Howard’s wonderful debut, Page From a Tennessee Journal, is not only a testament to her family, but also a revealing peak into a shameful aspect of American history.  Although the book is tagged as a work of fiction, its premise and themes reflect the social, political, and racial attitudes and views of the American South in the early twentieth century.

The novel focuses on two couples, one black family with young children and their white landowners, a childless couple who “leases” their acreage under a sharecropping arrangement.  The reader is immediately thrown into this era from the vivid descriptions depicting the harsh farm life, back-breaking, weary work under a relentless sun, and hunger pangs and weakness of the children.  The inner dialogues, thoughts and interactions illustrate the social morals and values of the day and it does not take long for the white male landowner to lustfully claim the entrapped, desperate black mother as his concubine in the absence of her wayward husband.  This concept of “paramour rights” was a common (and widely accepted) practice at the time; black husbands and white wives were left to accept this “arrangement” as hurt, bitter, angry, often powerless outsiders who had no choice but to tolerate the situation and endure the shame, pain, and embarrassment in silence.  Ironically, the book not only illustrated the plight of a certain class of African Americans who were systemically relegated to second-class citizenship; but also illustrates the financial/legal/social subjugation and emotional alienation imposed on white wives along with their frustrations and limitations.  The novel gains more momentum when the husband comes home to claim his wife against the white landowner’s wishes.  History tells us that such an objection could be deadly for the husband and his sons.

The characters were well drawn, the situations were steeped in realism, and the historical aspects, pacing, and dialogue were spot on.  I thought the writing was solid and above par for a debut.  The only nit (albeit a small one) was with the novel was with the ending; it was a bit too open as I would have liked to have a bit more closure on the fate of the characters.

This book was provided at no cost to the reviewer from the Amazon Vine Voice program.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub

Visist amazon to order a copy of Page From a Tennessee Journal and to vote accordingly for Phyllis’ review.

Related Posts

• The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate
• Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
• Powder Necklace by Ekua Brew-Hammond
• The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin
• Pym by Mat Johnson