zuira

Here is a book that is overflowing with femininity: its main characters, its imagery, its symbolism are all boldly and unapologetically female. Yet, despite the fact that its unmistakably sappy and downright mushy in parts, the last thing it deserves is to be shoved off into a corner and dismissed as an un-serious girly-book. What Kidd has given us here is a profound exploration of mother-daughter relationships and the ways in which such relationships draw us to a deeper understanding of humans' relation to God and the Spiritual. The matriarchal character August sums things up nicely when she tells the protagonist, "You see, everybody needs a God who looks like them, Lily" (141). Lily, a fourteen-year-old white girl in South Carolina, has been starved of mother-figures for most of her life and feels an indescribable urge to place her hand on a statue of a black Virgin Mary and feel united to the community of black women into which she has imposed herself. Her story is one in which traditional hierarchies of male-female, black-white, and even parent-child are examined and stripped apart, replaced by an unqualified, inscrutable, unconditional love. It is in the actualization of such love that Lily is able to move toward an understanding of her individual value. This is a book that I most earnestly recommend to everyone I know. Appreciate the occasional lapses into gratuitous mushiness for what they are; have a good cry. Then be amazed by the intricate imagery, the memorable characters, and how the story implores you toward a deeper understanding of God-as-Mother and what it really means to be a child.

2022-11-14 18:31