Book Annotation: Literary Fiction

Silver Sparrow (2011)

Author:  Tayari Jones

Publisher:  Algonquin Books

ISBN: 1-565129903

Genre:  Literary Fiction
             African-American Fiction
             Women’s Lives & Relationships

Awards:

·         2012 ALA Black Caucus Literary Award

·         Library Journal’s 2011 Top Ten List

·         Women’s National Book Association 2011 Great Group Read List

·         O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books for 2011

·         NAACP Image Award nominee in 2012

·         Tayari Jones was selected to receive the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts” by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in 2012

Summary:  The first line sets the stage: “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.”  Two sisters live their lives only a few miles apart.  One, Dana, has always been aware that her father has a real wife and a legitimate daughter, while she and her mother are kept in the shadow of her father’s love.  But mother and daughter rationalize that they have the advantage, since they know the truth of their unusual situation.  The other sister, Chaurisse, gets more time and attention from her father, but is happily unaware that he is living a double life.  Silver Sparrow gives each of the sisters a voice and provides the reader with surprising perspectives on family relationships and self-image.

Appeals:

·         Character-driven and relationship-centered, contrasting the lives of two sisters, one of whom is unaware that she has a sibling.

·         First person point of view switches from Dana to Chaurisse halfway through the book, allowing us to experience the thoughts and emotions of both sisters.

·         Strong sense of place, the neighborhoods of suburban Atlanta are small enough that the reader anticipates the inevitable face-to-face meeting of the sisters.

Aspects of the book which are characteristic of the Literary Fiction Genre:

·         Characters are more important than storyline

·         Setting is prominent (suburban Atlanta from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s)

·         Pacing is gradual

·         Language and dialect reveal compelling aspects of differing characters

Read Alikes:

·         Family Pictures by Jane Green (2013)

·         The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen (2012)

·         Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (2011)

·         The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian (2007)

·         October Suite by Maxine Clair (2001)

·         The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1970)