sum up "Rising" in three words A PAGE TURNER. Please read!

At eight years old, Symone has known nothing but poverty and chaos. She is a biracial child living in the projects with her drug addicted prostitute mother. While other children are outside playing with their friends, Symone is forced into being the "adult" in the household. Symone tells us her story of taking care of her mother, helping her through the night sweats, having no food or hot water. She shows us the unconditional love a child has for their parent.

When her mother dies of an overdose, Symone is shipped off to an orphanage. A rich white family adopts her and whisks her away to a huge house and better life. But, is this life really better? The Hudson house may look perfect on the outside, but there are many dark secrets on the inside.

Ridge and Madeline Hudson have two other daughters, Audrey and . We get to know each member of the Hudson< family along with their stories of emotional and sexual abuse through flashbacks during a mandatory family meeting called by Ridge Hudson.

The characters in 'Rising' are well developed and realistic. The intense story line will make your heart ache for the children. I read the self-published version of this book and was a little disappointed in the changes that were made. I prefer the original ending over this one because it seemed to be more realistic for this story. This is still an excellent read and real page turner.

Tina
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

As I started the title 'Rising I couldn't put it down the author wrote about pain and suffering of a little girl who is speaking in the first person...at times it was humorous and other times your heart would break for the torture the child/teen is suffering. All of sudden the storyline becomes very sloppy and becomes unrealistic...the characters and the story are underdevelped throughtout the rest of the book. I think the Darnella Ford is very talented writer but somehow she lost her focus and went too many directions. Our reading group Just For Fun - Denver unanimously agreed the story was sloppy and rushed. I will look for her upcoming title to see if she has improved her writing skills.

Rising opens with a disturbing flashback scene in the life of
eight-year-old Symone, the "biracial, blond-haired, blued-eyed"
only child of Dolores. Through descriptive narrative, colorful
imagery, and a wonderful collection of analogies, we see into
the mind of a young woman coming to grips with a childhood of
neglect. Ford gives us a moving narration of Symone's
experience living in the projects with her heroin addicted,
prostitute mother and then the dreadful death of her mother. At
this point, Symone is adopted by the Hudsons, a rich white
family in an affluent neighborhood far from the ghetto.

We are then immediately thrown into the present and the life of
Symone at age 27 and the rest of the novel takes place after
Symone receives an unwanted invitation for Thanksgiving dinner
with the family. We are given flashbacks into Symone's
childhood with the Hustons and the physical and emotional as
well as the sexual mistreatment received at the hands of her
adopted father, Ridge Huston. Based on some of the flashbacks,
I couldn't quite understand why Symone felt it necessary nor did
I find it realistic for her to accept the invitation. But she
does so and subjects herself to further pain...this is where the
novel takes a deep turn and I immediately jumped to conclusions
about the ending; some were correct while others were way off
base. These aspects of the ending both surprised and confused
me.

This novel started off toying with my emotions and I liked it
instantly, but by the middle and near end of the novel I felt a
bit left out. It was too neat, a little unrealistic (especially
the change in Symone's physical appearance) and sometimes too
descriptive. Additionally, I would've much preferred to hear the
story told as it happened versus the flashbacks told from the
older Symone. In spite of this, I felt sympathetic for Symone
as I would for any child suffering through unthinkable actions
of others. I encourage others to check this book out for
themselves. I had to go a step further.

I was fortunate to have purchased a copy of the self-published
version of this book when it was first released and read it a
few days after I finished reading the new version...and the
first thing that crossed my mind was a feeling of sadness that
the ending and so many other parts of the book were changed. I
was almost left speechless at the original ending (which was far
more realistic than the new version) and some of the other
portions of the book. Simply Amazing! If I could rate the self-
published version, it would be without a doubt a 5 rating!

Ford is a talented author who should definitely be watched as
she progresses in her literary endeavors. I know I'll be looking
and waiting on her next piece of work.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

just completed this book in 24 hours(or less). The book was really deep. One would have to wonder if the story is autobiographical based on the feelings conveyed throughout the book. Ms. Ford does an excellent job of making this more than just a run of the mill story.It really held my interestas she covered the many subjects of incest, sexuality, child neglect. Keep up the good work but next time make the book a littile longer

Darnella Ford is one of my favorite authors! I first discovered her when I read Crave, her novel written after this one and it is a dynamite novel! However, after reading this and comparing it to her other works, I can see how much she's progressed since! The concept of this novel is good, a young mixed girl from the ghetto orphaned and then taken in by a rich white family which is no cookie-cutter family under the surface. However, instead of getting to the meat of the experience this young girl witnessed we find her at an adult going back to the scene of her horrors for the first time in many years. Therefore, readers get a lot of her thoughts about what's going to happen, blah blah blah. We learn what happened to her in like 3 pages when readers could have recieved so much more from the work had not a good portion of the book been so drawn out and dry.

I was very impressed with Darnella Ford, her book was so strong. Her book is what I call a "Survivor's Book".

I have read a lot of books of the genre but this one stuck with me by far. I couldn't believe how her words made me feel as if what was happening to her main character was happening to me.

I recommend this book to anyone who has overcome a tragedy of any kind, whether it be from a stranger or a family member. Even though this is a book of fiction, it is far too real in someone's reality.

Later...

Rising is the story of Symone, a nine year old biracial girl living in the projects with her drug addicted mother. When her mother dies Symone is adopted by the Hustons, a rich white couple and moved to a wealthy community. Now she lives in a huge house far from the Ghetto and that is where her nightmare begins. Symone finds out that all that glimmers is not gold. The Hustons are anything but glamorous. She finds herself a victim when her adopted father sodomizes her. She later learns that he has done the same to his" own" children. Symone, now adult has left the Hustons home but can't escape the abuse, she finds herself broken,bruised,shattered and used. Her boyfriend Teek doesn't have it easy either, when they make love he becomes the victim to her rage, his pain becomes her pleasure. He doesn't understand her hazardous sex routine. When the family gathers for Thanksgiving, Symone returns to the Huston house with Teek. The abuse is confronted, the sisters plan revenge and Symone learns a shocking family secret... Darnella paints a bittersweet novel that will keep you glued to the very last page..
We Gave Darnella Best New Author 2003 for Rising....