I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous!
Review: An absolutely incredible book that took me on a trip to South Carolina where I met a strong woman, Marietta Cook, who never moaned over her bad decisions, but made them work. I am so tired of those novels where the women continuously make bad decisions, then beat themselves up about it and never just move on to make the best out of it. Loved the language and the descriptions.

Rating:
Summary: Suble treatment of prejudice within racial lines
Review: I began this novel for a book club assignment specifying books written about South Carolina, or by South Carolina authors. As I had lived in Charleston, SC, during my early adult years, I was excited to find a book that would evoke my memories of the black culture and language that I had become so familiar with. When I discovered that the author was a white woman with no apparent ties to Charleston or it's black subculture, I began the book with the expectation that it would be as authentic as southern accents are in Hollywood movies. Was I in for a surprise! The Gullah language was accurate enough to affect me for weeks on end, as my sentence structure and word choice reverted back to my Charleston days. But it was the term "blue-black," and its racial connotations, that completely convinced me that this author knew intimately the world she was portraying. Surprisingly, white people are relatively peripheral to this story and never directly abuse the main character or her sons, with the exception of a white child playing with her toddler twin sons as if they were pets of some sort. Marietta likewise distances herself from the Civil Rights movement and when asked to participate in a lunch counter sit-in, she sneaks out through the kitchen when things heat up. She had just wanted to be included, for once, and be a part of the black cultural family despite having no interest in Civil Rights per se. Because she is so black and so large, she is looked on with fear by her own race, who, in a sort of reverse prejudice that exists still, look down on those who appear most African. Browner skin tones, "good" hair, and less African features are all looked on as more attractive and desirable compared to Marietta's very dark countenance. This is the reason Marietta pushes her boys into succeeding at football. Their size and apparent fierceness is an asset in football but a liability in the world otherwise. Even as small children, her boys are routinely challenged to fight by other boys at their school, and Marietta fears that her sons will have an even harder time fitting into society than she does. Although she has fared well working as a domestic, she fears that her huge, very black sons may have problems with white culture, where, she has heard, cars have swerved off the road to hit black people walking along the road side. Although the book is criticised for the apparent superficiality of the California portion of the story, I felt the writer evoked the superficiality of the California culture and Marietta's struggle to once again fit into a culture that was foreign to her. Although appearing "African" made her assimilation into Charleston culture difficult, her appearance was accepted and even applauded in California, where diversity had a head start on the south. A white man, slightly drunk, approaches Marietta at a ballgame and askes her how she likes America, as he assumes from her African headwrap, bright clothing, and physical appearance, that she must be visiting from Africa. As the mother of celebrity pro football players, her "look" is accepted without question in California. She eventually is able to find a black community where she fits in, with a lake for fishing, and she leaves behind the world of row-on-row condos where people walk for exercise only, and to get anywhere you have to drive a car. Marietta comes to love herself, to accept her often difficult life, and to realize that no matter how much of an outsider she had felt herself to be in the past, she could always find "family" for support and help, no matter where she lived. This book is a wonderful coming-of-age story about a woman who is too black, too large, too "hard," and too silent (she never liked "she-she" talk) for even her own race to get to know, much less learn to understand her. The story immerses you in the Charleston black subculture that hasn't changed all that much since the time frame of the story. But my original question remains: How the heck does Susan Straight know so much about Marietta and her people?!

Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss This One!!!
Review: I finished this extraordinary book a few days ago and just can't let go...I actually found myself speaking in the Gullah dialect for a time,I so loved Marietta("such a feminine name for such a big old girl...makes me think of Lemon Pie...")I kept thinking the whole time I was reading that this should of been an "Oprah" choice.Susan Strait is white,which is fascinating to me...I too am white...but it seems to me she writes the black experience with so much feeling.All race issues aside,this is a womans story (a "Large Woman's"story, which I have never seen done so well) and a single mothers story...From the great title to the wonderful ending...if you read nothing else this summer...take this one along to the beach....and stop for fried catfish on the way!!!

Rating:
Summary: Her first and best
Review: I have followed Susan Straight since I first read a galley (pre-pub) edition of this novel, and I think this is her best work. She is on the mark in virtually every way: characters, language, imagery...even the cover art is wonderful! In fact, the promotional poster for it is hanging over my computer as I write this. A really good novel, but a really amazing FIRST novel. Much better than anything she wrote later, in fact. It's been years since I read it now, but this is one that has stuck with me. If you're hungry for more Susan Straight after this one, try Aquaboogie, an earlier novel-in-stories.

Rating:
Summary: This novel is the best kept secret! Excellent!
Review: I'm a lover of 1st novels and this one was pretty strong. Susan Straight has a wonderful sense of Neo-Realism and I Benn in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots displays this beautifully. Every nuance of detail is given it's due attention. Especially wonderful is Straight's grasp of the Gullah pidgeon and customs. This novel inspired an interest in me in the culture of the Gullah peoples. A majority of the story was captivating, until the relocation of the character, Marrieta, to California to be closer to her boys. This is toward the end of the book and from this point on, Straight's gripping accounts of people, conversations, and sights and smells seems to peter off somewhat. It read almost as though Straight had lost her steam toward the end of this novel and was just trying to finish it. I didn't feel as though, from the book, that Straight was trying to show that Marietta's life was starting to peter off, as the gripping nature of her novel did, and if this was Straight's intent, I feel she missed it or was just a little too rushed during the denouement. This latter part is the only thing that prevents me from rating this novel with 4 or 5 stars. I enjoyed the majority of this book so thoroughly that I intend to read at least one or two more of her novels, and I do recommend this book to others who enjoy first novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Strong 1st Novel With Beautifully Colorful Imagery
Review: I'm a lover of 1st novels and this one was pretty strong. Susan Straight has a wonderful sense of Neo-Realism and I Benn in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots displays this beautifully. Every nuance of detail is given it's due attention. Especially wonderful is Straight's grasp of the Gullah pidgeon and customs. This novel inspired an interest in me in the culture of the Gullah peoples. A majority of the story was captivating, until the relocation of the character, Marrieta, to California to be closer to her boys. This is toward the end of the book and from this point on, Straight's gripping accounts of people, conversations, and sights and smells seems to peter off somewhat. It read almost as though Straight had lost her steam toward the end of this novel and was just trying to finish it. I didn't feel as though, from the book, that Straight was trying to show that Marietta's life was starting to peter off, as the gripping nature of her novel did, and if this was Straight's intent, I feel she missed it or was just a little too rushed during the denouement. This latter part is the only thing that prevents me from rating this novel with 4 or 5 stars. I enjoyed the majority of this book so thoroughly that I intend to read at least one or two more of her novels, and I do recommend this book to others who enjoy first novel.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning debut novel, and daring in its delivery
Review: Incredible book. Funny, heartbreaking, brave, fearsome.
Marietta, the protagonist, is a large, "blue-black" pregnant teenager in the Gullah speaking region of South Carolina. Big Ma (her granny) delivers her of a set of surprise twin boys (a scene that I, a midwife, found particularly engaging), and the rest of the book is Marietta's struggles to do right by her two hulking sons. Not to give the end away, but football becomes their salvation.
The daring part of the book's construction is that huge sections of dialogue are rendered in accurate Gullah dialect. It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it flows beautifully and adds immeasurable richness to the reading.
Don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning debut novel, and daring in its delivery
Review: Incredible book. Funny, heartbreaking, brave, fearsome.
Marietta, the protagonist, is a large, "blue-black" pregnant teenager in the Gullah speaking region of South Carolina. Big Ma (her granny) delivers her of a set of surprise twin boys (a scene that I, a midwife, found particularly engaging), and the rest of the book is Marietta's struggles to do right by her two hulking sons. Not to give the end away, but football becomes their salvation.
The daring part of the book's construction is that huge sections of dialogue are rendered in accurate Gullah dialect. It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it flows beautifully and adds immeasurable richness to the reading.
Don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: Can't say enough
Review: Marietta Cook, has always wondered why she wasen't the color of her light father, instead being color of her non present father. After her mother dies Marietta leaves her small home town in South Carolina, to try to find her Uncle. She ends up meeting playboy Sinbad, and getting pregnant, returns to her hometown. Marietta gives birth to twin boys. Marietta leaves again, and is introducted to the game of football from her neighbor who watches it all the time, Marietta see's football as her twin sons way out, and a way to be respected. The two boys end up pro, and she moves with them, and have to get use to the city left. This book is so good, you want regret reading it, it's like you is there with Marietta the whole time.

Rating:
Summary: The best novel I've read in years!!!!!!!!!
Review: Susan has caputured a woman's struggle and illustrates it in this beautiful book. I am a seventeen year old female, and I have never read a book this stimulating. Ms. Strait has my devoted reading and I hope she has continued the novel in another book!