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The River Where Blood Is Born (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Kindle Edition]

Sandra Jackson-Opoku
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Print List Price: $23.00
Kindle Price: $12.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: $10.01 (44%)
Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
This price was set by the publisher

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Book Description

This astonishing novel takes us on a journey along the river of one family's history, carving a course across two centuries and three continents, from ancient Africa into today's America. Here, through the lives of Mother Africa's many daughters, we come to understand the real meaning of roots: the captive Proud Mary, who has been savagely punished for refusing to relinquish her child to slavery; Earlene, who witnesses her father's murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan; Big Momma, a modern-day matriarch who can make a woman of a girl; proud and sassy Cinnamon Brown, whose wild abandon hides a bitter loss; and smart, ambitious Alma, who is torn between the love of a man and the song of her soul.

In The River Where Blood Is Born, the seen and unseen worlds are seamlessly joined--the spirit realms where the great river goddess and ancestor mothers watch over the lives of their descendants, both the living and those not yet born. Stringing beads of destiny, they work to lead one daughter back to her source. But what must Alma sacrifice to honor the River Mother's call?


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stitched together like a quilt or a piece of Kente cloth, this novel recasts the black experience as myth, encompassing both the world of the spirits and the world of ordinary human endeavors. It opens with the story of how Ananse the spider entered the villages of women ancestor spirits and learned the stories of Africa's daughters. The tale that drives the novel is of two women who are made to leave their village with their children. Ama, the daughter of one of the women, bears a child with the son of the other, and is then sold into slavery. The novel--told in diaries and journals, letters, and more conventional narrative forms--follows Ama's descendants in their wanderings throughout the New World and finally back to Africa.

From Library Journal

First novelist Jackson-Opoku "focuses on strong female characters as they journey through poverty and family conflicts to seek love, fulfillment, justice, and, ultimately, peace" in this part folktale/spiritual/modern romance.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • File Size: 953 KB
  • Print Length: 432 pages
  • Publisher: One World/Ballantine (July 8, 2009)
  • Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002GKGBQO
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,510 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
(11)
4.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The finest novel I've read in years November 25, 1998
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
It's a women's thing, it's an African-American thing, and this nice Jewish boy couIdn't put it down. The novel may favorable be compared with the works of Toni Morrison and Chinua Achebe, yet has its own wonderful voice. I work in a bookstore, managing the fiction dep't. I watch a lot of stuff go by, read some of it, and I haven't seen anything as good as The River Where Blood is Born in years. As soon as I read it, I told our buyers' office to order plenty, because I could easily sell it to customers. I pledged to sell 100 in six months, which would put it in NYT bestseller range for our store. I've sold 75 in five weeks and have no intention of slowing down. Our customers love it. This novel is what fiction is supposed to be: engaging, thought-provoking, and wise: the sort of book one can't help but finish as soon as possible. The author clearly put her heart and soul into it. I am usually annoyed by novels with too many narrators, but this worked perfectly for me. Each one was convincing and distinct from the previous one. Fiction should be about something important while entertaining the reader. This novel succeeds wildly on both accounts. It explores identity, it doesn't lend itself to easy answers and yet it tells interesting, funny, raunchy, frightening and beautiful stories with seemingly perfect ease. The author spent twenty-one years perfecting this book, and it shows on every page.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Totally absorbing July 19, 2000
Format:Paperback
I borrowed this book from a friend and didn't want to return it. It was terrific! It traces the history of nine generations of women from Africa, to the Caribbean, to America and back to Africa again. The characters are vividly portrayed and believable. The story is readable and the connections between the female characters are fascinating. African folklore and myth are incorporated into the book in a fascinating and relevant manner. My only gripe is a minor one -- some of the women's story lines weren't as fully developed as I would have liked. But that did not in anyway detract from the power of the narrative.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars It was the drink of water I had thirsted for! March 19, 1999
Format:Hardcover
Intense storytelling! You need to pay attention to keep up, there are lots of characters and lineage to follow. It's worth it! Entertaining! Enlightening! I read it three months ago and I intend to take it on the plane as I leave the country (long flight) ...and read it again. Slower...to digest more fully, what my heart/soul starved for. Again, a D E E P drink of water!I'd love to meet this author and have a roundtable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The River Where Blood is Born
Don't remember this purchase!?! Maybe it was for my daughter. I'll have to check it out and see if I bought it for her.
Published 3 months ago by Angela N. Bingham
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
I first read this book years ago, and it remains one of my favorites. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an absolutely wonderful read; great story, characters,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by PhDoobiedoobiedoo
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic story
This a well written story and I really enjoyed how the story line unfolded. I would reccomend this book to all people who enjoy a good story.
Published 5 months ago by Edward Davis Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Thought Provoking
Rivers is not a linear read. It is the sort of fiction that you have to pay close attention, so you want get lost. Read more
Published on July 9, 2008 by Big Sistah Patty
5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT STORIES EVER TOLD
I feel so strongly about the power of this book that I do not even know where to begin. I read it for the first time as a Senior in highschool. Read more
Published on October 23, 2001 by Rai-Tonicia King
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, thoughtful engaging read.
Ms. Jackson-Opoku's novel is a wonderful weaving of history and women's lives in the temporal and spiritual worlds. Read more
Published on May 11, 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars The best work presenting the African Diaspora
Sandra Jackson-Opoku has created a tour-de-force of epic proportions. She manages to weave in the history, gender, class and geographic elements of humanity within the African... Read more
Published on November 20, 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!!! - Yoruba Religion was exciting!!!
I was awestruck by the battles that the river mother and the sea mother had, and since I am involved with IFA, I knew who these powerhouses were!!! Read more
Published on October 7, 1997
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