Book #88: Mama Day

Title: Mama Day
Author: Gloria Naylor

After reading my review of Edgar Sawtelle, my friend Anna told me that I had to read Gloria Naylor's Mama Day, a loose reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest. She loaned me her well-annotated copy (thanks!) and I dug in, not really knowing what to expect. Naylor keeps the supernatural elements present in the original text and the island setting, but she turns the rest upside down-- instead of being the story of white men, it's the story of African American women. It's an ingenious twist, and the story stands on its own even without any prior knowledge of The Tempest (I'll admit that I had to turn to wikipedia for a brief brushing up on the play before delving in).

Naylor's characters are so real, so flawed, and so interesting that I didn't want the book to end. I think that George might haunt me, as he may still haunt the island of Willow Springs.