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Title details for Here and Now by Kimberla Lawson Roby - Available

Here and Now

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Donna Bailey
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Already at the top of the Blackboard Bestseller List, this critically acclaimed new voice in African-American literature is both passionate and vibrant. In this, Kimberla Lawson Roby's second novel, strong characters explore the complexities of such real life issues as relationships, single parenthood, and infertility. Racquel and Marcella are sisters with very little in common, except that each wants what the other has. Racquel has a beautiful house, a fulfilling career and a loving husband. But driven by her desperate longing for a child, she is alienating her husband and family. Marcella is a single mom, trying to support her two children with a low paying job, food stamps, and occasional child support from a deadbeat ex-husband. She won't allow anyone to interfere with her dream for a better lifestyle, not even her own children. Narrator Donna Bailey skillfully renders the emotionally powerful experiences of two women as they learn to accept their losses. Sometimes funny and often heartbreaking, their story touches listeners with a message of healing and hope.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 18, 2001

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781449875664
      • File size: 307242 KB
      • Duration: 10:40:05

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The universal problems of single parenthood, deadbeat dads, infertility, and even death are portrayed through the lives of two very different African American sisters. Strong personalities and emotions emerge as they deal with life in the last years of the 1990s. Donna Bailey's voice is pleasant; her accent is authentic for the south suburban Chicago setting, and she clearly distinguishes between male and female characters. However, she does not differentiate between characters of the same sex, nor is she able to believably portray the frustrations of dealing with an ex-husband or the deep depression felt upon the loss of a loved one. P.A.M. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 28, 1998
      The soap operatic plot of Kimberla Lawson Roby's second novel (Behind Closed Doors) revolves around the lives of two African-American sisters, Marcella and Racquel. Teacher Racquel threatens the stability of her four-year marriage with her determination to conceive a child. She is both critical and jealous of Marcella, who married immediately after high school to legitimize her baby. Marcella's situation is hardly enviable, though, as she struggles on minimum wage and scant child support to raise two children in a suburban Chicago project. Racquel and her husband mortgage their house to pay for infertility treatments, while Marcella decides to go to college with hopes of becoming a CPA. Untidy human dilemmas (i.e., Marcella's discovery of her 13-year-old daughter's diary with its innocent revelations of her budding sexuality) backlight the sisters' larger struggles with marriage, money, sex and family bonds. Each chapter ends in a crescendo of melodrama, emphasized by a chorus of slamming telephones and doors, and a proliferation of unusual deaths. Though the novel provides a window on a distinctive segment of American society, its breezy, colloquial vocabulary and propensity for hype and stereotype satisfy as little as a couch-potato's snack. Doubleday Book Club featured alternate; author tour.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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