Customer Reviews

Shifting Through Neutral

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Family ties, adolescent angst, father-daughter relationships, and the choices that we make in life are at the heart of this gorgeously written and quite captivating novel from Bridgett M. Davis. Like the shifting gears of a car, Davis weaves together a wonderfully symbolic tale of a young girl's drive through the road of life. Set in Detroit between 1967 and 1980, in the African American community, the narrative cleverly shifts backwards and forwards in time, centering on the perceptive Rae Dodson and her efforts to cope with her kind-hearted but bitterly dysfunctional family. While administering to her father, JD who lays dying in a hospital bed, Rae remembers the highs and lows, the trials and tribulations of her childhood and adolescence as she matures along side the city of Detroit, watching it go from "resentful and surly child of white forces to wild and excited youth of back power."

With a fierce and undying loyalty, Rae vows to look after JD, a General Motors assembly-line worker, who is plagued by throbbing headaches and hypertension. JD spends his life laying around and mitigating the pain with loose aspirin, and later, sleep-inducing injections of Demerol. "That's how her father remained alive to her all these years - simple actions, slow movements, and perpetual rest." Rae's disturbed mother Vy has been reduced to taking Valium at the edge of a king-sized bed in order to ease her bad nerves. She calls her state a "sophisticated illness" and she stays hold up in her bedroom waiting for Cyril, her lover and the father of Rae's older sister Kimmie, to rescue her from the unfaithful JD. Vy sleeps during the day then stays awake all night playing Stevie Wonder albums, and reminiscing about happier times.

Vy and JD had a marriage begun with pregnancy that produced a stillborn child. Their union was formed with an expectation and promise that never delivered. Yet Vy has the power, and rules the household because "she controls the cash flow." When Kimmie, exiled to the South by Vy at a young age, returns to Detroit as a sluttish, free-spirited teenager, Rae is overwhelmed with joy. Kimmie's return is like a breath of fresh air, a "rush of light wind in the motionless air of family life," but her presence ultimately disturbs the precarious balance between her mother, her father and herself."

Caught between her love for Vy and her undivided loyalty to JD, Rae decides to stay with her father in Detroit, rather than return to the south with Vy, Kimmie and Cyril. But a terrible car accident, and the arrival of JD's irascible, god-fearing sister, Aunt Essie - one of the most lovable characters - force Rae to grow up fast. Rae comes to the realization that the idea of protection, of a reliable shield against fate is nothing but a mean farce. Rae loves her "papa" and resigns to stay with him through thick and thin, because his love for her is unconditional and absolute. As a teenager, she sees other men as either weak or mean, letting their women steal away in broad daylight, trapping themselves into sad marriages or violently beating their girlfriends. Rae soon learns that men take what they can get, but women can control things - there's a "power dance around money."

David has written a lively coming-of-age tale that is infused with the sounds and sights of the seventies - the music, the Afros, and the bell-bottoms. The sounds of Stevie Wonder are constant, and his own mother is one of the supporting characters who come to play cards, drink and socialize with Vy. Davis's writing has a force and precision, which is so careful and pressurized, that sentence-by-sentence, word-by-word, she locates a true, nuanced path through this potentially disastrous story. The characters are funny, plausible, and tragically frail; but it is the shear niceness of them, especially Rae, that keeps the reader involved in the story. Shifting Through Neutral is nicely paced, has a lovely sense of timing, and is probably one of the best accounts of "growing up" I've read in a long time. Mike Leonard July 04.

The trouble with reviewing a book like Bridgett M. Davis' Shifting Through Neutral (HarperCollins 2004) is that Davis' first novel contains such elegance and subtlety that any attempt to analyze it is like explaining the punch line to a joke. The normal business of the reviewer becomes as meaningless and gauche as watching Anna Pavlova dance with Tigger. In looking for themes, for an angle to glom onto and extract, I feel like I am committing the waste observed by Davis' narrator as the auto manufacturers submit their models to corrosion testing, "defacing a thing of beauty in order to see how much abuse it could take".

This novel doesn't just tell a story. In fact, it's short on plot and very character-driven. It exposes the soul of a middle-class black family in 1970's Detroit through the eyes of young Rae Dodson. Her father is disabled by crippling migraines and her emotionally-distant mother is popping Valium when her older half-sister, Kimmie, returns from New Orleans where she vanished years ago to live with her father, their mother's one true love. Kimmie's return stirs in Rae a desire to understand her splintered family, to understand the mixed blessings of coming into womanhood, and to find what freedom truly means to her. But, when Kimmie's father comes for them, Rae is forced to confront the price of freedom and define the kind of person she wants to become.

Davis' work is all the more impressive given how badly it could have failed. A novel without a strong plot runs the risk of being a phenomenal bore. Yet she combines a beautiful, haunting prose with fully developed characters who are engaging and have depth while making it all seem effortless. The characters are three-dimensional, coming to life off pages of evocative imagery and very little exposition. Davis doesn't describe Rae; she allows the reader to come to know Rae.

Subtlety is by far Davis' strongest gift as a novelist. She uses her central images of cars, driving, and the road for the full range of those metaphors without ever manipulating the reader emotionally or, indeed, ever even allowing us to see the mechanics of what she's doing. The impact of Rae's observations about her family, about her job at the GM Proving Ground, about her awkward and tumultuous early love affairs brush over the reader's senses like gossamer cobwebs on sensitive flesh.

For this reason alone, Davis deserves recognition for writing important literary fiction and important African-American fiction specifically. Rae's voice as the narrator is undeniably the voice of a Midwestern black girl describing the lives of a black family with a realism and poignancy rarely found in popular fiction. She masterfully focuses on race while utterly transcending it - never portraying black families in the way white readers expect or want to hear, yet never allowing her readers to think the Dodson family "just happens to be black". This is both a black novel and an American novel and to place one over the other would be a disgrace to Davis' work.

Living in Motor City and watching those she loves take to the open road gives Rae a passion for cars and the independence they represent for her. Her story is that of the capricious nature of fate that comes with freedom. Sometimes thrilling, often cruel, and always unpredictable, Shifting Through Neutral exposes part of what it really means to be human, to love and be loved by an imperfect family, and to step fully into life.

Told in first person from the viewpoint of Rae Dodson, a nine year old girl who sleeps on her father's back. For me, this was a satisfying read. I loved all of the characters, even the ones I should have disliked, I loved, because the writer did so well developing even the most minor characters.

After discovering that this book was set in Detroit, I rushed out and bought it the same day it was released. I was excited about the book because it seemed unique. The story of a daddy's girl also appealed to me because I was never that and secretly longed to be. All of the characters in the book were memorable and interesting. I understood the mother with all of her faults, and I appreciated JD the father and his love for his child.

If you're looking for a lot of drama, you won't find it in this book, but there is a hint of mystery involving JD, Rae, and JD's stepdaughter Kimmie that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Also, the book was set in the 70's and the writer did an excellent job of placing the reader in that era. Similar to listening to an old song that triggers memories, this book did the same for me as I was a young child who grew up in Detroit in the 70's.

If you're looking for beautiful prose and a book with a realistic feel that will thrust you into the story, this is the book I would recommend reading.

SHIFTING THROUGH NEUTRAL is a coming of age novel about a young girl's passage into womanhood. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, little Rae Dodson attempts to keep the peace between her severely depressed mother and dangerously hypertensive father, while trying to find her way. As life often is, Rae's journey is a bittersweet one.

SHIFTING THROUGH NEUTRAL is a very realistic depiction of families that have fallen apart, yet remain together. The complex interpersonal relationships between family members are explored, such as the father-daughter and husband-wife dynamic. The language used to portray the story adds to its realism. I liked the backdrop of cars and driving with sections of the book corresponding with Rae's life titled Idling, and Accelerating, which was fitting since the story is set in Detroit, the Motor City.

This melancholy story is long and drawn out at times and loses it's momentum at parts. The novel did not grab my full attention all the way through. It is a good quality story, yet a slow paced read. I enjoyed reading the story about this fictional Detroit family. If you want to be taken back in time, at a leisurely pace to a time forgotten, you will enjoy SHIFTING THROUGH NEUTRAL.

Reviewed by Aiesha Flowers

of The RAWSISTAZ™Reviewers

Shifting Through Neutral was an awesome book. It was wonderfully written. The story is told through the eyes of Rae, an adolescent, who is growing up in Detroit in a dysfunctional family, to say the least. Her mother due to personal problems, withdraws from Rae causing problems and repercussions that last with Rae into adulthood. Her father, who Rae idolizes, is also dealing with failed health problems and side effects resulting from a lost love. This book was a refreshing read. It's different than other books on the market. It truly is a remarkable fiction novel debut.

An exceprt of Davis's novel is available online, for free, at http://narrativemagazine.com

SHIFTING THROUGH NEUTRAL tells the story of Rae Dobson, a young girl whose allegiance to her father causes her to face painful but life-altering experiences. The story is set in 1970's Detroit and is a tasty slice of memorabilia that takes you back to a time that is founded upon Motown music (Stevie Wonder), bicycles with banana seats, TV shows like Chico and the Man, and adventurous rides to Belle Isle park.

Bridgett M. Davis has written a book that is a flavorful delight. This writer is tough with a pen; her words evoke sharp images, and she is adept at taking you into the past. I marveled at her accurate descriptions of 70's Detroit life. If you grew up during this time, it's like she's describing your childhood, escorting you back into time, and causing you to reflect on how life was, and how it is now.

If you love well-written stories with a strong feel for nostalgia, family, and the joys and pains of growing up, you may also find great value in SHIFTING THROUGH NEUTRAL.

In order to appreciate what Bridgett Davis' debut novel is, you first should know what it isn't.

Is is not titilating erotica or a fun-n-funny beach date. And although Shifting Through Neutral's characters are African American, this is no grimy urban tale. Such genres are respectively wonderful, but one need not expect anything comparable with Davis' work.

Set amid the nostalgia of Detroit during the Motown era, Shifting Through Neutral is the stylistically fresh coming into adulthood tale of a fully developed protagonist named Rae Dodson. It is a beautifully written story about family, loyalty, self discovery, and first loves during their most deliciously awkward times.

No, in this novel you won't get that coveted urge to rush through the plot to see what happens next, even when Rae must decide to which of her seperated parents she should cling tightest. Instead, what you will find are snippets of life so interesting to read that you will want to pace yourself. You'll want to savor passages, to read sections one deep breath at a time.

Sure, you'll look forward to the distance of having read it all, but then you'll close the book and sigh when it's over. And then, hauntingly, you'll find yourself wanting to go back and experience the pains and the triumphs all over again. In so many ways it is a beautiful literary experience.

This book had depth and creativity. It was exceptionally entertaining. The author pulls you in from the very first sentence. I loved this book.

I thought the book was exceptional. I loved the relationship between Rae and her father, JD. They represent many families we may know of or have been a part of. It was well written and a fast read. You were able to connect with the character. It had me crying at the end. I'm looking forward to more books by this author.