Customer Reviews

Signifying Nothing

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Signifying Nothing has something for almost everyone: readers who are parents will identify with the Hobbs family's child-raising challenges, for example, and those who came of age in the 1970s will appreciate the evocative period detail. (I owned some of those albums!)

Readers will no doubt engage in a game of "which character or sibling are you?" when done with the book: straight-laced, responsible Sherrie? Bright, but trouble-prone Greg?

It would be wonderful to see a version on the big screen one day--I picture Oprah Winfrey as the stoic matriarch Maddie and Michael Douglas as the devious neurologist Dr. Greer. I hope Clifford Thompson is ready when Hollywood comes knocking!

As we go through the hustle of day-to-day life, we sometimes become oblivious to how much of our lives is not really being lived at all. We take a great deal for granted, and for some that is not really understood until we come in contact with someone who we see as less fortunate than ourselves.

It can be a person who is missing a limb, unable to speak, hear or see---and sometimes it can be someone whose mind appears to have betrayed them. We look at such individuals as broken, somehow less than us because of what we see, however, sometimes it is such individuals who may look at us as the ones to be pitied.

Think about it: No matter how much we try to control what goes on in our 24 hours each day, how much of it is really in our control? Anything can come up that could change our circumstances forever. Such is the case with the characters we meet in Clifford Thompson's book SIGNIFYING NOTHING. We meet individuals who have been living with a family member that some saw as worthless. He was seen as slow and a burden to those around him, until one day he did the unthinkable: He proved them wrong.

The simple act of speaking sets in motion a chain reaction that puts the entire family on a path they least expected. Everyone, from the parents and siblings, have to deal with the world they had become accustomed to changing forever. And with that you get to see how much they have their own shortcomings and challenges to deal with.

If nothing else, SIGNIFYING NOTHING will definitely have you reconsider what you see as 'normal' in your life--- and in the lives of others for that matter. Through the captivating storyline and the characters you will find yourself relating to more than you'd like, you will walk away satisfied from the literary experience, ready for more.

In Clifford Thompson's debut novel, Signifying Nothing, the Hobbs family deals with the sudden "rapping" ability of their mentally challenged youngest child, Lester, who has been mute since birth. Set in 1979 in Washington, D.C., Pat and Madelyn are parents to Sherrie, a promising chemistry student at Johns Hopkins University, Greg, an average student at Howard University and Lester. Lester's impromptu outbursts of past family events performed in rhyme at the top of his lungs sets off a series of flashbacks and a re-examination of their feelings toward Lester and each other.

The novel spends equal time on each character as they revisit their pasts while grappling with what to do about Lester's condition. The siblings react differently to their role as Lester's protector against neighborhood bullies and their mother's constantly doting. Their unresolved issues regarding Lester profoundly shape their attitudes, affect their interpersonal relationships, and influence their choices in puberty and adulthood. The parents must face their past losses and missed opportunities. At times, the novel seemed a bit analytical, and not just in terms of Lester's diagnosis, but also with the self-scrutiny and inner monologues of each character.

The novel has universal appeal in terms of family dynamics during crises, subtle references to social commentaries on music, generational gaps, and a bit of sardonic humor. Audiences wishing to peek into middle-class Black America and a family dealing with mentally challenged members should consider this offering.

This novel was provided by the author for purposes of review.

Reviewed by Phyllis

Date: January 10, 2010

APOOO BookClub

As one of the reviewers on Amazon sees hints of Jane Austen, Signifying Nothing seems a bit Faulknerish to me with some of Alice Walker. But Thompson is not those, and Signifying Nothing is almost as unique as its author. Only after a week's reflection, am I recognizing how skillfully this writer uses the disability of his main character to unfold the helix of the intergenerational relationships of a middle class black DC family, one in which I, a middle class Anglo, see images of my own family. While this is not destined to be an American classic, this is a book I am glad I have read. I only wish Thompson would have made it longer. I'm hoping for his next novel -- only, 400 pages or more, hopefully.

I laughed out loud when Lester, the retarded brother in "Signifying Nothing," began to chant/rant/rap/signify the not-very-exciting moments of his life. In the long run, it made me realize how very important those moments of love and mundanity really are.

"Sister born in fifty-six--they put her IN the big room/

Brother came in fifty-eight and got the LITtle room soon./

I was born and then my brother took the BIG room with me/

Sister got the little room and we three SLEPT hap-pi-ly..."

Thompson writes like a dream. The parents' and siblings' worries about how the community would handle a formerly mute, now rapping, retarded young man and family member and how Lester would now come across, reminded me in the best way of Jane Austen.

The love in this family is subtle and beautiful, and is the stuff we all need to be reminded of now.

There is sadness, too, and the best books give us this range of emotion.

A great story, ostensibly about a 19 year old boy, long ago labeled as retarded, who suddenly speaks for the first time. This look into the lives of a working-class black family in Washington DC is a refreshing peek into the relationships between a family torn, not by drugs, violence or a dead-beat dad, but suffering the psychological toll caused by decades of failed attempts at meaningful communication among spouses, parents and siblings of the Hobbs clan. A universal story that transcends "urban fiction", Signifying Nothing is a promising debut. Lester Hobbs, in particular, deserves a novel all his own.