Customer Reviews

The Sexy Part of the Bible (Akashic Urban Surreal Series)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

10 STARS!!!
Great Writing like Toni Morrison
Off the chain!
"The Sexy Part of the Bible"

I read this book in one day it's way too short! In fact I'm depressed that
it's over. I haven't read anything this amazing in a long long time and yes
I'm a Kola Boof fan. But this is better than all her other ones.

Eternity is a young pure black African girl with a secret. She's raised by
White parents who are Scientists and she has a fear of dolls. The mother is a Tranny and the dad thinks he's God. They have been doing experiments in Africa
and there's a murder mystery that's quickly solved involving the whole family. Don't want to give away the story but a huge metaphor sets up the action as Eternity becomes an activist supermodel who doesn't like Africans skin bleaching and has a very glamorous but political life trying to find herself. She falls in love with Sea Horse a rapper/politician with mad charisma. He also has several
wives which causes static. She also engaged to a White British man who turned out
to be one of my favorite characters in the book, James the Scientist adventurer (think Indiana Jones).

Sea Horse has an obedient Muslim wife who's also a witch, Tasso. There's voodoo
dolls and a sex scene with Jesus Christ and roots being worked while gorillas
kidnap virgin brides and rape them. Damn near anything you wouldn't expect is in this story but it's insanely good! You won't be able to put it down.

I was especially shocked to discover who Eternity was telling the story to.

It's impossible to explain the plot. So much happens and nothing you think the
book is about turns out to be what it's about. I would say it's about skin
bleaching and self-hatred in our black folks but it's deeper than that. The
story is a metaphor about the relationship between the sexes, Man and Woman
since time began. It's also about how Africa may not be able to identify what
is authentic or really African anymore because the different invaders have
changed the continent so drastically and even the people of Africa don't
remember who they are or were at times.

The pacing is too fast. You can miss a lot of pertinent info if you read it
too fast because the book is already lightning quick. But this book is a must
read for both entertainment purposes and for social issues and African history.

For blacks, this book will be important because it deals very strongly with
identity and what happens to those who throw away their identity and place in
the world. I just cannot love this book enough. It's giving me life.

I wasn't sure what to expect with a title like this and I was a little overwhelmed with sharp imagery in the beginning,(as it has been a while since I have read fiction) but I couldn't help but get that "sucked into a book" feeling after a few pages. It reminded me of the great science fiction that I have read from Octavia Butler, having enough truth and relatability to be considered general fiction heavy with social commentary. But there is still something unique,something very colorful and bold about how Kola presents her stories. For me a 5 star only goes to a book that stays with you, long after you have finished and changes the way you see life. For me it is a story of survival and identity, perhaps the survival of identity. Anyone,but especially the misfits of society could relate to the struggle between surviving "the matrix" and staying true to one's desires. The virtues of antagonists could possible be shared with the hero, if it means survival. The story was so engaging I actually missed a couple connections on my commute getting caught up in the last few chapters on the train.

Im very much looking forward to getting my copy signed when she lands in Chicago next month on her book tour!

This book is not for the faint of heart, nor a person looking for a book that does not involve thinking. A scientific rollercoaster placed in Europe and Africa, Kola Boof delves into a world that most do not know exists: a world where the truth will spare no one. She uses metaphors and high-paced energy to share the lessons and truths that she has learned on her own personal journey. This book will entertain you, and most importantly it will leave you thinking and analyzing yourself and what you have deemed to be true. Definitely, a must read.

This was a story so real, honest and pure that I cannot simply call it fiction. It is a haunting reality of our future. The effects of colorism, white male domination and the erasing of our Mother permeate the book. Once I opened this book, it was impossible for me to put it down. This was a mind blowing and emotional story. Kola Boof's writing is so magical that one is drawn into her story. Once you are drawn in, it electrifies as it awakens you. "The Sexy Part of The Bible" really hit home for me. I personally identified with the main character "Eternity. Like her, I have lived a life where my Blackness shocked, scared and even visibly upset people. Each day, we are besieged with images in which our Mother's face is lightened and slowly being erased. Boof asks us pointedly, without our Mother how can we be born? She successfully explores science, racial wars within and mythology, seamlessly interweave each into a moving page turner. I could not put it down. Although this story may be "controversial" and strike anger in some people, it also opens doors to really discuss these matters and allow our true Mother to be returned and the healing of all so many confused, misplaced and forgotten ones. Let the dialogue begin...

Kola blew me away with this story. I wasn't at all expecting to go where she took me in this book, especially with the sci-fi sprinkled on top. I can't really say anything more than the awesome things others have rightly said here, other than this is a book that will be with me forever. As soon as I finished I started over again, and I can see myself reading it a few times a year because I know everytime it'll be exciting, and I will see and learn something new. Every issue brought up in this book is a passion of mine, so much of what she expressed will be referenced by me in my works. So thank you Kola for having the hips to grind this hard.

It was exciting and well written! This is a skillfully crafted story, with an enduring and inspirational protagonist. It mixes science, fiction, culture, sensuality, and love. It will certainly take you on a journey. Be ready! (Also, love the title)

this book is like nothing i ever imagined. it's hard to even describe. it's a remarkable story from the point of view of the authentic black woman. its a side you've NEVER heard before. its a story that has yet to be told until NOW. anyone who loves a great story with depth and honesty should buy this book. and every black woman should have this book in her library as a point of reference and affirmation! kola boof is becoming one of my favorite authors... BUY THIS BOOK!

-isispaperZz

Don't be fooled by the title, this book has nothing to do with the bible! The book is an imaginary tale about a young and beautiful dark skinned woman. Creating her own space in a world that doesn't fully acknowledges her. Creating her own rules about love, men and life. Powerful and unique story, very poetic. I didn't like the beginning of the book but I hang on got hooked.
my favorites quotes:

"I realized that even when black people endeavor to rise up Africa and restore it to paradise, there remains this thirst to debase its mother- which is what keeps Africa from rising".

"I loved all my men with all my heart... I was forced to take what I could get, which is usually how a woman ends up with more than one man in the first place."

"But they stomped and trampled and beat him- for lifting a mirror to their inferiority, for judging them, for loving them, for standing in their way, for being right, for telling the truth, for being racist against whiteness - they killed him".

I just received my copy of The Sexy Part of the Bible only two days ago. I've been reading it in between life blips not because I am not interested in it but simply because I want it to last as long as possible..it's that good!

I love it...the descriptions used to convey the character main Eternity are beautiful. Over and over again I am reminded of her BLACKNESS and I KNOW she is beautiful (how can she not be..Black is beautiful?).

This book takes the reader through a maze of social and politics nuances that informs and teaches us rather then ostracizes the reader for being ignorant of some of the contained subject matter. I am grateful to be learning about new people, customs and words as I enjoy this story.

Even without the depth of the implications put forth by Kola Boof, The Sexy Part of the Bible would still be a colorful, intriguing and suspenseful story. I'll be departing with this book shortly as several of my friends have observed me engulfed in it and have now asked to borrow it. Alas, I know I will never see it again!!

Eternity is an unusual young woman and an effervescent storyteller. Heroine of Kola Boof's inventive and provocative new novel, she shares her life story in short, action-packed episodes, embedded in vibrant evocations of colourful West-African ambience, in a country she calls "West Cassavaland". Adopted at birth and raised by two white scientists, Stevedore and Juliet Frankenheimer, Eternity symbolizes a self-confident, stunning beauty - "pitch black and shimmering like the purple outer space of the universe". However, she carries a secret that, once she is aware of it, will fundamentally influence the course of her life.

From the first pages Kola Boof spins a rich, at times hilariously funny, at others seriously engaged, yet always provocative tale that owes as much to surrealism with a touch of sci-fi as it does to African folklore and traditional customs. Set against this backdrop, the novel brings out, usually in a sardonic tone, tough socio-political concerns and positions that can be confrontational and may offend some readers' sensitivities.

Eternity's secret sets her apart from her tribe, the Ajowa, and makes her a fighter for what she believes troubles the Cassavan tribes. In their society, the pure black people, like herself, while in the vast majority, are treated as second class citizens and ruled by the "Pogo Metis Signare" (formerly called by another ironic name, the "Bastars Elite"). They are lighter skinned, of European-African mixed heritage. Any ambitious black African man's aim is to increase his societal standing by having lighter-skinned children with a white woman. The "black mothers of Africa" are cast aside. In turn, they, the "swallowers", are prime targets of a growing industry for skin lightening treatments, used without regard to very serious side effects. A kind of civil war hangs over the communities because of skin colour.

Eternity's unique upbringing makes her rebel against such obsessions and the many other rules imposed traditionally on black African women. Yet, only when she comprehends why she carries the memory of another black woman, Orisha, "a real-life blue-black Ajowan woman", who paid with her life for her campaign against skin lightening, does Boof's heroine fully comprehend her role in society. By now an internationally famous model, Eternity can use her sexual attraction to her seductive advantage, and she does, whether at home, in London or New York. Until, on a beautiful secluded beach off the West African coast, a chance encounter with charismatic Sea Horse Twee, a true-black famous local rap star with strong political ambitions, threatens her physical and emotional independence. She is kidnapped, joins a harem of sorts, is threatened with death, and yes, maybe, is even falling in love.

Kola Boof's novel is a fluidly-written, fast and easy read, her characters, some more fully developed than others, represent a wide range of personalities that serve the author's narrative. Still, the author does not shy away from clichés and stereotypes to raise her concerns on colonialism, all kinds of racism (black/not black enough/too black, black/white, white/black), and, very well illustrated, the corrupt and ineffective power struggles in African countries. Her passionate stance against the treatment of young girls and African women in general is palpable. While the author's positions can come across as somewhat radical and uncompromising, within the novel she couches them with a great sense of humour and often uses parody. While most characters are fictional, they may also carry traits of real-life individuals.

The novel's title, THE SEXY PART OF THE BIBLE, appears deliberately provocative. Very little is said about religion. As the novel's epigraph Boof cites a supposedly 17th century missionary: "The white woman is the virtuous part of the Bible; her hand is fair..." Eternity, later on, completes the quote:" ...but the black woman is the sex in the Bible; everything about her his wicked." Kola Boof (not her birth name) is the author of several novels and other writings. Her own life story may read at least as dramatic as that of her heroine in this novel. [Friederike Knabe]