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Title details for Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden - Available

Nowhere Is a Place

by Bernice L. McFadden
Myra Lucretia Taylor
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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Sherry has struggled all her life to understand who she is, where she comes from, and, most importantly, why her mother slapped her cheek one summer afternoon. The incident has haunted Sherry, and it causes her to dig into her family's past. Like many family histories, it is fractured and reluctant to reveal its secrets; but Sherry remains determined. In just a few days' time, her extended family will gather for a reunion, and Sherry sets off across the country with her mother, Dumpling, to join them. What Sherry and Dumpling find on their trip is nothing less than the assorted pieces of their family's past. Pulled together, they reveal a history of amazing survival and abundant joy.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 1, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781538473511
      • File size: 261297 KB
      • Duration: 09:04:22

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 5, 2005
      McFadden's Sugar
      and other titles remain key recent novels of black women's search for, and claiming of, origins; this flawed but engrossing multigenerational saga takes its place among them. Pregnant and chronically "displaced" at 38, Sherry sets off with her mother, Dumpling, on a road trip from Nevada to a family reunion in Georgia. Along the way, she presses the reluctant Dumpling for family stories, intending to write a history as a project of self-discovery. The road trip sections are awkward and perfunctory, but Sherry's transformations of Dumpling's stories—creating a book-within-a-book reaching back 150 years—are terrific. One memorable section relates how a group of slaves cannily manages to take over the plantation from its deranged master; a later section tells of Dumpling's mother, Lillie, who fled Georgia for a wild life in Philadelphia; a puzzling slap Sherry received from Dumpling at a family get-together is also eventually explained. With her deep engagement in the material and her brisk but lyrical prose, McFadden creates a poignant epic of resiliency, bringing Sherry to a well-earned awareness of her place atop the shoulders of her ancestors, those who survived so that she might one day, too.

    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2006
      Pregnant and unsettled about her life -s direction, Sherry, an African American, persuades her mother, Clementine -Dumpling - Jackson, to drive with her from Nevada to Georgia for a family reunion. Sherry, now in her thirties, has been traveling the world, drifting from man to man trying to find where she belongs. She has been mostly estranged from her mother since taking up with a white piano player. Catching him cheating, Sherry leaves Chicago for Mexico, where she meets a new man. To continue her recovery, she wants to write a book in order to understand her past. Once on the road, Sherry shares her plan and asks Dumpling to tell her some of the family tales. McFadden ("Sugar") cleverly weaves this story within a story, sparing little of the murder, rape, and incest the family has endured. While emotional, McFadden -s prose avoids sentimentality as it traces Sherry -s journey to understanding and forgiveness. Myra Lucretia Taylor -s reading adds vitality to the story and skillfully captures the dialects of Dumpling and her descendants. Recommended for larger public libraries." -Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo"

      Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sherry looks forward to a road trip with her estranged mother, Dumpling, as a chance to delve into family history and better understand her own struggle to find a sense of belonging. Myra Lucretia Taylor's narration takes the listener into the simmering tension between the no-nonsense mother and bohemian daughter, who are, nevertheless, almost mirror images of each other. Taylor creates unforgettable voices for a variety of characters as Dumpling's stories unfold a 150-year genealogy and stimulate long overdue dialogue. Through Taylor's lyrical portraits, listeners grow to understand how the family stories of slavery, brutality, and survival finally empower Sherry to share the secret she has withheld from her mother. K.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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