Customer Reviews

Selah's Bed: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was a very deep dynamic book. The writer allowed you to go into the inner soul of Selah. The way she intertwined the past with the present was an added touch.
A very moving story. Thumbs up to the author what a beautifully written book. This would make a great movie!

I loved the author's "Resurrecting Mingus", but only LIKED "Selah's Bed" - the author has a talent for jumping to past to present and not losing you somewhere in between. There are many similarities between both books when it comes to the writing style, the underlying suspense of where the book will take you at the end.

It's hard to give details of the story without giving away the book - but Selah was born to a young mother who wasn't ready to be a mom herself. So she ended up being raised by her grandmother - this book will take you from her childhood up to a grown, married woman and how the actions of her past now affect her as an individual, spouse, and career woman.

Jenoyne Adams communicates an entire world using very few words and no extraneous scenes. The language was graceful and moving and, although I was not surprised in the end, I was quite emotional about it. The unanswered questions linger in your mind and the book stays with you. I was intrigued that the truly graphic descriptions were used in relation to Selah's care of Mama Gene rather than to describe her time with Peter. Parker never truly came alive for me in the way that Peter did. I would have preferred a better bridge between Selah and Parkers reunion at twenty and how they came to be married. A wonderful book!

I found the book to be an easy read, with the chapters being so short, which was a plus. I did not, however, think that the story's organization was the best. The way that the author went from her childhood to teen yrs to marriage, to include her journal entries to her dead baby, was a bit confusing. The author totally skipped over, what I feel were pertinent parts of the story. It was like having a sandwich without the meat. It's a good book, but I could do without the flashbacks. It should have just went from beginning to end.

At a very high level Jenoyne Adams's latest novel can be described as a moving story of Selah and her struggle with love, acceptance, and forgiveness; however there are so many more facets and dimensions to Selah's Bed that this review cannot express because doing so would spoil the reading experience.

In the novel, Selah is an artist who photographs nude men and is always looking for the "perfect shot" that will convey the true essence of her subjects. On the same vibe, Adams wields her pen to convey the essence of Selah's troubled spirit. As a child, Selah is abandoned by her teenaged, prostitute mother which causes a lingering ache to emerge in her heart. As an adult, Selah loses a child and the ache becomes more intense, entrenching itself so deeply that Selah begins to withdraw into dark, private places to find solace with destructive results.

Selah is a complex character and the author is very effective in layering the stress, pain, and regrets on Selah against a familiar backdrop. She is reared in the projects by her pill-popping grandmother (Mama Gene) and alcoholic grandfather. She never knew her father. It has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery and we soon see a young Selah desperately trying to connect with her absentee mother by emulating her whorish ways. We see her wrestle with her relationship (or lack thereof) with God, her husband, and eventually her lover only to find some semblance of peace by writing letters to her long lost daughter, Michelle. Throughout the novel, we see her slowly embrace a bohemian lifestyle and rescind into deep internal places eventually distancing herself from everyone who is dear to her. We see her crumble when her "other mother," Mama Gene, falls victim to mental abandonment via Alzheimer's disease leaving Selah again motherless twice in a lifetime. Through a series of events, Selah's emotional well overflows and it is then when her epiphany occurs.

Adam's style of writing is lyrical, sharp, and refreshing. The plot is a revitalizing departure from the popular "contemporary dramas" of late. The characters are full-bodied and marvelously broken. She expertly conveys the psychological and emotional aspects of a deprived child who evolves into a heavily burdened woman. Selah is a complicated, passionate character and the author skillfully reveals the fragility of Selah's damaged psyche from past transgressions. She masterfully unfolds the driving forces that spawn Selah's decadent behavior by showing us her world from childhood to adulthood. Although a work of fiction, I loved the manner in which the author cleverly exposes a number of social issues and universal themes throughout the novel. One example is the maternal bonding/love/protection theme; it is an underlying driving force for Selah because she yearns to receive it as a child and desires to provide it as an adult to her long lost child.

This is my first reading of this author's work and I was wonderfully surprised and entertained by the experience. However, I would not recommend this book to everyone; only those who would enjoy and appreciate a departure from the norm. I plan to pull Resurrecting Mingus from my overcrowded bookshelf and place it on my nightstand--and I will definitely pick up her next release.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, Nubian Circle Book Club
March 29, 2003

I brought this book b/c I was intrigued by the description here at Amazon. Although I can relate to the character this book could have been written differently which would've made my reading experience 100% better.

First, as an avid reader, I always feel like I'm on the outside looking in when reading a good book. You feel as if you've been let into the personal life of the character and are exposed to everything that character is feeling, seeing or doing. When a book is written in third person, it tends to make the script a little more complicated. You feel as if you're getting the story secondhand. Kind of a 'he say/she say' type of vibe. This book is a great example of that.

Secondly, the book is written is half flashback/half present form. Every other chapter is a flashback making it hard to keep up at times. The author is a very descriptive writer which helps for visual effects but if you don't know whether it's 2002 or 1970 you tend to get a little confused.

I did not enjoy this book at all. I would not recommend it to anyone. Save your money for an EJD or E Lynn Harris novel. This was a waste or time. I only finished it b/c I work third shift and needed something to keep me awake.

I was very eager to read Selah's Bed after reading Resurrecting Mingus. I did not enjoy Selah's Bed at all. I pretty much figured out why Selah was doing what she did, but the story never really grabbed me. The story is not just about Selah, but her Grandmother who has a drug problem. The author has a unique lyrical way of writing, but I just did not enjoy this particular story.

Selah Wells has proven herself to be a successufl photograph and loving wife. However, Selah is haunted by her childhood. She has adopted her mother's promiscuous behavior and watched her grandmother, who raised her, grow addicted to pain medications.

Adams tells a poetic story of a young women that desparately loves her husband, Parker, but she is unable to give herself to him completely. Adams tells the story from Selah's past and present and she cleverly combines that pain that Selah experiences as a child with her adult experiences. It also helps her to accept and release the hurt she carried for her child.

Adams writting is at times funny, thought provoking and heart breaking. I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it to all.

Peace and Blesssings!!

Yep, this is a B-movie for a book, slow, not sure where it was going and why am I reading it. I finished it but did not remember reading it.

This book is terrible. I couldn't even finish it, and I am truly not happy that I wasted my money on it. I strongly discourage anyone else from purchasing this book.