Favorite Books from August 2022

Reviews of Mule Bone, Marriage Be Hard, and South to America

Mule Bone by Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes

“Dis ain’t no trial. Dis is a mess!” -Methodist Sister

Mule Bone is a comedy and a tragedy all in one book. It is divided in three parts: 1. “The Bone of Contention” by Zora Neale Hurston, the short story that the play is based on, 2. Mule Bone by Zora and Langston, and 3. The Mule Bone Controversy, a collection of retrospectives and correspondence between and about Zora and Langston’s falling out as result of the play. The play, Mule Bone, was a comedy about two close friends Jim and Dave who are always together and who also play in a band. Their friendship is peaceful until a woman that they both like, Daisy, causes them to split. They get so jealous of each other that Jim hits Dave over the head with a mule bone and is brought to trial for his assault on his friend. The play’s ending is not tragic, but the real life story of the authors of this play is. The third part of the book which will probably interest readers more than the play itself is also about a friendship that breaks up, but because of a variety of reasons. The editors who compiled these documents did a good job so that it doesn’t seem to my mind that one person is more to blame than the other. You will learn that Zora and Langston’s fight was alot more complicated than Jim and Dave’s dispute. As I read, I kept forgetting the events were already in the past, because I was holding out hope that they would somehow resolve their differences, they tried multiple times but it was not to be. Zora and Langston’s split was certainly a mess and unfortunately it tanked a play that could have open many theater doors for Black people in the 1930s and beyond.

Marriage Be Hard: 12 Conversations to Keep You Laughing, Loving, and Learning with Your Partner by Kevin Fredericks and Melissa Fredericks

Marriage Be Hard was a serious yet funny book about one couple’s marriage and the lessons they learned over their first 18 years as spouses. Each chapter in the book covers a topic that the Frederick’s discuss in depth such as: expectations, jealousy, marital roles, fidelity, and more. Their takes on each topic were honest and transparent. It was refreshing to hear about how the purity movement affected them both and caused them to feel alot of shame when it came to issues of sex and sexual desire. You tend to hear White evangelicals discuss this but its rare to hear Black folks talk about the negative impacts of the purity movement. Both Kevin and Melissa grew up in the church and were taught very rigid views when it comes to issues dealing with marriage. One of the good parts about this book is that they have a more relaxed/realistic faith view on these topics especially in their chapters on divorce and sex. Although the book is somewhat faith based (which should not be a surprise if you are familiar with the Fredericks) it is not overly preachy to the reader, they mostly teach by their own example and experiences. Overall, I enjoyed this book by the Fredericks. Super fans of Kevin (KevOnStage) and Melissa (MrsKevOnStage) will definitely like it and my guess is that it will probably be even better on audio. I could definitely hear their voices as I was reading the book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Convergent Books, and Kevin & Melissa Fredericks for a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. Marriage Be Hard will be released on September 13, 2022.

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

“History orients us and magnifies our present circumstance.” -Imani Perry

This may sound cliché but Imani Perry’s book South to America is a “love letter” to and a “reckoning” with the “South”. I put “South” in quotations marks because people, depending on where you live, have different opinions on what constitutes the South. As a native North Carolinian, growing up I used to think that nothing north of Virginia was considered South. In her book, Perry broadens that definition as she travels from Appalachia to the Caribbean to show that the South is more present in the places you would least expect it in and is a strong influence for the rest of country in the places that we know as the Deep South.

Perry a daughter of the South, specifically Birmingham, Alabama travels from state to state, meeting interesting people along the way. Each chapter covers a state or region in the South, you learn alot of history and you also get to see what Imani sees as she visits these places. There are times of racial solidarity and pride, especially when she discovers how several of her Princeton colleagues’ ancestors originated from the same town or when native Cubans believed she was also Cuban because “Cuba is Black”. There are also moments of tension, where Imani experiences racism, subtle and malicious.

Through her travels you will also learn some interesting facts that you may not have known before, such that the Kentucky Derby, at its beginning, was an integrated event before segregation kicked in or that dollar stores originated in the South, just to name a few. I was a big fan of the chapter on my home state which I assume would be the case for most readers. The chapters will probably mean more to you if you have lived or been to those places or have some familiarity with them. This would definitely be a great book to take with you when you travel to Southern regions you have not been to before.

Perry closes this book on the city of Houston, Texas and says “it’s just a fragment and a reminder that I have left out so many stories of the South”. You get that sentiment throughout the book, she can’t cover everything, even though you wish she could. But she does acknowledge the sad fact that so many stories that have been left out are because they have simply been forgotten or hidden, in many cases on purpose. For example, the many everyday places where enslaved people were sold outside of fancy auction blocks, and the homes and storied landmarks of our ancestors. Meanwhile, monuments, memorials, and markers are erected all over the country for the “great” men of history, many of whom had troubled and racist pasts. Perry reflects on this by saying, “The way some histories are left untraced while monuments to other histories pile up tells you a great deal about what we call ‘the uses of history’.”

It is my hope that Imani Perry’s book South to America will be one of the many books whose historical use will be to uncover hidden truths about the American South, how influential it was and continues to be to this day. And that readers, especially those native to the South will begin to mine the South and their respective family histories for more stories to be brought back into the light.