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Fiction. African American Fiction. Literature. HTML: "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky can actually fly." �The New York Times Book Review Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop. Forced to move to a new city, with her strict African American grandmother as her guardian, Rachel is thrust for the first time into a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring a constant stream of attention her way. It�s there, as she grows up and tries to swallow her grief, that she comes to understand how the mystery and tragedy of her mother might be connected to her own uncertain identity. This searing and heart-wrenching portrait of a young biracial girl dealing with society�s ideas of race and class is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice..… (more)
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In Portland, young Rachel finds herself trying to understand not only the events leading up to her mother's tragic decision but her own racial identity--or the lack of it. "Light skinned-ed" with blue eyes, she is the daughter of an African-American soldier and a Danish woman (like Durrow herself). Never before has she had to answer the question, "What are you?" But living with her black grandmother and aunt leads others to answer the question for her, and she struggles with the fact that people expect her to choose to be labelled either black or white rather than to be herself, "a story."
Durrow's moving novel is finely written, spare and and at times poetic: images of birds, flying, and falling pervade the narrative, almost acting like a framework. The author merges her personal experiences with those of Rachel, making her character's thoughts and feelings all the more believable. While not a story that I want to say that I "enjoyed," I appreciated its artful telling, its fine characterizations, and its illumination of issues that I hadn't really thought about deeply before.
This is the sort of book that I don't necessarily like while I'm reading, but as it lingers in my mind and I turn over
As if her mother's suicide and her siblings' deaths weren't enough to deal with, Rachel is of mixed race, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black father. But the book doesn't read like an "issues" book, it's just Rachel's story of adolescence, growing up, finding her identity and understanding her past. It's very internal, almost a collection of impressions rather than a straightforward plot. A few sentences made me stop in my tracks because I had to think about them, rather than rush on to the end. The story itself is how Rachel describes the blues: storing up all sorts of sadness, but making something beautiful out of it.
Rachel has lost her immediate family and goes to live with her grandmother who holds quite a grudge against Rachel's mother for what has happened. Rachel is also half black and half white, but never lived in a community where that mattered - until now, and she's not sure how she fits in.
The book deals with issues of race, growing up, alcoholism, death, yet I didn't find the book depressing or morose. Instead, even though Rachel often was unhappy, she moved forward knowing she had to deal with things in a certain way and accepting that at face value. She shows a resolute strength, even though it sometimes seems like she is just doing what is expected of her. All the characters who act as narrators are well developed and intriguing in their choices and actions.
There is certainly a clear point of view expressed about race and about the Black community in particular - this could be a great point for discussion. I think this would make a great book club selection! It would also make great college level reading - particularly in a multicultural or Black History class - anywhere social classes are discussed. (Some parts are probably too adult for high school - sex, drinking, drugs - or I would recommend it there also.)
I dont want to give to much away and am glad to have
I found the writing fairly simple, and not in a good way. It came over as too basic for the subject matter being explored (one of the hurdles of writing from the perspective of youngsters?). There is grief, racism, abandonment, violence and more. At times I found it all a bit gratuitous.
But (again), the story itself was compelling enough to carry it for me.
Set in the 1980's, the novel primarily follows the story of Rachel Morse, the only survivor of a tragic accident that claimed her mother, her brother, and her sister. Her father, who serves in the military, is too grief-stricken to take care of her and instead sends her to live with her grandmother in Portland, Oregon. Feeling abandoned and alone, Rachel creates a new identity for herself and tries to cope with her increasing alienation. Having grown up in the more racially tolerant Europe, the biracial Rachel struggles with the sudden realization that she is black--but not black enough. She's taunted for her light skin, her soft hair, and her startling light blue eyes. Her black peers think she's an "Oreo," talking and behaving as if she were white. Her grandmother tries to reshape Rachel's past, obliterating any positive memories she may have of her white mother. As Rachel grows up, she struggles to find acceptance and belonging (looking, as most teenage girls do, in all of the wrong places), confronts being seen as a beautiful object and an exotic curiosity by the men in her life, hopes for a future that may hold more than a secretarial job and a three bedroom house, and unearths the truth about what happened on the day that she and her family fell from the sky.
The novel is not for readers who like linear narrative. Instead, it's fragmented into chapters that are told from the varying perspectives of Rachel, Jamie (a boy who witnessed the tragedy and who may be the only remaining link between Rachel and her father), Nella (Rachel's Danish mother who doesn't know how to cope with living in a society that judges her children by their skin color), Roger (Rachel's father), and Laronne (Nella's employer who is left to clean up what's left of the family's belongings and to try to piece together the reasons why the family fell apart). Each character is given a distinct voice and backstory that somehow intersects with Rachel; I could easily believe them to be real people. Because the novel moves from past to present and between these points of view, there are no quick and easy answers and reading often feels like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. However, the end result is a realistic portrayal of how tragedy can destroy a life, but that the resilient can eventually prevail.
The mystery at the center of the story is slowly unraveled as the book shifts amongst narrators, perspective and time. Instead of confusing or irritating its audience, the novel's structure only adds to its power. This sad and compelling plot is further credited by a strinkingly unique voice.
The Girl who Fell from the Sky is sure to be one of the best books of 2010.
I wanted to get the message, but a lot of the book seemed trite and like
There were so many messages being attempted. Racial tension, mental disorders, post-traumatic stress in children were just a few that stood out to me. As the story moved from person to person to get their points of view I felt like I was being whipped back and forth and it was hard to follow the actual story. Was the author intending a bit of mystery by keeping one of the most important bits of information from us? Because in a book like this - there really doesn't need to be mystery. Let us know from the outset what we're dealing with or it just seems overwhelming.
This is another of those instances where awards were given and I'm left feeling as if maybe I'm just not smart enough to "get it." I guess I'll learn to live with that and file this one away. Maybe I'll "get it" more as time passes and I reflect back on it.
Heidi W. Durrow has continued the Algonquin tradition of fine fiction with a mesmerizing story, dream-like at times and made from equal parts of recollection and repression of horrific events. She has created a wonderful cast of interesting characters. Each chapter is like a piece in the puzzle. Slowly, the reader makes the outline of the picture, and bit by bit, fills in all the blank spaces.
This novel won the Bellwether Prize. Barbara Kingsolver, who founded the Bellwether Prize for the fiction in support of social change, writes on the website, “Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities.” Durrow richly deserves The Bellwether Prize.
Rachel’s mother, Mor, is a blue-eyed, blonde Danish woman, who met and married her father, Roger, a Black American soldier while he was stationed in Germany. Shortly after a divorce, Mor’s death occurs, and Rachel finds herself caught between two worlds. She leaves Chicago to live with her paternal Grandmother, Doris, who wrenches Rachel from the white world of Mor into a traditional African-American world.
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky revolves around Rachel’s attempt to adjust to the changes in her life. She runs into conflicts everywhere – black girls tease her because of her blue eyes; white children tease her because of her hair. But she has friends, especially Brick, who witnessed the “accident” which took Mor’s life. He guards this secret until he can tell Rachel. His story – along with Rachel’s repressed memories – finish the tapestry of this tragic tale.
Brick travels across the country to find Rachel. He finally meets up with her in Portland, Oregon, and they become friends before she knows his real identity and what he knows. Durrow writes,
"For weeks Brick wondered how to approach Rachel – how to tell the story he’d promised to tell. He often joined her for lunch with Jesse. They would each get a slice of pizza or a sandwich at the deli and then eat in Pioneer Courthouse Square watching people go by.
Rachel never talked about herself. When Brick asked her where she lived in Chicago, she said she couldn’t remember. The way she shut off – her eyes went blank; her voice went low – he knew Chicago wasn’t a memory she visited often. He would have to find the right moment to tell her the story he’d promised Roger he’d share." (211)
This first novel is so stunning, I can’t wait for Durrow’s next work. Who said books and the novel are dead? As long as Algonquin Press continues to discover new writers and turn out fiction of this quality, readers will have plenty to occupy themselves during those quiet moments when curling up with a book is the only remedy for what ails a body and a mind. Five stars
--Jim, 9/7/10
My synopsis makes this book sound rather dull, but I'm afraid that's how I perceived it as a whole. For me, there was a huge disconnect between characters, events taking place in their lives, and me - the reader. The characters were not portrayed in a way that made me care for them; there was no emotional link. I picked this book because of the unique perspective it provided on racial tension and being a child of parents with different races, but I did not particularly enjoy the way that this tension was addressed. Maybe, this is because of the realistic portrayal; but, I feel as if it was because I was not fully aquainted with the characters. Heidi Durrow, the author, was a child of a Danish mother and black father, so I don't dare argue with her descriptions of the present racial tension. I just did not become engrossed in what could have been a heart-wrenching novel.
Recommendation: Check out other reviews before deciding whether this is for you or not. For me, it missed the mark on character development and portrayal of emotions. Maybe you will see it differently!
Rachel narrates the majority of the book as she searches for her identity as a bi-racial girl and then young woman but others contribute to the narrative too: her late mother's employer, her father, the young boy who witnessed the family's flight through the sky, and even her late mother through the medium of her diary. Offering secondary characters the chance to narrate allows Rachel's story a more complete telling and a fullness that her own single point of view would not have contributed even as she reveals more than perhaps even she understands, navigating life and coming to be comfortable in her own skin, whichever color she thinks that skin is.
The writing style leaves the reader thinking that something is being held back, something just under the surface, necessary to the story. This elusiveness threads through the characterization as well, as if the characters aren't completely revealed somehow. The unconventionality of the prose is not reflected in the story itself though as the secrets haunting Rachel's family come to light. The ending is fairly abrupt and certainly doesn't offer closure but it reflects reality so although it might feel a bit unsatisfactory to a reader, it is not unacceptable. While there are some problems with the novel, on the whole it is a good tale and one that should appeal to readers and book clubs interested in social issues and coming of age novels.
This is a wonderful novel, but I have absolutely no idea how to review it. It tells the story of Rachel and her mother from various viewpoints, helping to paint a more complete picture. I liked how Rachel's mom lived on through her subtlety and most significantly through her AA slogans. Rachel's life isn't the only one changed forever as a result of that afternoon at the top of their Chicago high rise. Brick, a child who witnessed Rachel's brother fall from the sky, was also a victim of sorts. Both are survivors, though. That's what makes this book so powerful.
My Final Thoughts
I thought this novel was an interesting character study that was both honest and respectful of person. It brings to light the plight of mothers who are mentally ill, bi-racial children, learning to make adult choices, and growing up despite overwhelming odds. I may not be able to articulate just why very well, but I do recommend The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for these reasons and more. It is well deserving of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction.