Customer Reviews

Sculptured Nails and Nappy Hair

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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This book was suggested reading to me by a young friend on MY SPACE. While not a fan of poorly written and rapidly constructed 'street-lit' I was blown away by this book -- perhaps even more by the literary style of Lincoln Park. To be such a simple and fast read (2 hrs., tops), SCULPTURED NAILS AND NAPPY HAIR is amazingly in-depth and intense.

There are four short stories in the book with five main characters, if you add Park (Somehow, Lincoln Park-as-narrator has managed to become an obscure, Hitchcockian character in her own tales!). She has completely mastered the use of obscenities and figurative context in relationship to raw storytelling. (If you're a literal reader, you won't get the essence of this book, at all!)

Again, I had just not expected to see evidence of literary wit in the 'street-lit' genre, but Lincoln Park can even make the act of SUICIDE sound magical: "...Then, as fast as God had taken His paintbrush to splish and splash His palette of Northern Lights onto the starry canvas of the Alaskan night, He washed the canvas clean. That way, He could fool around with His paints and brushes some more, on the morrow. Sufficient unto the day was the evil, thereof... ". My goodness!

This book was off the hook! Finally someone from my era putting it down the way we know how. Being a New Yorker myself I could appreciate all of the 4 letter lovely's this book. Can't wait for the next ones!!!!

Length:: 1:59 Mins

This is the official Book Trailer for Sculptured Nails and NAPPY HAiR.

Before opening the book SCULPTURED NAILS AND NAPPY HAIR, I tried to visualize what the book would be about. In my mind's eye, I saw divas--proud Black women who made sure they were always immaculately groomed, who wore their natural hair proudly, and flaunted their pride in being Black like a banner. I was sorely mistaken! Although there are Black women in the four stories that compile the book, it is about life, and survival at any cost, and all of the women were more concerned with whether or not they could pay the month's rent than the condition of their nails and hair!

I quickly realized that the titles of the stories had very little to do with the stories themselves. I kept wondering if the book title itself would ever be mentioned, and when it was, it was not a significant moment, just a simple observation by one of the characters.

"The Mimosa Tree" is about a woman who will do anything and everything for love. Abandoned by her father at the age of 10, she looks for love with her neighbor, who takes her virginity at age 13. However, the love of her life is Marcus Tygers, whom she met in high school. Once he goes into the Air Force after graduation, she travels to see him every weekend she can. Although Marcus tries to discourage her constant visits, she is determined he's the love of her life, and she refuses to let him go.

"To Cut a Diamond" is Margaret and Marine's story. Margaret, called "Kiki" in the story, is the wife of Abdul, a "Black entrepreneur/con man" who she marries two weeks after meeting him. He introduces her to drugs and cheats on her with a series of women throughout the story. Marine is one of the women who Abdul has been seeing, and her confrontations with Kiki are some of the most unique I have ever witnessed between a wife and a mistress.

"Yellow Jacket" is the sad saga of a woman who wants bigger, better and more, and will do whatever it takes to have the finer things in life. Crimsonne Redd is a woman with a mission--to have her own marketing firm. In order to do that, she takes all types of unsavory side jobs to finance her business, Redd Hot Enterprise, by working as a stripper and a specialized call girl.

The final story, "Aurora Borealis," is the story of Lark, who falls in love with an Italian named Emilio. They meet in Alaska, where she is able to actually see the Aurora Borealis, from which the story obtains its title.

Lincoln Park weaves her tales in such a way that all of your emotions get involved--but each of the women in this book had me sighing in pity, because all of them were looking for the type of love they would never find. Park is a gifted writer, and I enjoyed the book, although the characters sometimes irritated me because of their extreme stupidity!

Reviewed by Rowena Winfrey
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Sculptured Nails and Nappy Hair
Lincoln Park


APOOO Rating 2.00


Sculptured Nails and Nappy Hair is a book of four short stories. The first story was about a young woman Maddi who flounders through life after her father leaves both she and her mother for a younger woman. She meets a guy, Cecil, who she seems to care for but drops him because he is overweight. I liked the fact that the author made an overweight person part of her story because in most books overweight people are omitted.
The second story is a crazy mixed-up love triangle. Marine, a former reporter at the Tampa Tribune finds herself homeless, and in a shelter without any job prospects until Abdul enters her life and offers her a job and a place to live. The third story is about Crimsonne Redd, a young woman who has experienced more than her share of on-the-job sexual harassment. Crimsonne starts her own business but what will she have to do to keep it afloat? The fourth and final tale is about a young lady, Lark, who meets a stranger, Emilio, while on Vacation in New York City. After knowing each other only two months, and an extended vacation together, Lark believes she is falling in love. Lark decides to relocate to New York City to cultivate this growing attraction. What happens after she moves is more than she ever could comprehend.


The four stories are about the mistreatment of women. And each female in these stories suffers from extreme low self-esteem. There are stories of bondage and sadism and one that has a tragic ending. None of these stories had a peaceful ending and none of the women in these stories solved any of their issues. The writer had an unusual writing style leaving gaps between certain words, which made the book a little hard to read until my eyes adjusted to the spacing. I am assuming that she wrote in this style to emphasize certain points. I like the names the author chose for her characters as they fit the person's personalities.
These four short stories had very little to do with its title. As I read this book I wondered why the author titled it Sculptured Nails and Nappy Hair I expected to read stories about women that were proud of their own ethnic beauty. This book was not for me but maybe readers of pulp fiction will enjoy it.




Reviewed by Margaret Ball
APOOO BookClub