Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... House of Cotton (edition 2023)by Monica Brashears (Autor)
Work InformationHouse of Cotton by Monica Brashears
   BLM (144) No current Talk conversations about this book.  Gwendydd | May 4, 2024 |    ) decaturmamaof2 | Nov 22, 2023 |  )1  LynnMPK | Sep 16, 2023 | Deni_Weeks | Sep 16, 2023 | ) Steph922 | Jun 22, 2023 |
Hard to classify ... It's an incredible debut that announces the arrival of a unique voice in contemporary fiction ... House of Cotton is a bizarre, uncomfortable read in the best way possible. Brashears delves deep into what it means to be a young, broke woman of color in a world in which predatory men are at your doorstep, in the streets, and even at church. She's not always likable, but real people rarely are ... This is a novel that refuses to obey the rules of any one genre, and that, complicated as it might be for some, is one of the best things about it ... Peculiar and slightly surreal, but also dazzling, full of surprises, and told with a voice that's unpredictable and, more importantly, that lingers. Darkness can have slices of beauty at its core, and Brashears has a talent for pointing out that beauty, while its submerged in grit and grief. Fans of brave fiction would be remiss to skip this one. It’s a lot, and occasionally it feels as if the novel meanders — story lines emerge and then fall away, superseded by yet another narrative development. But it’s a testament to Brashears’s enchanting storytelling that the deluge of plot doesn’t overwhelm the book. Just the opposite: The cascading waves of unsettling encounters and unexplained phenomena imbue it with the thrilling energy of possibility.... There is a word commonly used to describe books like this: gritty. Fair enough. “House of Cotton” is unafraid to peer at the unsavory minutiae of getting by. But for this novel, I’d add a few other labels too: magnetic, singular and completely unforgettable. Brashears has written a lush, pictorial, and often steamy novel with an indelible heroine. Coupling classic gothic elements with a realistic portrayal of the issues facing a young, poor, Black woman with few options, the novel’s many strengths culminate in a powerful and original story that will appeal to a variety of readers across fiction genres. A debut novel about generational trauma, grief, and the enduring violence of White supremacy.... This is a messy text with a weird flow, and much of the detail that Brashears provides makes it more difficult—rather than easier—to suspend disbelief unless we understand at the very beginning that this is closer to horror than realist fiction. Perhaps the best way to read this is as a gothic novel in which a surfeit of symbolism offers up a superabundance of meaning. A lyrical fever dream of a novel. AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
"Nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan, Magnolia doesn't have much to look forward to. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, by her predatory landlord, by the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown. One night while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia's luck around. He offers her a lucrative "modeling" job at his family's funeral home. Magnolia accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia's problems fatten along with her wallet. When Cotton's requests become increasingly weird, Magnolia discovers there's a lot more at stake than just her rent. Sharp as a belted knife, this sly social commentary cuts straight to the bone, revealing the aftermath of the American plantation and what it means to be poor, Black, and a woman in the God fearing south. Impossible to put down, Brashears's House of Cotton will keep you mesmerized until the very last page"-- No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6000Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.67)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English
2
There is so much that just doesn't make sense about this book. I get that a gothic novel requires some suspension of disbelief, but this is all just too implausible, and there's so much about the characters that doesn't make sense, and the story never really comes together. (