The Ties That Bind by Bertice Berry
By Phyllis Rhodes • Feb 22nd, 2009 • Category: Book Review 2009 •
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In her latest novel, The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory, and Redemption, she writes “When we remember our ancestors and their stories, we light a pathway for our own journey to spiritual, emotional, and intellectual freedom.” I think this novel is a cathartic journey for Berry as she attempts to reconcile the maligning of a man’s character and name and encourage readers to heal through forgiveness and encouragement.
She opens with references to an earlier work, Redemption Song, in which a minor character, John Hunn, was a mean and hateful slave owner. The name was usurped from childhood stories told by her mother in which John Hunn owned the land that her great-grandfather worked in Delaware. Although her mother described Hunn as “good white folk,” for years Berry imagined John Hunn as a stereotypical, tyrant; a powerful landowner holding her great-grandfather (a free man) in a serf-life, forever-in-debt sharecropping situation. It is not until years later, on her mother’s deathbed that Berry experiences a type of epiphany which led to the publication of the novel. Through her mother’s oral and written histories and her social and genealogical research, she validates that John Hunn was indeed the best kind of folk: an abolitionist, a conductor on Underground Railroad, a Quaker minister who repeatedly risked his life, and eventually lost his family’s fortune helping the enslaved escape to freedom. This novel unequivocally reverses the misrepresented (negative) image of John Hunn as depicted in Redemption Song.
She parallels her quest for Hunn with a reexamination of her mother’s life and ancestors and a recollection of candid and sometimes painful memories from her own childhood. True to Berry fashion, the book is filled with African proverbs, familial anecdotes (ala “Mama used to say…”), and wonderful historical tidbits regarding the life of Hunn, her family, and Delaware’s roots in the Union, and its roles, policies, and laws during the slavery era. She substantiates her finds in a fairly detailed Notes section which provides great references — allowing the reader to dive deeper into respective areas of interest. Not lost on the reader is the strong child advocacy sentiments which encourage readers to teach, reach, encourage, and support all children, particularly special needs or troubled children.
This book is recommended reading for fans of Berry, history buffs (with a penchant for Delaware), and/or those who would like to reaffirm their thoughts on forgiveness and seek evidence in the power of perseverance and determination.
Reviewed by Phyllis
February 11, 2009
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Phyllis Rhodes is a systems engineer with a major defense contractor and adjunct professor at two local universities in Orlando, Florida. A lifelong bibliophile, she founded the Nubian Circle Book Club in 2001 and is a freelance book reviewer for the Orlando Sentinel, APOOO Exchange Team, and Amazon.com. As a consummate fan of the arts, she supports local and national theatre, literary events, and Afrocentric festivals, exhibits, and historical tributes. When not traveling, teaching, or reading, she researches her family history and applies her talents across a host of professional organizations chartered to sustain and uplift the African American community
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Great review! I loved Redemption Song and her novel The Haunting of Hip-Hop. I can’t wait to check this one out! I think it’s intriguing that she felt compelled to right the wrong and redeem this man’s name. Can’t wait to read it.
Gwyneth