A fantasy novel about a middle-aged black ex-film star turned char lady, with a bizarre imaginative life. Mamie is blessed with psychic powers and has to cope with the return of her dead husband's ghost. Previous books by this black American writer include "Sitting Pretty" and "Ask Me Now".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Poet and jazz critic Young's fifth novel resembles a Victorian picaresque in its loquaciousness and sense of adventure. Mamie Franklin, once a singer and actress, and now a domestic for a Beverly Hills family, describes, in her own humble and honest voice, the troubles that beset her around the time of the death of her lover Burley Cole. Burglars break into her house, Burley visits her as a ghost and she faints during a major earthquake. But with resilience and faith she survives. A bit of a mystic and philosopher, Mamie keeps her sometimes insightful and always endearing views of America, Hollywood, success and failure and a lot more flowing steadily. While not all the personalities here are as remarkable as Mamie, the novel succeeds on the strength of her wit and humor alone. Young does not flinch from taking her outrageous tale further into the world of the supernatural; however, the fictional Mamie's connections to our real world are so tenacious, and Young so knowledgeable, that his book becomes a compendium of black-American culture as well.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In language as fresh, sassy, and homespun as Huckleberry Finn's, former singer/actress Mamie Franklin recounts her last months' adventures as part-time maid and full-time psychic in Santa Monica, California. With the guidance of Ben Franklin, the 18th-century wizard whose spirit first appeared to her as a child in Mississippi, Mamie tries to cope with the death of her companion, Burley Coles, and to reconcile her son Benjie with his fatherall the while falling in love with the gifted young Theo. Slipping easily between this and the nether worlds, the wise and witty Mamie radiates a rare, irreverent joy. A fifth novel for Young, also a poet and blues musician. Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, Mo.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
