Mairuth Sarsfield (1925–2013)
Author of No Crystal Stair
Works by Mairuth Sarsfield
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1925
- Date of death
- 2013-05-07
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Places of residence
- Montréal, Québec, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Education
- New York & West Africa
- Occupations
- Foreign Service, United Nations
- Relationships
- de Silva, Jennifer Hodge (filmmaker daughter, deceased)
- Awards and honors
- Chevalier de l'ordre national du Quebec, Mairuth Sarsfield Day - Cleveland Ohio
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
Statistics
- Works
- 1
- Members
- 64
- Popularity
- #264,968
- Rating
- 3.0
- Reviews
- 4
- ISBNs
- 5
The lives of the Black people living in Montreal in the late 30's-early 40's is fairly unexplored. Where did they come from, when and why Montreal? - truly interesting questions, and surely many intriguing stories exist.
Sarsfield is not a writer, she is more like a historian, and that is how the book read. It felt like she had a list of every fact of history, every issue faced by Black Montrealers (and some Americans), every job they may have held etc. The list does not blend with the story so the "facts" come off as footnotes or items to be ticked off. Names are dropped - of streets, clubs, restaurants, famous Black entertainers of the time, fashion items of the time, foods of the community, foodsof the era, it just goes on and on.
Dialogue is awkward and stilted, characters speak lines of poetry - seriously! The characters rarely feel real, the all seem to come from another check-list: determined uptight mother, seductive other woman with a heart of gold, fiery preacher, wise older women, conflicted White man who is attracted to the Black woman who also plays bagpipes, it just goes on and on.
The Author dwells on insignificant scenes for pages, and then drops plot bombshells in randomly, with little explanation, they just don't make sense!
This book needed an editor - any editor, because it is just a let down to the people whose story deserves to be told - and told well! Waste of trees!… (more)