Stephanie Powell Watts

As Stephanie Powell Watts' novel descends toward its hard earned conclusion, Ava observes 'The possibility of the past . . . is that it can be alive if you let it. All of it alive, not just the terror and the beauty, too.' The observation seems to directly address Gatsby's illusion that 'Of course you can (repeat the past).' The novel seems to address the Fitzgerald classic but not copy -- it is the American dream if that dream arises from the poorer communities between East and West Egg, show more and the people who were only glimpsed in haphazard drives to the city emerge with complex, if imperfect, lives. In some ways, the story opposes Gatsby by featuring characters surrounded by tragedy and rising out of it rather than having their dreams dashed by one climactic event.

Whereas the earlier novel addresses the American dream of a small, insular world, Watts expands the dream to those who come from less privileged circumstances who still dare to want to improve their lot. The realism saves the characters from being brittle when their bright shining light in the distance turns out to be tarnished or unobtainable.

Watts weaves characters who don't have the luxury of letting handlers clean up their messes. And yet the strength displayed in living with the consequences of their messes make each sympathetic. Perhaps what made the book most successful is the author's ability to look into the past at the same time the action is moving forward. Watts does not lay out the tragedies that haunt Sylvia, Ava, JJ, or Henry at the beginning - only showing that they are affected by those tragedies. When the events are finally revealed the result is a deepening of sympathy and hard-earned wisdom for the characters. show less

The title is untrue. Someone (or someones) does arrive, but not until Sylvia, daughter Ava, son Devon, and son-from-another-mother JJ have just about run out of time and will. They all live in a small, dying Southern town, as the one restaurant that wouldn't serve them for most of its existence finally goes dark. Ava is a successful bank loan officer, and her mother Sylvia helps an incarcerated man who dialed her number accidentally, but it's all stagnant until JJ returns after a long show more absence and builds a mansion as bait for the unhappily married Ava. Critics have made comparisons to Gatsby, but no one ever heard from Gatsby's mom! Told from Sylvia's and Ava's PoV, this is a poignant portrait of lives half finished before they even began. The mysterious Devon's story is unpeeled slowly and carefully. Very well written, especially the internal voices. show less

Quite a bit has been said about No One is Coming to Save Us being an African-American version of The Great Gatsby. The first thing you need to do when reading this book in my opinion is to forget all that. Yes, there’s a big house and a guy who calls himself Jay. But this book stands very well on its own merits without trying to label the characters as Daisy, Nick or Jay. It’s a story about family, about facing up to the demons of the past and present and trying to move on.

I’ll admit show more that I found the start of the book quite confusing, likely because the people in the first couple of chapters didn’t match up to the blurb. Who was Marcus? Did Sylvia have another son not mentioned on the back cover? Why is he in gaol? When is JJ coming into the story more? The best way I found to overcome this was just to keep reading (and if that involved lying on the floor when the air conditioner was broken, that’s okay). It all came together for a story that is heartbreaking yet fascinating.

Stephanie Powell Watts has chosen a setting that isn’t commonly explored in the books I’ve been reading lately. Pinewood is a small town in North Carolina that’s dying. The furniture factories are going out of business as work is outsourced overseas. People are poor and the whole town has an air of desperation. It’s only the older townspeople like Sylvia and her husband Don who remember the town as a busier place, one that was less friendly to the African-American people. Sylvia has done her best to bring up her family and bring them out of poverty. On the material side, she’s done well. Daughter Ava has a college education and works at the local bank. Her son Devon – well, that’s a different story. But what Sylvia can’t achieve is happiness for her whole family. Ava’s married to Henry, who is underworked and bored. Sylvia knows that Henry isn’t good enough for Ava, but when former boyfriend JJ returns, she’s not sure whether she wants that for Ava either. Sylvia’s own husband Don is making a fool of himself with a young girl. It seems that none of her family is truly content.

Enjoyed is not the right word, but getting to look inside each of the character’s heads and feeling their pain and struggle was a great way to tell this story. I felt it brought me closer to the characters as a result and I really grew to love Sylvia. The way she describes her past and her worries for her family was sweet, right down to how she tries to meddle (with the best intentions) in a stranger’s life. I even grew to like the hapless Don. JJ was the only character I couldn’t quite connect with, perhaps due to his mysteriousness regarding his past. He seems to think that Ava can solve all his problems. Possibly the Ava of twenty years ago could have, but she’s grown past JJ. Like the other female characters, she’s strong, but just needs time to realise it.

I liked No One is Coming to Save Us. Perhaps without the expectations of The Great Gatsby theme, I would have liked it more. Would I read another book by Stephanie Powell Watts? Yes, but I’m steering clear of any comparisons!

Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

Dare I say I liked this retelling better than the original Great Gatsby? (I hear the mob forming now to eviscerate me for admitting to this.) It could be that the setting is contemporary, but I felt the characters in this book were easier to relate to and all of their stories evoked the struggles and challenges of the lives we live today. I applaud the author for tackling this tale and giving an old classic a healthy twist. I'm excited to see what's next for this author!