Mama Day

Rating:
Summary: Naylor Gives Us Reason to Rejoice About the "Day"
Review: Never have I ever read a novel so richly fulfilling to the human soul, and to the human sense of what matters in life as "Mama Day."

Readers beware: this book is best for those weary souls who have succumbed to sarcasm, cynicism and pessimism growing like weeds around the heart.

Naylor may begin her story with a little island called Willow Springs, and she may tempt us and draw us in with promises of adventure, history, a search for long-buried treasure and mystery, but ultimately this book is about faith. It is not your everyday brand of faith that may be conjured when it seems there is a hardship abrewing. No, this is the type of deep down, didn't-know-you-had-it-still-burning-within-you, long forgotten, but still important brand of faith in humanity, and in love which makes each day worth living. Lots of us have lost it. Lots of us have forgotten that it makes this life a lot easier to live. Lots of us have given up on ever seeing it again.

However, with Naylor's stunning, and accurate comprehension of the way love exists between two hearts, no soiled soul will go untilled. It is almost as if Miss Gloria had the privilege of serving an internship with love itself at an early age. She writes what we think. She writes what we feel. She does all this, sometimes, before we have ever thought it or felt it. She does this without knowing if we ever have thought it or felt it. But when you put this book down, you will think it, you will feel it.

The way that Naylor dualistically narrates this book, whether it is an exchange between George and Cocoa, or a discourse between Mama Day and Cocoa, gives us the chance to believe that the same center exists at the core of every human soul. She bares her knowledge of human frailty to us to make us understand that we are not alone in our struggles against time, space, and even faith itself.

This book changed the way I think and believe. This book will change the way you meet, and acquaint yourself with people. I could never suggest anything better for one's self than reading "Mama Day."

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book Ever.
Review: Gloria Naylor is a master storyteller. Her characters are vividly drawn, her humor is by turns laugh-out-load funny or subtlely sarcastic, and her prose quite often caused this reader to sit back and savor the sheer creativity, beauty and freshness of the images Ms. Naylor creates.

She uses an interesting narrative technique where two chapters describe the same events, only one is from the perspective of Cocoa and the next from the perspective of George, the niece and 'nephew-in-law' of the title character. This creates a compelling love story, where the reader is allowed into the minds of both participants.

Mama Day, the title character and a wonderfully realized force of nature, is the matriarch of both the Day family and the entire population of Willow Springs, an island loosely a part of the United States but not any particular state.

This setting seems reminiscent of the Gullah Islands, where African-Americans have had freedom, land, and relative isolation since the early 1800's, and it allows Naylor to create characters who appear to be much more victorious over life than in some other novels by African-American authors. This novel is not about suffering with dignity. Rather, the inhabitants of Willow Springs have an idea there's something not quite right with those on the 'mainland', ie the rest of the country. In many ways, they appear to be right!

This is a masterpiece of contemporary literature, a pleasure to experience. "Mama Day" is an entertaining and original look at family, community, and love. With a litte voodoo sprinkled in for good measure.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Brilliant! Powerful! A genius of a writer! Prose worthy of a Pulitzer! Would that I could aspire to be such a great writer. Naylor's style is at times playful, other times penetrating, piercing the soul of the reader with vivid images of the small town and colorful characters. Subject matter is a little dark for me (especially toward the end) but the writing is superb!

Rating:
Summary: Rest your Weary Soul a little While Longer
Review: This is the second Naylor book I ever read. I have now read them all. This book, in my opinion, along with Bailey's Cafe and to some extent Linden Hills put her in my trinity of greatest living writers, along with Morrison and Kingsolver. Willow Springs is a good place to go to die at peace. I hope I find such a place when it is my time. There were long stretches when, like the other two women on my "best list", I would be lost on that little island and the real world would be hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. I did not want to cross over that bridge into the mainland anymore than Mama Day or most of the other residents of Willow Springs. This is a book you want to spend the rest of your life in. But fear not, Gloria has a few more stories, so read it up and partake of the others, when you finish ALL of Gloria's books, then I recommend doing the same with Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver. Like Morrison, Naylor weaves a magic, a spiritual, a mystic layer into her story that does not seem incredible in the least, in fact, it is hard to imagine a world where such magic does not exist while you are reading, even if you are, as I am, a die-hard skeptic in the real world. This is one of the 10 best books written since Faulkner died, in my opinion, and Bailey's Cafe is another of those 10. There are other good living writers out there today, but none compare to the least of these three ladies works, and in my opinion, this even with Paradise, Song of Solomon, Prodigal Summer, The Bean Trees, and better than Pigs in Heaven and Beloved! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Moving and Lyrical
Review: Once I began reading Mama Day, Gloria Naylor's folklore novel, I just couldn't put it down. This is one of the best books I've ever read. The plot was kind of slow-building, but as I got to know everyone in Willow Springs, I felt like they were family. Cocoa and George were a moving couple, and it just broke my heart when ... oh well, I won't give away the ending. What really impressed me about Mama Day was the strength of Naylor's writing. Having to juggle three completely different character plots, she managed to give each one an authentic voice. The depth of her characterization was truly amazing. If you want to read a book that is moving, hilarious, and mythical, please read Mama Day.

Rating:
Summary: What a day! What a day!
Review: I try very hard not to use the word "genius" when describing or reviewing books and stories that I read because I think it takes genius to recognize genius. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a genius.

Words almost fail me when trying to think of something to write that will make others understand what I mean and what I FEEL about this book, this story.

I read it slowly because that is the way the story unfolded to me. It couldn't be rushed. It refused to be rushed because there was so much it had to tell. The simplicity of it is what makes it so ethereal and larger than life. Gloria Naylor has a grip and taskmaster like command of language and can bend and shape it to her will. This book has left an indelible mark on my psyche, my soul. The love story was just one component of the book and not even the best part, but the story as a whole wraps itself around you tightly. It rocks you gently and leaves you reeling. Just like finding a lover such as that, I know it will be a long time before I find another story that touches me so deeply.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing.
Review: Mama Day is a wonderful, powerful book. The people and places are described so vividly that at times it is difficult to remember that you aren't in Willow Springs with them, you are just reading a book about them. Intense and insightful, one of the best books I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: Below the Maxon-Dixon Line, deep within African heritage, and nestled between southern hospitality and family we find Gloria Naylor's Willow Springs. This story book community holds everything enchanting about the south; the sweet sounding southern drawl,homecooking,hot summer days,and knowing that you can always come home. Naylor's Cocoa journeys to New York to forge her own identity where she finds true love. Ironically, it is her love interest, George, that brings her closer to her community. Cocoa is aided by her "perfect mother," her grandmother and her great aunt Mama Day. Naylor masters the art of storytelling through her vivid imagery and varying perspectives. This book holds a permanent place on my bookshelf! I recommend it for anyone looking for a good read or just a piece of home.

Rating:
Summary: Naylor Gives Us Reason to Rejoice About the "Day"
Review: Never have I ever read a novel so richly fulfilling to the human soul, and to the human sense of what matters in life as "Mama Day."

Readers beware: this book is best for those weary souls who have succumbed to sarcasm, cynicism and pessimism growing like weeds around the heart.

Naylor may begin her story with a little island called Willow Springs, and she may tempt us and draw us in with promises of adventure, history, a search for long-buried treasure and mystery, but ultimately this book is about faith. It is not your everyday brand of faith that may be conjured when it seems there is a hardship abrewing. No, this is the type of deep down, didn't-know-you-had-it-still-burning-within-you, long forgotten, but still important brand of faith in humanity, and in love which makes each day worth living. Lots of us have lost it. Lots of us have forgotten that it makes this life a lot easier to live. Lots of us have given up on ever seeing it again.

However, with Naylor's stunning, and accurate comprehension of the way love exists between two hearts, no soiled soul will go untilled. It is almost as if Miss Gloria had the privilege of serving an internship with love itself at an early age. She writes what we think. She writes what we feel. She does all this, sometimes, before we have ever thought it or felt it. She does this without knowing if we ever have thought it or felt it. But when you put this book down, you will think it, you will feel it.

The way that Naylor dualistically narrates this book, whether it is an exchange between George and Cocoa, or a discourse between Mama Day and Cocoa, gives us the chance to believe that the same center exists at the core of every human soul. She bares her knowledge of human frailty to us to make us understand that we are not alone in our struggles against time, space, and even faith itself.

This book changed the way I think and believe. This book will change the way you meet, and acquaint yourself with people. I could never suggest anything better for one's self than reading "Mama Day."

Rating:
Summary: Naylor Helps Us Rejoice in Greeting the New "Day"
Review: Somewhat akin to the imagery and evocative language of Toni Morrison's "Beloved," Naylor's "Mama Day" twists small community folklore with a need and a desire to believe in the human spirit. By juxtaposing the interactions of a small population on the island of Willow Springs with the hustle and bustle of the impersonal scene of New York city, Naylor crafts heartbreakingly accurate depictions of a love between a man and a woman against the backdrop of a greater, and more powerful impetus: history. Naylor uses dueling narratives by speaking from the voices of Mama Day, the grand aunt and matriarch of our story, George, the New York native, orphaned engineer and Cocoa, Day's grand niece who is the unassuming protagonist of the whole tale. By framing her story with these three perspectives there is no detail which may be categorized as human frailty or human nobility which Naylor neglects. The story speaks to any heart, in any place, and any time. It would behoove everyone to read this book, I guarantee the reader will learn something important about his or herself.