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Mama Day
A fascinating novel that reworks elements of Shakespeare's The Tempest. On the island of Willow Springs, off the Georgia coast, the powers of healer Mama Day are tested by her great niece, Cocoa, a stubbornly emancipated woman endangered by the island's darker forces.
312 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
613 people are currently reading
12.7k people want to read
About the author
Gloria Naylor
30books655followersGloria Naylor was an African-American novelist whose most popular work, The Women of Brewster Place, was made into a 1984 film starring Oprah Winfrey.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 833 reviews
December 10, 2020
Reread (December 2020): I just finished this book with tears streaming down my face. This story is so precious to me. I love Gloria's writing style. I love how she breathed life into these characters, to the point where Miranda and Abigail are one of my favorite literary characters to have ever been created and I would literally die to have gotten another book about their youth. I love the plot of this book and how captivating it is, like I knew what was going to happen and I was still on the edge of my seat and couldn't keep turning these pages ... like that's how invested Gloria made me into this story. It's just such a wonderful and truly special book. Upon my reread, many things clicked into place that I formerly didn't understood (or interpreted differently) and yet, I am fully aware that I didn't understand the scope of this novel fully. There are so many things left for me to discover and unpack in future rereads ... I'm sure the meaning of this book will shift with time, as I change and progress as well. I literally cannot wait to read it as a grandma. This book is so intuitive to me. Gosh, I can't shut up about the treasure that Gloria truly was. Her legacy is epic. Rest in Power! <3
Original review (November 2018): 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:
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? ;)
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.
Original review (November 2018): 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.�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.
“She ain’t in Chicago.�
“Same difference. Ask her if she’s on them drugs.�
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.�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*
“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�
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.
December 6, 2007
When someone asks me what my favorite book is, or wants to know what to read next - I always talk about this book first. Not science fiction or fantasy - so more accessible to my more mainstream reading friends, and yet...
Can I tell you that I cried and cried and cried at the end of this book. Not because the ending is sad - although it is sad, but hopeful too - but because it was over.
The reason I cried so hard was because I would never again get the chance to read it for the first time. It was that amazing to me. Maybe because I am a southerner. Maybe because I want to believe in true love between two very different people. Maybe because there is magic in it. And that there is an island that sits outside and yet is still somehow a part of everything. Unlike most of my other favorite books, I have not re-read it yet. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because I am hoping that I will forget it enough to be able to have a like new experience reading it again. It's been almost 20 years. It holds a place of prominence on my bookshelf. Maybe in 5 more years, I will be ready again.
Can I tell you that I cried and cried and cried at the end of this book. Not because the ending is sad - although it is sad, but hopeful too - but because it was over.
The reason I cried so hard was because I would never again get the chance to read it for the first time. It was that amazing to me. Maybe because I am a southerner. Maybe because I want to believe in true love between two very different people. Maybe because there is magic in it. And that there is an island that sits outside and yet is still somehow a part of everything. Unlike most of my other favorite books, I have not re-read it yet. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because I am hoping that I will forget it enough to be able to have a like new experience reading it again. It's been almost 20 years. It holds a place of prominence on my bookshelf. Maybe in 5 more years, I will be ready again.
July 15, 2014
For me, Naylor does the type of magical realism that I can understand. She brings in elements of country lore and mysticalism mixes it with real world stoytelling. When people believe in magic strong and hard through generations, then there is something very real that develops at out it. Also, of course, I like the love story.
People sleep on Glora Naylor.
Naylor keeps the story in contemporary time and doen't go through dozens of generations to tell the story or delves into so much symbolism that you can't tell the sky from a bathtub.
People sleep on Glora Naylor.
Naylor keeps the story in contemporary time and doen't go through dozens of generations to tell the story or delves into so much symbolism that you can't tell the sky from a bathtub.
April 19, 2016
A work of genius. Naylor's tremendous intellect and ability to create art are on full display here. These characters are so diligently and delicately rendered that you love them, fear them, miss them, and mourn for them. I almost didn't want the book to end.
I was both heartbroken by the tragedies and by the fact that I finished the book.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
I was both heartbroken by the tragedies and by the fact that I finished the book.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
September 7, 2010
Every August I read this book from cover to cover. Island magic, the bonds of family, and the power of the past haunt this book.
This is the first year that I truly understood why George needed to bring back his hands to Mama Day in the end. It's that refusal to let go, to fight for what you love, and to overcome your fears and disbelief.
This is the first year that I truly understood why George needed to bring back his hands to Mama Day in the end. It's that refusal to let go, to fight for what you love, and to overcome your fears and disbelief.
February 19, 2024
This was a really mixed read for me. On the one hand, Naylor writes a wonderful, hilarious character in Mama Day, a 90-year-old respected healer on the small Georgia island she lives on. She and her sister Abigail carry a sorrowful history between them, but manage a productivity that rivals people half their age--and with a lot of humor.
And then there's Cocoa/Ophelia, Abigail's granddaughter, and her beau George. Cocoa and George live in New York City, and could not be more stereotyped and boring. I hated reading their chapters, and wish I could just stay with Mama Day, who had a much more interesting personality, and much more interesting things going on with her.
Overall, I'm glad I read it for the Mama Day sections, and I enjoyed the small town island life, and the unique characters that lived there. But I was truly bored and fed up with the Cocoa/George sections. I almost quit reading because of them.
2.5/5
And then there's Cocoa/Ophelia, Abigail's granddaughter, and her beau George. Cocoa and George live in New York City, and could not be more stereotyped and boring. I hated reading their chapters, and wish I could just stay with Mama Day, who had a much more interesting personality, and much more interesting things going on with her.
Overall, I'm glad I read it for the Mama Day sections, and I enjoyed the small town island life, and the unique characters that lived there. But I was truly bored and fed up with the Cocoa/George sections. I almost quit reading because of them.
2.5/5
March 30, 2020
Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day was a small homecoming, a spiritual event, a celebration of black women and their power, a love story, and a lesson in being your better self. About a woman, the descendent of descendants of seven sons of seven sons before them born to an emancipated slave, who finds love and brings him home to visit, this book has all the comfort of down home folks, and all the darkness that can lurk inside and outside of memory, and the outcomes of acts so tempestuous they are like hurricanes in the small island community that belongs to no state and no man. This book was a mood. It made me miss my granny and her sisters who are holed up in another city, and it made me want to spend more time immersed in my own damn self. Naylor is a powerhouse, and her stories dig deep into what we know, what we suspect, and what we could never guess. My one beef with this book, and it is a big one, is the toxic homophobia and transphobia that is woven throughout, a blight in a book that was otherwise electric with life, and something that I wish newer editions could edit out - we don’t need that in our communities or on our pages, and I wish that authors could reflect back and grow their books and their minds over time.
May 6, 2007
Wow. I could not put this book down -- started out a bit piecy and confusing, but as the plot progressed I found myself reading with one eye open as I fell asleep at night just to soak in more of the story. It's told in the first-person point of view of three different characters and I found it especially interesting to read two points of view to the same situation. Reading this book was like finding myself at home, listening to people I have known all my life but only just met. I cannot recommend this book enough.
April 12, 2020
Re-read 11/25/19-4/12/20
Re-read for book club 7/4- /16
Read 7/23-27/14: I'm sitting here, at a loss for what to say about this book. Because anything I can express in words would just not be enough to convey what this book means and how it has affected me. Wow.
Re-read for book club 7/4- /16
Read 7/23-27/14: I'm sitting here, at a loss for what to say about this book. Because anything I can express in words would just not be enough to convey what this book means and how it has affected me. Wow.
July 8, 2017
I loved Mama Day, Abigail and the island in general. But, I didn't like George and found Cocoa absolutely loathsome. I already hated her and then she did the thing with the vase. Not acceptable. At all. If I were George, I would have been on the phone with the nearest divorce lawyer.
I don't necessarily need to like the main character to like a book, but when I find them utterly appalling and I'm supposed to like them, that's a big, big problem for me.
I know my antipathy was bad when I started cheering on Ruby.
I don't necessarily need to like the main character to like a book, but when I find them utterly appalling and I'm supposed to like them, that's a big, big problem for me.
I know my antipathy was bad when I started cheering on Ruby.
December 2, 2024
What a wonderful rendition of The Tempest. I wanted just a bit more from it, but it was a brilliant, beautiful twist on a classic that makes it fresh and important in its own way.
April 3, 2017
I made the mistake of not writing my review immediately after finishing this book, nor right after book club -- so a full month later, let's see how much I can remember!
Mama Day is a lovely little jaunt of magical realism, set between New York City and a small, sleepy island town off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina. The narrative trades off between two alternating narrators, a black woman and black man dissecting their history and their relationship. The eponymous "Mama Day" is the narrator's inimitable folklorish grand-aunt, who presides over the island as their local elder and sort-of-sorceress.
Cocoa and George's voices & the path of their courtship was what drew my attention the most -- the depiction of being a twenty-something woman lost in the hustle & bustle of NYC and struggling to form meaningful connections is really, really relatable, despite my reading this 29 years after publication. Plus I just really enjoyed it as an in-depth character study: the contrast between the narrators, their personalities and upbringing, and how they struggle to make room for each other in their lives.
It lost me a bit towards the end, as the pacing falters a bit when the real 'conflict' of the novel actually begins so so so close to the finish. There's a devastating ending that I didn't foresee -- despite the fact that looking back, you were told about it right up front in the prologue, and yet somehow half of the people in bookclub (myself included!) didn't notice it.
In addition to being a character study, I'd say it's all about family & identity & heritage, North vs. South, the urban vs. the rural, having a solid oral history versus being a blank slate. The book is billed as "rework[ing] elements of Shakespeare's The Tempest", but tbh that connection is tenuous; there are the vaguest tips of the hat to Shakespeare (Cocoa's real name is Ophelia; George likes reading King Lear; there is a storm), but it's more like window dressing than an actual retelling. The real meat is the concept of home, and relationships & how they work or don't, and the power of faith and credulity: clap your hands if you believe in fairies; don't look back lest you turn into a pillar of salt; and here, follow Mama Day's instructions.
Favourite quotes below the cut:
Mama Day is a lovely little jaunt of magical realism, set between New York City and a small, sleepy island town off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina. The narrative trades off between two alternating narrators, a black woman and black man dissecting their history and their relationship. The eponymous "Mama Day" is the narrator's inimitable folklorish grand-aunt, who presides over the island as their local elder and sort-of-sorceress.
Cocoa and George's voices & the path of their courtship was what drew my attention the most -- the depiction of being a twenty-something woman lost in the hustle & bustle of NYC and struggling to form meaningful connections is really, really relatable, despite my reading this 29 years after publication. Plus I just really enjoyed it as an in-depth character study: the contrast between the narrators, their personalities and upbringing, and how they struggle to make room for each other in their lives.
It lost me a bit towards the end, as the pacing falters a bit when the real 'conflict' of the novel actually begins so so so close to the finish. There's a devastating ending that I didn't foresee -- despite the fact that looking back, you were told about it right up front in the prologue, and yet somehow half of the people in bookclub (myself included!) didn't notice it.
In addition to being a character study, I'd say it's all about family & identity & heritage, North vs. South, the urban vs. the rural, having a solid oral history versus being a blank slate. The book is billed as "rework[ing] elements of Shakespeare's The Tempest", but tbh that connection is tenuous; there are the vaguest tips of the hat to Shakespeare (Cocoa's real name is Ophelia; George likes reading King Lear; there is a storm), but it's more like window dressing than an actual retelling. The real meat is the concept of home, and relationships & how they work or don't, and the power of faith and credulity: clap your hands if you believe in fairies; don't look back lest you turn into a pillar of salt; and here, follow Mama Day's instructions.
Favourite quotes below the cut:
February 11, 2011
I wanted to like this, I really did. But honestly, if I hadn't been reading it for book club, I probably wouldn't have finished it. It's very hard to follow, especially in the beginning, because it frequently alternates narrators and the narrators alternate their style of narration. For instance, Mama Day might go from calling Cocoa "Cocoa" to calling her "you." The threads of the family's history that are woven into the story seemed important, but they are so vague that I feel like I missed the point of having them there, which is frustrating. The pace is very slow, and even toward the end when there was more "action," I felt like it was dragging. Some of the description in the end section was downright nauseating too. And when I reached the climax, I found myself saying, "What?" Why did I read an entire book about a woman reconciling her two selves only for it to suddenly become a hoodoo-style horror novel? Very jarring. And as I mentioned before, I feel very frustrated as a reader because I seem to have missed the point of this story, that thing that makes all these other reviewers call this one of the best novels they've ever read. I hate being a frustrated reader and feeling stupid!
November 6, 2012
This book was the most painfully disappointing thing I ever read.
Now, note I say disappointing, not bad. For the majority of this richly written novel, I was enraptured. As a big fan of magical realism, and especially the magical traditions of America, I loved the character of Mama Day and the mystical origins of Sapphira Wade that were hinted at throughout the book. For those who enjoyed "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil" but wished for more Minerva, Miranda "Mama" Day will leave you feeling deliciously sated. And the back and forth between Abigail and Minerva has a charm of it's own, and reminds one of Frances and Jet from "Practical Magic" - if you're fans of either book, you might enjoy "Mama Day." Might.
I adored Coco and George's relationship: this was no boy meets girl, they instantly fall in love, then tragedy strikes situation. These characters are carefully drawn in their own right, and Naylor lavishes over every detail not only of their falling in love, but of the trials and tribulations of actually LIVING with your beloved, and sometimes to very hilarious ends (George's attempts to educate himself on feminine physiology and offer some sympathy to Coco when he thinks it might be the right 'time' are especially endearing).
The story is always brought back to Willow Island and the mysterious Sapphira, and the magical powers that reside there. When Coco is endangered by Ruby, the island root doctor, George has to make a decision about whether to save her life.
And that, my friends, is where the novel utterly, completely, and horrendously jumps the shark. The entire story has been teasing us with hints about Sapphira and her mystical powers, building up to when Mama Day asks George to cross over and discover how to save Coco. And what does George do?
He gets himself killed by a chicken, that's what.
Yes, you read that right. Naylor builds up right to the edge of a climax which will fulfill the purpose of the entire novel, and then like that! abandons the whole thing, and kills off a main character in the most insulting way possible. Somehow, George dying means Coco doesn't, and she remarries (despite having explained how she never would previously, and despite us being giving no time to mourn the lost relationship, or even understand why it happened) and the novel ends with Mama Day looking out on the island. And that's it.
Never, in my life, have I felt so much like an author reached through the pages to slap me in the face and spit in my eye as when I finished "Mama Day". This ending was so offensive, so pointless, so out of tune with the whole book until that very moment, that I've spent years wondering just why she did it. Was she watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and thought it would be funny to end her book in a similar tone? Was she trying to make some kind of modern literature point about rebelling against the need for a climax? Did her advance run out, and she not have time to write the ending she was so clearly building up to?
Eventually, I came to a revelation - that it doesn't MATTER what her excuse for the ending is, it sucks. It's abrupt, unnecessary, pointless, stupid, and robs the audience of any ability to take the story and characters seriously. There are bad endings, and then there are BAD endings. Naylor's ending to "Mama Day" ranks up there with the very, very worst of the bunch.
So then - is the book worth reading? Well, here's the frustrating part: Naylor is a GOOD writer, and up until the ending, "Mama Day" is a GOOD book. It is BECAUSE the book is otherwise so good that the ending - so out of place and awkward and forced - is so painful. You fall in love with a book and characters, and then the author essentially gives up. You KNOW they could do better, but somehow they decided against it.
If you can enjoy a book without getting too attached to how the characters meet their end, then you might like this book. But of course, paradoxically, if you can't get attached to the characters, there's not much point in reading this kind of book. And if you get attached to the characters, you'll want to know how it all ends. And, if you do, rest assured you will be disappointed.
Now, note I say disappointing, not bad. For the majority of this richly written novel, I was enraptured. As a big fan of magical realism, and especially the magical traditions of America, I loved the character of Mama Day and the mystical origins of Sapphira Wade that were hinted at throughout the book. For those who enjoyed "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil" but wished for more Minerva, Miranda "Mama" Day will leave you feeling deliciously sated. And the back and forth between Abigail and Minerva has a charm of it's own, and reminds one of Frances and Jet from "Practical Magic" - if you're fans of either book, you might enjoy "Mama Day." Might.
I adored Coco and George's relationship: this was no boy meets girl, they instantly fall in love, then tragedy strikes situation. These characters are carefully drawn in their own right, and Naylor lavishes over every detail not only of their falling in love, but of the trials and tribulations of actually LIVING with your beloved, and sometimes to very hilarious ends (George's attempts to educate himself on feminine physiology and offer some sympathy to Coco when he thinks it might be the right 'time' are especially endearing).
The story is always brought back to Willow Island and the mysterious Sapphira, and the magical powers that reside there. When Coco is endangered by Ruby, the island root doctor, George has to make a decision about whether to save her life.
And that, my friends, is where the novel utterly, completely, and horrendously jumps the shark. The entire story has been teasing us with hints about Sapphira and her mystical powers, building up to when Mama Day asks George to cross over and discover how to save Coco. And what does George do?
He gets himself killed by a chicken, that's what.
Yes, you read that right. Naylor builds up right to the edge of a climax which will fulfill the purpose of the entire novel, and then like that! abandons the whole thing, and kills off a main character in the most insulting way possible. Somehow, George dying means Coco doesn't, and she remarries (despite having explained how she never would previously, and despite us being giving no time to mourn the lost relationship, or even understand why it happened) and the novel ends with Mama Day looking out on the island. And that's it.
Never, in my life, have I felt so much like an author reached through the pages to slap me in the face and spit in my eye as when I finished "Mama Day". This ending was so offensive, so pointless, so out of tune with the whole book until that very moment, that I've spent years wondering just why she did it. Was she watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and thought it would be funny to end her book in a similar tone? Was she trying to make some kind of modern literature point about rebelling against the need for a climax? Did her advance run out, and she not have time to write the ending she was so clearly building up to?
Eventually, I came to a revelation - that it doesn't MATTER what her excuse for the ending is, it sucks. It's abrupt, unnecessary, pointless, stupid, and robs the audience of any ability to take the story and characters seriously. There are bad endings, and then there are BAD endings. Naylor's ending to "Mama Day" ranks up there with the very, very worst of the bunch.
So then - is the book worth reading? Well, here's the frustrating part: Naylor is a GOOD writer, and up until the ending, "Mama Day" is a GOOD book. It is BECAUSE the book is otherwise so good that the ending - so out of place and awkward and forced - is so painful. You fall in love with a book and characters, and then the author essentially gives up. You KNOW they could do better, but somehow they decided against it.
If you can enjoy a book without getting too attached to how the characters meet their end, then you might like this book. But of course, paradoxically, if you can't get attached to the characters, there's not much point in reading this kind of book. And if you get attached to the characters, you'll want to know how it all ends. And, if you do, rest assured you will be disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2018
Mama Day is like a song. It begins slowly enough - we follow the daily life of elderly Mama Day and her sister, Abigail; we meet Abigail's granddaughter, Cocoa, a New Yorker in her 20s who returns to the island of Willow Springs every August; we hear murmurings about the slave woman from whom the Days descended; we learn about the sister of Mama Day and Abigail, who died in her youth and left their mother mentally unwell. There is a sense of spiritual stirrings on the island, but Mama Day takes its time; several years are spanned over the first part of the book, whereas the second part lasts less than two weeks. It's August, and Cocoa brings her husband, George, to Willow Springs for the first time. Here the story works up to a crashing crescendo. To my tone-deaf ears, its intricate inner workings are unclear, but I can still recognize and hold reverence for its beauty.
I have not read , which inspired this novel. Perhaps I would have had an even richer experience of Mama Day if I knew more about its origins; or perhaps I would have been more critical. But I can't bring myself to read Shakespeare at this point in my life; and anyway, I was glad to be able to feel the cold pangs of shock that came with each unexpected loss within the story. There is foreshadowing for each tragedy, and I knew there would be death; but being so immersed in Willow Springs, I was able to feel each bolt of horror and pain right along with the characters.
What a wonderfully odd place Willow Springs is: a small island that's neither a part of Georgia nor South Carolina, inhabited by an assortment of believably eccentric residents. They are not odd for the sake of being odd; each person feels so real, which helps to bring the island to life.
And one of the joys of this story is in the telling. The narrative alternates between an omniscient voice which follows Mama Day and other residents of Willow Springs, and a second-person narration between Cocoa and George. The alternation between these three voices keeps things fresh, and as the story reaches its climax, the narrative sections grow short and urgent.
Mama Day is a remarkable book, concerned with legacies and the power of a sense of place. The magical realism is perfect for the story; despite its supernatural elements and its Shakespearean origin, this is one of the truest and most believable stories I have read. One of the blurbs on the back of my copy quotes Rita Mae Brown as saying that Naylor has "that indefinable quality we call 'heart.'" That heart, above all else, is what makes this book sing.
I have not read , which inspired this novel. Perhaps I would have had an even richer experience of Mama Day if I knew more about its origins; or perhaps I would have been more critical. But I can't bring myself to read Shakespeare at this point in my life; and anyway, I was glad to be able to feel the cold pangs of shock that came with each unexpected loss within the story. There is foreshadowing for each tragedy, and I knew there would be death; but being so immersed in Willow Springs, I was able to feel each bolt of horror and pain right along with the characters.
What a wonderfully odd place Willow Springs is: a small island that's neither a part of Georgia nor South Carolina, inhabited by an assortment of believably eccentric residents. They are not odd for the sake of being odd; each person feels so real, which helps to bring the island to life.
And one of the joys of this story is in the telling. The narrative alternates between an omniscient voice which follows Mama Day and other residents of Willow Springs, and a second-person narration between Cocoa and George. The alternation between these three voices keeps things fresh, and as the story reaches its climax, the narrative sections grow short and urgent.
Mama Day is a remarkable book, concerned with legacies and the power of a sense of place. The magical realism is perfect for the story; despite its supernatural elements and its Shakespearean origin, this is one of the truest and most believable stories I have read. One of the blurbs on the back of my copy quotes Rita Mae Brown as saying that Naylor has "that indefinable quality we call 'heart.'" That heart, above all else, is what makes this book sing.
July 10, 2022
Me esperaba una historia de miedo y llena de brujería pero no ha sido así. Cuenta la vida de la familia Day, en la que la tía es una especie de curandera mística y su sobrina cae enferma. Pero todo sucede en las últimas 40 páginas.
Asimismo, los diálogos escasean así como los capítulos. Es decir, se narra del tirón y no me gusta.
No lo recomiendo.
.
I was expecting a scary story full of witchcraft but it hasn't been like that. It tells the life of the Day family, in which the aunt is a kind of mystical healer and her niece falls ill. But everything happens in the last 40 pages.
I do not recommend it.
Asimismo, los diálogos escasean así como los capítulos. Es decir, se narra del tirón y no me gusta.
No lo recomiendo.
.
I was expecting a scary story full of witchcraft but it hasn't been like that. It tells the life of the Day family, in which the aunt is a kind of mystical healer and her niece falls ill. But everything happens in the last 40 pages.
I do not recommend it.
July 3, 2020
I really liked the writing and thought this was headed for a 5 for a while, but the ending left me with too many questions, and I don't feel that the book fully delivered on the awesome backstory it hinted at. Worth the read, though. Review to come.
February 6, 2016
third time reading this Novel and i think ive finally discovered what draws me back to it every year , The way it speaks to my belief system! Excellent story , unforgettable characters & Great Magic
February 3, 2025
Fascinante e inteligente.
Una gran protagonista, Ophelia, enlace entre todas las historias, criada por su abuela Abigail y su tía abuela, Mama Day, hermanas juntas que mantienen vivas las tradiciones de Willow Springs, lugar mágico, tierra de los Day desde "su 1823", año legendario para la creación de este universo, gracias a la matriarca del clan, Sapphira Wade, comprada allí pocos años antes como "pura sangre africana, de miembros y dientes sanos, preparada a medias, afectada por el resentimiento y con temperamento malhumorado...", a quien bastaron mil días y siete hijos para refundar la propiedad de ese lugar único.
Ésa es solo la primera página de esta novela, punto de partida para presentarnos a las tres mujeres que la sustentan: las hermanas Miranda (conocida como Mama Day) y Abigail, y su nieta Ophelia, última descendiente de esta familia.
Una primera parte, moderna y urbana, centrada en una relación de pareja ambientada en la gran ciudad de Nueva York, y una segunda parte más familiar y con tintes de realismo mágico, vivida en Willow Springs.
La trama puede parecer común, pero está forjada por diálogos muy ingeniosos de una inteligencia devastadora.
Entramos a la primera parte conociendo el inicio de una relación de pareja desde ambas perspectivas, ella y él, Ophelia y George, intercaladas en una narración brillante en segunda persona, que alterna las mismas circunstancias vividas y pensadas por ambos, narradas por una al otro y viceversa.
Me parece magnífico y propio de una autora genial cómo ha conseguido recrear los pensamientos de ambos con detalles perfectamente cohesionados.
Personajes magistralmente tratados.
Referencias a Linden Hills y Baileys Cafe.
En la segunda parte el imaginario se asienta en Willow Springs, donde vuelven ambos y la narración se torna menos incisiva y más tradicional, pierde garra en mi opinión, y gana magnetismo en el personaje de Mama Day, auténtica protagonista y casa de todos los personajes, mientras la relación de pareja prosigue en otras derivas y múltiples círculos.
Sensación triste cuando finaliza y buen gusto por la experiencia. Aceptación a dejar ir, a luchar por lo que amas y a superar tu incredulidad.
Una gran protagonista, Ophelia, enlace entre todas las historias, criada por su abuela Abigail y su tía abuela, Mama Day, hermanas juntas que mantienen vivas las tradiciones de Willow Springs, lugar mágico, tierra de los Day desde "su 1823", año legendario para la creación de este universo, gracias a la matriarca del clan, Sapphira Wade, comprada allí pocos años antes como "pura sangre africana, de miembros y dientes sanos, preparada a medias, afectada por el resentimiento y con temperamento malhumorado...", a quien bastaron mil días y siete hijos para refundar la propiedad de ese lugar único.
Ésa es solo la primera página de esta novela, punto de partida para presentarnos a las tres mujeres que la sustentan: las hermanas Miranda (conocida como Mama Day) y Abigail, y su nieta Ophelia, última descendiente de esta familia.
Una primera parte, moderna y urbana, centrada en una relación de pareja ambientada en la gran ciudad de Nueva York, y una segunda parte más familiar y con tintes de realismo mágico, vivida en Willow Springs.
La trama puede parecer común, pero está forjada por diálogos muy ingeniosos de una inteligencia devastadora.
Entramos a la primera parte conociendo el inicio de una relación de pareja desde ambas perspectivas, ella y él, Ophelia y George, intercaladas en una narración brillante en segunda persona, que alterna las mismas circunstancias vividas y pensadas por ambos, narradas por una al otro y viceversa.
Me parece magnífico y propio de una autora genial cómo ha conseguido recrear los pensamientos de ambos con detalles perfectamente cohesionados.
Personajes magistralmente tratados.
Referencias a Linden Hills y Baileys Cafe.
En la segunda parte el imaginario se asienta en Willow Springs, donde vuelven ambos y la narración se torna menos incisiva y más tradicional, pierde garra en mi opinión, y gana magnetismo en el personaje de Mama Day, auténtica protagonista y casa de todos los personajes, mientras la relación de pareja prosigue en otras derivas y múltiples círculos.
Sensación triste cuando finaliza y buen gusto por la experiencia. Aceptación a dejar ir, a luchar por lo que amas y a superar tu incredulidad.
April 30, 2016
So, this was overdue a long time! I began reading it before exams and despite myself, had to put it down a little before the ending. I do not have a specific genre I prefer to read, but this is just my kind of a book. I cannot give it any less than 4.5/5. Even though people might criticise it for being slow, the story did have a lot of weight to carry itself. It spans a total of eight generations and is based in the island of Willow Springs where the belief in magic is deep-rooted. It is told from 3 different first person narrations, and getting two different views of the same situation helped a lot in this case. The absolute best thing for me was the language. It wasn't poetic, and yet it was like music to me, the images it evoked were so strong, they stayed with me.
I'm not a person who is into mushy romance, but the love story of George and Cocoa, the whole of their story, their lives, their love, their sacrifice, everything was so beautiful, I cannot stop raving about it. Also, this is the first book of magical realism that I've read and it has sucked me in, so I'm looking forward to trying out more.
The way the story traced the history, pain, angst, sacrifices and just every other human emotion of a family, it's descendants, and the whole island, was so beautiful to me, I cannot put it in words. Some things like the way their magic worked was obviously hard to understand for me, but it is all about belief. If you believe in the magic, it'll happen. And I believed from the start that this book will work it's magic on me, and it has. I have read Naylor's Women of Brewster Place and Men of Brewster place earlier, and I was already in love with her writing. But they were hard, gritty and realistic. This was different, and brought out another side of her writing, and I really enjoyed it. I cannot praise it enough, and I recommend it to each and every reader out there.
P.S.-The wisdom of Mama Day will surely help you and make you look at her in awe. She's one of my favourite female characters now.
I'm not a person who is into mushy romance, but the love story of George and Cocoa, the whole of their story, their lives, their love, their sacrifice, everything was so beautiful, I cannot stop raving about it. Also, this is the first book of magical realism that I've read and it has sucked me in, so I'm looking forward to trying out more.
The way the story traced the history, pain, angst, sacrifices and just every other human emotion of a family, it's descendants, and the whole island, was so beautiful to me, I cannot put it in words. Some things like the way their magic worked was obviously hard to understand for me, but it is all about belief. If you believe in the magic, it'll happen. And I believed from the start that this book will work it's magic on me, and it has. I have read Naylor's Women of Brewster Place and Men of Brewster place earlier, and I was already in love with her writing. But they were hard, gritty and realistic. This was different, and brought out another side of her writing, and I really enjoyed it. I cannot praise it enough, and I recommend it to each and every reader out there.
P.S.-The wisdom of Mama Day will surely help you and make you look at her in awe. She's one of my favourite female characters now.
August 4, 2012
I'm still processing this book. I may be processing forever. I think it's one of those stories that will continue to haunt me for years to come, thoughts of a slow fall or lavender water popping into my mind when I'm doing the laundry, or protecting Ophelia from the rain.
I don't know what to think about this book because I don't know that it even made me think. But it surely made me feel. I feel sadness. I feel gratitude. I feel love. I feel sentimental and heartbroken over things I shouldn't even think about. I don't want to start a new book because I don't want this one to leave my heart yet. But I don't think it will.
It leaves so much to ponder still. There aren't any answers, and there's so much detail that your mind continues to go back to this or that scene, thinking about what that phrase or this action meant. It also made me dream that Sam had died, which was unsettling. And my dreams dictate how I feel for the day, so I've been a little off lately.
I love that you know from the start what's going to happen at the end of the story, but you spend the whole book learning why you should care.
I suppose I'll save the rest of my thoughts for our book club. It'll be nice to have a little distance from it when we discuss, I suppose. Doesn't necessarily mean I'll be thinking any more clearly, but perhaps my heart will make some sense of it...
I don't know what to think about this book because I don't know that it even made me think. But it surely made me feel. I feel sadness. I feel gratitude. I feel love. I feel sentimental and heartbroken over things I shouldn't even think about. I don't want to start a new book because I don't want this one to leave my heart yet. But I don't think it will.
It leaves so much to ponder still. There aren't any answers, and there's so much detail that your mind continues to go back to this or that scene, thinking about what that phrase or this action meant. It also made me dream that Sam had died, which was unsettling. And my dreams dictate how I feel for the day, so I've been a little off lately.
I love that you know from the start what's going to happen at the end of the story, but you spend the whole book learning why you should care.
I suppose I'll save the rest of my thoughts for our book club. It'll be nice to have a little distance from it when we discuss, I suppose. Doesn't necessarily mean I'll be thinking any more clearly, but perhaps my heart will make some sense of it...
August 5, 2022
I am overwhelmed. This has easily become one of my favorite books.
March 2, 2023
4.5 stars
Right from the start I was bewitched by this novel. Gloria Naylor’s skill with inner and outer dialogue is brilliant, whether it be funny, witty, angry or sad and especially when it concerns the differences between men and women and their relationships. The novel begins with Cocoa and George, two New York residents who initially take it in turns to narrate the novel. They are very different in many ways including the fact that George is an orphan and Cocoa comes from a loving family who live on an Island off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina which was bequeathed to their great-great grandmother by her master - although no one really knows how. Either way the family has lived there for generations and now there are only Abigail, Cocoa’s grandmother and Miranda or Mama Day, her Great-aunt still living.
As the novel moves forward Mama Day’s voice joins the narrative and it is her voice that is the most entrancing of the three. She often talks about the past and those family who died, she can navigate the island with her eyes closed and being the daughter of the seventh son of a seventh son has second sight and an ability to see and understand things others don’t. She is also the island’s healer with her knowledge of plants and the body and other more mysterious means.
From the start of the novel we know something happens to one of the characters and because of this there is a large element of suspense to it which meant it was sometimes difficult to read as I quickly grew attached to these characters being privy to so many of their thoughts. They have their faults but then they are very human and it is in their relationship to one other on this island that the novel shines. Not only can Gloria Naylor write dialogue but her writing overall is often beautiful and visceral whether she is describing the island or describing the emotions of her characters.
Towards the end there were a few events that for me, didn’t sit right with what had come before and because of that it wasn’t quite a full five-star read despite being left in tears at one point. However, this is a small gripe for what was otherwise a truly wonderful read and I can’t wait to read more Naylor in the future.
Right from the start I was bewitched by this novel. Gloria Naylor’s skill with inner and outer dialogue is brilliant, whether it be funny, witty, angry or sad and especially when it concerns the differences between men and women and their relationships. The novel begins with Cocoa and George, two New York residents who initially take it in turns to narrate the novel. They are very different in many ways including the fact that George is an orphan and Cocoa comes from a loving family who live on an Island off the coast of Georgia/South Carolina which was bequeathed to their great-great grandmother by her master - although no one really knows how. Either way the family has lived there for generations and now there are only Abigail, Cocoa’s grandmother and Miranda or Mama Day, her Great-aunt still living.
As the novel moves forward Mama Day’s voice joins the narrative and it is her voice that is the most entrancing of the three. She often talks about the past and those family who died, she can navigate the island with her eyes closed and being the daughter of the seventh son of a seventh son has second sight and an ability to see and understand things others don’t. She is also the island’s healer with her knowledge of plants and the body and other more mysterious means.
From the start of the novel we know something happens to one of the characters and because of this there is a large element of suspense to it which meant it was sometimes difficult to read as I quickly grew attached to these characters being privy to so many of their thoughts. They have their faults but then they are very human and it is in their relationship to one other on this island that the novel shines. Not only can Gloria Naylor write dialogue but her writing overall is often beautiful and visceral whether she is describing the island or describing the emotions of her characters.
Towards the end there were a few events that for me, didn’t sit right with what had come before and because of that it wasn’t quite a full five-star read despite being left in tears at one point. However, this is a small gripe for what was otherwise a truly wonderful read and I can’t wait to read more Naylor in the future.
January 24, 2008
This is a great novel! It's a complex story that has themes in equal weighting between a love story, supernatural happenings, generational conflicts, and the dynamic definition of the word "family". The author has a wonderful writing style that paints a very detailed picture of the surroundings and situations without being too wordy. That's probably why the story can be so complex without being overwhelming. There is so much covered in this book, that I'd recommend it to anyone.
I really liked how the story was told in first person by a couple of different characters, so you'd see the same situation from different points of view.
On a more personal note, the book left me asking, "Are women really as irrational and cryptic in romantic relationship as Cocoa (a main character) was?" If so, then every guy I've ever dated is extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon me, and my husband is the luckiest man in the world. I hope that the author used the rationality of her husband George to her crazy antics as some literary device, and it's not how women really are in romantic relationships.
I really liked how the story was told in first person by a couple of different characters, so you'd see the same situation from different points of view.
On a more personal note, the book left me asking, "Are women really as irrational and cryptic in romantic relationship as Cocoa (a main character) was?" If so, then every guy I've ever dated is extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon me, and my husband is the luckiest man in the world. I hope that the author used the rationality of her husband George to her crazy antics as some literary device, and it's not how women really are in romantic relationships.
February 27, 2018
I've read this book at least three times, and I never get tired of thinking back on George and Coco's intense relationship and all the wonderful, terrible, and enchanting things that happen on the island of Willow Springs. This story is fundementally about good vs evil/love vs hate, but it's told in a unique and haunting way. By the end of the story you'll both wish you could and thank God you can't ever go to Naylor's fictional island. The quirky, likable, yet deeply flawed characters and their ghostly history continue to haunt me every time they cross my mind, and George and Coco's love story remains the greatest and most moving of all that I have encountered. I was so caught up in the debate over what REALLY happened to George that I wrote a paper on it in college and received some of the highest praise I ever got on a lit crit piece.
Magical realism is a neglected genre, and it's wrong that a book like this is so unknown while books like Fifty Shades are read by practically everyone and their mom. I recommend this book to all humans.
Magical realism is a neglected genre, and it's wrong that a book like this is so unknown while books like Fifty Shades are read by practically everyone and their mom. I recommend this book to all humans.
January 25, 2024
Naylor creates a fabulous, myth-like world filled with enchantment. Traumatic memories of slavery are woven into the tapestry, although it's the venal, day-to-day stuff that sparks the tragic denouement.
Set largely on the barrier island of Willow Springs, off the coast of Georgia, Mama Day juxtaposes the ancient wisdom of the title character against the challenges of the modern world, as represented by Mama Day's great-niece, Cocoa. Saggy in places--or maybe I just don't have the attention span I used to--the lush writing kept me reading until the grand guignol climax. Yes, it was foreshadowed, but it was even more over-the-top than the climax of Parasite, and the resolution felt contrived.
Set largely on the barrier island of Willow Springs, off the coast of Georgia, Mama Day juxtaposes the ancient wisdom of the title character against the challenges of the modern world, as represented by Mama Day's great-niece, Cocoa. Saggy in places--or maybe I just don't have the attention span I used to--the lush writing kept me reading until the grand guignol climax. Yes, it was foreshadowed, but it was even more over-the-top than the climax of Parasite, and the resolution felt contrived.
January 14, 2016
4.5 stars. I wanted to give this five stars, but it just wasn't at that level. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it. An amazing piece of work. A slow burn; beautifully written and wonderfully realized. This is how I like my magical realism: light and subtle. Loved it! Will definitely re-read in the future!
May 15, 2013
Someone told me this was their favorite book. It is not mine. It was hard to get into at first, but I pushed through and then the multi-viewpoints became interesting. But as much as I loved the language and the writing, I hated the story. I might feel differently with a different ending.
April 2, 2008
One of my favorites. Magic realism and some really strong women and a beautiful love story. Really interesting setting too.
November 5, 2020
Incredible. It’s rare that I get to read for pleasure mid-semester and, while this was part of my curriculum, it was so thoroughly enjoyable and didn’t feel like work. Naylor is deceptively simplistic and has a great sense of humor. Definitely want to read more of her
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