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Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 143
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 07:09 pm: | 
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Hello All,
Right now I'm reading the new novel by Ernest Hill (Cry Me A River -- Carey, you ought to read this one, it's right up your alley) It's All About the Moon When the Sun Ain't Shining. Now tell me that ain't one hell of a title! I'm half way through the novel and it is divine! In this outing Hill returns to Brownsville, Louisana, the location of Cry Me a River, only with another family. So far, the novel is about Maurice Dupree who has just been accepted into law school, but his girlfriend wants him home with her. The girlfriend and Maurice's mother, Audrey, don't get along and Maurice has been put in the position of choosing. Thankfully, although by what I just told you anyone would believe that this novel is a U go girl book, gratefully, it is not! Hill is a gifted author and the book is written in a wonderful easy flowing prose. Right now, I'm in love with the novel. I'll let you all know what I think about it when I'm finished.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0758202792/aalbccom-20 |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 145
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 24, 2004 - 11:43 am: |
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Hello All,
I just finished It's All About the Moon. The book is wonderful. I thought the ending was kinda rushed though. That aside, everything else about the book was nice, slow and easy. I loved it. Hill is in the same company as Ernest Gaines. Like Gaines and William Faulkner, Hill's past two novels unfolds in the same location, Brownsville, Louisana. The novel centers on Maurice and him growing into his manhood. I also love the fact that Hill shows through Maurice's girlfriend, Omenita Jones (is that a name or what? *big smile*) an outlook that many women have today concerning their relationships that the man should be willing to give up his whole family and friends in order to wrap his entire world around her, cause she would do it for him. Craziness. To my liking, Hill does not villify Omenita. Girlfriend as issues of her own. It all boils down to love and our perceptions of love. It's All About The Moon is a tight book, which has more depth and texture than the run of the mill U go girl book. |
Shevi
Newbie Poster
Username: Shevi
Post Number: 7
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2004 - 04:15 pm: |
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Hi Thumper,
I finished this last night and it was excellent! I loved the characters in the story EXCEPT Omenita, girlfriend had issues! I loved the relationship with his father and grandfather and how they allowed him to make up his own mind. I also understood the mother and how she would not accept the marriage. I read Cry Me a River last month, another great story. Ernest Hill is ok with me! Thanks for the recommendation. |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 177
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 25, 2004 - 05:07 pm: |
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Hello All,
Shevi: No problem. Hill is OK with me too. Glad you like his novels. |
Tee
Regular Poster
Username: Tee
Post Number: 33
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2004 - 03:53 pm: |
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Thumper, I enjoyed his writing for the most part, but the repetitious nature of the dialogue wore me out. I will admit though that I don't like repeition. I just wanted to slap him around and tell him to BE A MAN and stop saying "I'm a man" as if he were trying to prove it to himself. So, for this reason (the repetition), the book was just a bit above average for me. It seemed to take me forever to finish it and I could almost predict the dialogue.
I did however love the strong character development and the wisdom shared between the men and even the mother. My feelings for her kept changing. While I could see what she was saying, I really thought she was holding onto her son too long. MAMA'S BOY! Good grief.
And Omenita...I hated her instantly. LOL. I didn't see her as anything other than demanding and manipulative and I was sure she was up to no good.
What I really loved was the grandfather's love for his deceased wife. It was so touching and personified what marriage/love should be about.
This is my first Ernest Hill book and while I do plan to eventually read the other(s), I'm not sure that this was a good introduction of him for me.
-Tee |
Carey
Veteran Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 52
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 03:08 am: |
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Hello
I was about to rush out and grab me a copy of this book until I read Tee's post. See, I haven't seen or know of any other books Shevi has championed but along with Thump's two toes up, i was hooked. But know I'm going to lay back and see if anyone else cares to comment.
Carey |
Tee
Regular Poster
Username: Tee
Post Number: 37
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 06:35 am: |
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Awwww Carey, pay me no mind. You know I normally like things that others on these boards don't and vice versa.
-Tee |
Shevi
Newbie Poster
Username: Shevi
Post Number: 8
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 05:38 pm: |
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Carey: I hope you read it anyway, I would like to hear your opinion of the book.
Tee: I felt he needed to reassure himself that he was indeed a man and not a little boy and could make his own decisions, without showing disrespect to his mother. |
Tee
Regular Poster
Username: Tee
Post Number: 39
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 07:19 pm: |
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I gotcha Shevi...he just did too much reassuring for me. <wink> And it wasn't just the "I'm a man" but it seemed like every other sentence was a repeat.
-Tee |
Shevi
Newbie Poster
Username: Shevi
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2004 - 10:03 pm: |
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Tee,
I hope you get a chance soon to read Cry Me a River, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one. |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 180
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 05:56 am: |
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Hello All,
Tee: I have to agree with you on the constant "I'm a man" statements. I agee with Shevi. The impression I got was that Maurice was trying to make himself believe that he was man by always telling himself that, when in fact, deep down he knew he wasn't. I think he was at a crossroad of sorts. |
D_hunt
Newbie Poster
Username: D_hunt
Post Number: 3
Registered: 08-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 08:34 pm: |
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Ernest Hill is remarkable. He deals with tough issues most writers wont mess with. His Satisfied with nothing, and a life for a life were approaches that provide another way of dealing with violence. Cry me a River is another issue, the jail bird being done wrong and how his life affects his son, a sort of paradox that Hill sees in the black man way. All his issues are critical looks at the black male's perspective of his live; whatever that is. I will pick up this new book and check it out. |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 674
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 01:28 pm: |
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hmmmmm....
I have maybe 30 more pages, and I can't appreciate the story. The tension is the choice between a problemed sista and one's family, which is exacerbated my maurice's need to prove to himself, his girlfriend, and family that he is a man. Yet, that tension is not realistic for me. Maybe its generational; i don't know. But maybe some folk in their late teens and early 20s could/would find this situation difficult...
Also, like Tee, Hill is too repetitive...."I am a man" bit....we got it, e. hill. But i don't know if this is about style or narrative. Also, hill gave us/me too much about what maurice was feeling when it wasn't appropriate...it went something like this, "the breeze caused the hairs on my neck to rise, and I turned up my collar"....too much detail that seemed to have no real dramatic significance...he was pissed, but e hill still told us that the birds were chirping...and the chirping didn't change his mood, but yet, he repeats it AGAIN. this is subjective, of course, but if it has no purpose then it shouldn't be there...
Mo's journey through manhood; the grandfather is wise(excellent advice, btw); the mother doesn't wanna let go her son; none of this was unique, but rather typical! But most human situations are "typical", so I guess it about the writing and storytellin...neither did i find extraordinary...i would say average.
doesn't maurice( i presume on the cover) resemble a young eddie murphy? |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 679
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 05:18 pm: |
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Done. Yeah, thumper. the ending seemed rushed.
Tee, shevi, thumper, carey, and d_hunt:
I'll make some changes, here. I couldn't appreciate the story, but it was a "nice" sweet story....something romantic folk can shed a tear for and socalled "manliy men" can pat eachother on the back about.
Still, i think there is unnecessary detail; the man thing is too much, he could have shown more than told; and I think the manhood thing is unresolved...i'm not that convinced that mo is a socalled man yet(as thumper, i think says)...and i'm not sure if this notion of manhood that hill provides through mo's father and grandfather are resolved either. There are many things that the male elders said that i can agree with(actually, the grandfather's story is much more interesting than maurices) but what goes unaddressed is the question of whether women need to give up everything for a man and what this has to do maurice's and others' notion of manhood. Now, keep this in mind, I think OMENita was scandalous and had issues, BUT there was something to what she said, though again, if i was her I wouldn't have asked him to make the choice(actually, i don't really like hill's representation of woman in general because they all seem weak and/or bitchy, read as emotional, and men are either immature or mature, read as reasonable/wise). |
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