Billy

Rating:
Summary: Racism Depicted at its Worst
Review: "Billy" is a poignant, literally heartbreaking novel that exposes racism in a fictional small Mississippi town in the 1930's. Albert French did a brilliant job in using an anonymous narrator to relate the tragic story of "Billy". The author also expertly captures the horrendous effects of racism. This one I wasn't ready for. This story will stay with me for a very long time.

Rating:
Summary: Racism Depicted at its Worst
Review: "Billy" is a poignant, literally heartbreaking novel that exposes racism in a fictional small Mississippi town in the 1930's. Albert French did a brilliant job in using an anonymous narrator to relate the tragic story of "Billy". The author also expertly captures the horrendous effects of racism. This one I wasn't ready for. This story will stay with me for a very long time.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most heartwrenching books I've ever read
Review: 1937. Mississippi. Two teenage girls. Two young boys, ages ten and twelve. A fight ensues and one of the girls ends up dead. The community is outraged and more interested in revenge than justice. Why? The girls are white and the boys are black. Should that matter? Regardless, it does. French unapologetically drops the reader right into the times with all its prejudices glaring. It's impossible to avoid an emotional reaction to Billy. The grief of the families' losses, Billy's confusion about what's happening to him as well as what happened during the fight, and the blatant racism all serve to make the reader question whether things have really changed since 1937 or whether all that racism really just boiling under the surface searching for any excuse to break free.

Rating:
Summary: Bad style
Review: As a grammar-fiend, I must say that this book is really lacking. I realise it was written in the vernacular for a purpose, but really, after only 4 pages I found continuing to read the monstrous grammar painful. This book is practically a guide to how to speak as if one never had any schooling.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, well written, tearjerker!
Review: Billy is a must read! It tells a heart tugging story about a young boy on death row. This book is well written and will leave you thinking about Billy long after the last page is turned. I highly recommend this book. This would be a great choice as a book club selection.

Rating:
Summary: A profoundly visceral work of fiction
Review: I felt every breath of emotion that Albert French's characters experienced. Mr. French has crafted an incredibly powerful story with a precision of language and structure. Every scene builds on the one before it. Characters and their situations evolve into a heart wrenching crescendo of emotional devastation. The screams of Billy's mother still resonate -- echo in my mind and spirit... three years after initially reading this story. Also, Mr. French brings the ignorance and prejudice of the time period alive. He masterfully bludgeons us with the brutality of it through desciption and dialogue. The reader must grapple with his/her own perspective of racism and its history. There is no easy way out. I highly recommend reading this book aloud. Many of my high school students from years past, still talk about this one book, read aloud to them in class. Like Toni Morrison's Beloved, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Ernest Gaines The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Albert French's Billy becomes a part of the way you view the world.

Rating:
Summary: amazing.....
Review: I found myself crying for Billy and Lori when they reached their early deaths. This book was powerful yet discreet. Everything happened in short pieces. If you don't pay attention to every word that is said then you'll miss the full effect. It is more like a few stories in one. So much stuff is going on. I could actually feel the pain. This book made me want to reach into the pages and give Billy a hug. Very good book. I suggest that anyone with a soft spot for the young and young at heart to have a box of kleenex close!

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, well written, tearjerker!
Review: Powerful best sums up this book. This book spoke to me on a number of different levels all going back to deep seated racism. The acts of 1937 as described in this book still continue in 2003. When are we going to be able to say that it has finally come to an end. Billy, only 10 years old, a child in every way is convicted of the murder of Lori Pasko a firey tempered 15 year old red headed white girl. True he did it, but there was no such thing it seemed as self defense. The parties that were there at the time of the murder admitted that Billy- young, scrawny, frightened, was trying to get away but Lori kept coming. His remedy in a child's mind was to fight back with his knife. Those are the facts. My anger comes in to play when his friend is made to testify against him, he's not allowed to see his mother, it doesn't seem he was given benefit of seeking counsel. He doesn't understand the charges that are brought against him, he doesnt' understand the system and nobody is going to explain it to him either. He is black, no matter what the age, and because of his race he'll pay the ultimate price. He's 10 and on death row and the great state of Mississippi carries through with it.

Read this story, it will affect you, you will feel something with this work of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: The truth of racism speaks out.
Review: The Truth of Racism Speaks Out Billy, by Albert French Racism is seen everyday and is avoided. Not many people take action in racism. If most people heard a racism comment, they would ignore it like nothing happen. Albert French goes straight to the point and tackles the problem in the great novel Billy. French joins the elite writers and stabs racism in the back with Billy. French draws up a masterpiece in Billy with his plot, characters and setting. This book shows the reality of racism, and it is a book that everyone should read and learn about the tragedies of the past. No one will walk away after reading this book and not be disturbed. That's how powerful this novel is. "May be the best novel by a black author since Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye." For the price of $9.95, it is a true steal. Billy takes place in Banes County, Mississippi, in 1937. Billy, who is 10, and Gumpy, who is 12, are the main characters and live in the shacks of a small town. Racism is a common occurrence in this town. The blacks live in small shacks and are separated from the whites. One day, Billy and Gumpy pass the forsaken line, that splits the blacks from the whites. No black person is suppose to pass this line. Billy and Gumpy are looking for turtles in the nearby pond. Two angry white girls come and beat and chase the boys off. Billy takes out a knife and stabs one of the girls, and the girl shortly dies later from the stab wound. The whole town hears about this and "all hell brakes lose". The newspaper hits the town, with articles saying, "Two Niger boys killed a young innocent white girl". Billy and Gumpy get caught by the local Sheriff and are placed in jail for later trial. This outrageous event affects the entire community. The white townspeople burn Gumpy's house. The white people just increased their racism ways. It's amazing how this event changes the whole town. Billy is found guilty of first- degree murder and is sentenced to death by the electric chair, but Gumpy is place in an all boys camp until he is an adult. It's amazing how much trouble, two boys get for just using self-defense. It is real disturbing. French picks the perfect setting for this story. It's hard to find a place with more racism than deep in the South, in a state like Mississippi. French chooses a small town located in the central Mississippi. The United States has a lot of racism in 1937 and has not yet healed this problem. It is a perfect setting for a great disturbing racism novel. The characters are just well written. Billy, a ten year old, is a young innocent black child living in a white's world, who looks and acts too innocent to do anything wrong. Billy never realizes what he has done or what he is going to get until the very end. Billy keeps on thinking that he is going home during the whole time he is held in jail, "Mama when do we gits to go home. I wanna to go home, Mama". Gumpy, is a perfect angel that never does anything wrong. He is always paranoid that he will get in trouble, "Come on Billy lets go home, I don't want to git in any trouble." Gumpy mixes in with Billy, which is the wrong crowd for him. Gumpy never takes any blame for any of his actions, because he never admits he did anything wrong and blames the whole thing on Billy. "Billy, I never did the killen, you did the whole thing, I'm a good boy". The plot is just well written and keeps you in the edge of your chair for the entire story. It is a definite "page turner". "Billy's strength is not strictly as a novel; it lives as theater. It is a folk opera that moves with unfaltering pace to its shattering climax". The writing style fits the story perfectly like a true masterpiece. Albert French uses the South accents in dialog during his novel. Even though during the middle of the story it tends to drag on a little bit, French's novel truly over comes this problem with great writing style. In conclusion, French wrote a masterpiece. "Although you only know Billy Lee Turner for an all too brief 214 pages, you will mourn his death for the rest of your life. That's how powerfully and dramatically written this book is". This book is a definite buy and is a crime if you do not. It teaches the truth and sadness of racism of the early 1900's. "A work of art, Billy never lets up, not for a minute. The images rush straight to your brain". Billy is relentless, powerful, and should not be missed. This author deserves congratulations for this masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Awesome
Review: This book sat on my bookshelf for years and I finally picked it up. It took a while to get into at first, because of the language and writing style, but once I finally got it, I GOT IT!
I was almost in tears at the end. Great storytelling and storyline. French was able to capture the spirit of the southern mentality and bring it to light - straight no chaser.