Third Girl from the Left

probably between 3.75 and 4 stars. this was unusual (in a good way) in the telling of the story. she starts out in present day and then goes backwards in time, following 3 generations of women in this family, until she jumps back to the present again. i really enjoyed angela's story, and then mildred's story. it took me longer to get into tamara's story - partly i think it's because this was sometimes told in first person whereas i think the rest of the book was in third person - but once i did, i was in.

this in spite of having never seen even one of the many, many movies mentioned in this book (oh! not true! citizen cane was mentioned in passing and i have seen most of that one.) or known of the actors talked about. it was an show more interesting look into los angeles culture and what it was like to try to make it in the movies. but more than that it was so nice to read a book full of women of color (flawed though they are), strong in their own ways (again, flawed as they were), and i was especially pleasantly surprised to find a queer element to it.

this is well-written, but nothing super lyrical, until she hits you with a sentence that just makes you sit back and savor it for a minute. i was moved by so many different things in reading this book.

quote from wilt chamberlain: "Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing." show less

The lives of three generations, mother, daughter, and granddaughter, spans from Tulsa, OK., to Los Angeles to New York. Despite the differences and the miles between them, movies are the one thing that allows them to change and shape their lives. Grandmother Mildred embraces the movies as a way to escape the memories of the race riot that killed her mother. The movies also lead her into a secret life that isn't revealed until the end of the book. Movies lead daughter Angela to leave stifling Tulsa, OK and become the "third girl on the left" in blaxploitation films. Granddaughter Tamara uses film to tell the stories of their lives.

Beautifully written, "Third Girl On the Left" contain richly developed characters. Despite their strained show more relationships, the author shows us how each of the three women share the need to break with tradition and express their deepest desires. show less

This novel is about three generations of women. All three of these African American women love films. Angela grows up in Tulsa Oklahoma with a very private mother. She eventually moves to California to pursue acting but gets caught up in the "black exploitation" films of the 1970s. Angela ends up having a daughter who marvels at the passion her mother had for becoming a famous actor but never accomplished.
This story is not only about black films, but it about the relationships between mothers and daughters. Highly recommended.