|
|
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Here we are . . . the Johnson girls.", May 8, 2004
The posted reviews make clear that students are being asked to read this book at too young an age. I teach the book to my college students, and they too struggle with the stories, which are sometimes puzzling. At a first go-through, the reader is in the position of the two Northerners in "Mississippi Ham Rider," who go down South to interview a famous blues singer and get tested by locals who won't make the task of locating the singer easy. In fact, the book teaches you how to read it as you move through it. Rarely has a collection of stories been more tightly unified and balanced. The stories vary point of view, and do not reflect the perspective of one person, although some characters come back in various stories. Perhaps the hardest one in the book is the title story ("Gorilla, My Love"). Here the author uses a difficult stream-of-consciousness style to convey the mental condition of Hazel, a young girl heartbroken to learn that her uncle ("Hunca Bubba") is not going to marry her like he promised he would. Hazel innocently believed that that when you say something, you stick by it. The point of view initially obscures the problem Hazel has, but finally reveals it: she hasn't grown up yet. Bambara introduces difficult flows of thought and unclear words into the story to confuse the reader and make her feel like Hazel does. Thus the reader identifies with the character just by reading the story. (By the way, the film Hazel sees named "Gorilla, My Love" is about the crucifixion of Jesus, and it has no gorilla in it--which is exactly the point: you often don't get what you expect out of life, but must take what it gives and work with it.) The strongest stories here are "My Man Bovanne," "Gorilla, My Love," "Raymond's Run," "The Hammer Man," "The Lesson" (my personal favorite), and the final story, "The Johnson Girls," which pulls the themes of the book together when Gail stands up and says that as a group, all the women can come up with "a sure-fire program" to help one of them win back the man she wants. That's the author's ultimate message: in isolation we lose out, but together there is nothing we can't accomplish. Of course, Bambara is right.
|