Books like Mama Day

Bow down, bitches. My favorite novel of the year has emerged. Initially, I didn't even think I would enjoy Mama Day that much; crazy to think that within a span of three days this wonderful novel has completely taken over my life and brought me so much joy and heartache. I'm definitely going to check out Gloria Naylor's other books. Mama Day is her third novel; an attempt to rework Shakespeare's Tempest in a never been done before way. The story focuses on the tragic love affair of "star-crossed" lovers Ophelia "Cocoa" Day and George Andrews. The setting of the novel is split between New York City, where George was born and raised and Ophelia has recently moved, and Willow Springs, a fictional community situated on a coastal island on the border of Georgia and South Carolina where Ophelia's family has lived for several generations.I was lured into Mama Day by the curiosity of seeing Prospero, Ariel and Caliban written anew; what I got was much better. Cocoa's great aunt Miranda (also known as "Mama Day") served the role of Prospero, being the only one left in her family with magical abilities and a connection to "the other place". And boy did she serve it well. Mama Day is my new all-time favorite character. This woman has my heart. I love her more than life itself. She is so fucking funny, sassy and savage. I need a wise spirit like her in my life. Similarly, her sister Abigail (Cocoa's grandmother) warmed my heart from start to finish. Such a kind soul, I wanted to be hugged and tugged into bed by her. The two sisters had the most witty and loving relationship and I loved witnessing their banter. I mean, look at them racking their brains over one of Cocoa's monthly letters, in which she tells them that she is now having a lovely time seeing New York:\ “Sounds fishy to me. You think Baby Girl is into them mind-altering drugs or something? The folks were just talking about that on my program this morning. It is just messing up them young people in Chicago.” “She ain’t in Chicago.” “Same difference. Ask her if she’s on them drugs.”\ Gloria Naylor is such a gifted writer. All of her characters felt so real. Within a few pages, she had me completely sold on the whole family dynamic of Cocoa's wonderfully weird family. I felt all warm and fuzzy, even when Cocoa quarrelled with her great aunt (and accused her of mixing herbs in her tea). ;) And even George's backstory of being raised in an orphanage clicked into place seamlessly and expanded his characterisation further, without being cheesy or cliché. \ Our marriage was safe within a catch-22: knowing I cared enough to go beyond the limits for you, you’d have to care enough not to ask me.\ I was also completely enamoured with the relationship between George and Cocoa. Mama Day opens with the two of them having a disastrous job interview. George's firm wants to hire a new assistant and Cocoa desperately needs the job. Initially, the two of them don't get along at all. Cocoa doesn't get the job but by chance she goes on a date with George... which ends in disaster as well. I usually don't care for petty romances but these two made me giggle and sigh. Interwoven in their romantic trials is the wonderful social commentary of Gloria Naylor. She never failed to address the hardships Black women especially face on the job market, and whilst dating. Written in the 1980s, Naylor doesn't shy away from calling out the blatant misogyny and the rape culture of her time. She really was that bitch and had me quaking in my seat throughout. I mean look at what Mama Day said after Abigail informed her of late Principal Wilbright’s death: \ “Good thing, too. Wonder somebody ain’t shot him over their daughter before now. He calmed down plenty after I got after him about patting on Baby Girl. Told him we weren’t raising no public toilet for him to be doing his business into – told him loud. What we ain’t touched since she was in diapers, he don’t touch.”\ Her social commentary is woven seamlessly into the story and helps fleshing out her endearing characters. And albeit Mama Day explores some darker themes, Gloria Naylor kept a much needed lightness to her story. There are many savage fights and heartbreaking deaths, but she leaves her readers hopeful and full of light. I am beyond grateful for that. Mama Day isn't a draining reading experience, it's an incredibly nourishing one. Gloria Naylor wrote a story that is unapologetically Black. The way her characters talk, the way her setting in the South evokes Toomer's Cane, the way in which the plight of Black men and women is dealt with in an authentic way. There's tension in Cocoa and George's relationship due to George's former white girlfriend who keeps popping up in fights between the two. George reflects on his own lost roots when Cocoa introduces him to her family in Willow Springs, since she has a definite track of where she is from. (“Even your shame was a privilege few of us had. We could only look at our skin tones and guess. At least you knew.”)Gloria Naylor is also one of the few authors I know who was able to make second person narration work. Cocoa's and George's chapters were displayed as a conversation to one another about events that have occurred, and thus the two were addressing each other directly. It helped the reader understand their dynamic and see their relationship from both sides. Fucking genius! It is as if we overhear a conversation of the two. Their chapters are split by sections reserved for Mama Day in which she reflects on events of the past and present. This switch in perspective heightened the humour of the story in tremendous ways, e.g. at first Gloria Naylor presents us a passage in which Mama Day and Abigail overhear a fight between George and Ophelia. The two older women understand nothing (“These two could be fighting in Arabic, for all we know.”), just like the reader. The scene is then followed up by George's perspective of the fight and the random curses like "pumpernickel bread" start to make sense. Ya get me? ;)\ “Being with a real woman would make any man happy.” “She wasn’t woman enough to hold you.” “Or a bitch enough to keep reminding me.” I swear to you, that vase materialized out of nowhere into my hand…\ The plot of Mama Day is also rock-solid. I am so happy that Gloria didn't follow the path of Shakespeare's Tempest but came up with something entirely unique. Sure, at one point in the story a tempest wreaks havoc on Willow Springs with disastrous consequences, but apart from that I liked that Naylor focused on George and Cocoa's relationship; how they meet, why they split, how they got married, how their fate was intertwined with Willow Springs. Gloria's foreshadowing (“At what point could we have avoided that summer?”) had me on the edge of that seat. I wanted my children to be fine, I wanted them to thrive. Ugh. Although it breaks my heart, I love the realistic ending that we got to their story. *sobs* Overall, Mama Day was able to completely sell me on its charm and atmosphere. I am convinced that Willow Springs is a real place somewhere out there, or at least I hope so.