Silver Sparrow

A few weeks ago I did a search online for good books to read during the summer time. On a few different lists Silver Sparrow was there. So I figured it must a be real nice summer read. And it was written in 2011 and for some reason it has been very appealing to me to read book just barley published (who knows why). This book is on the wrong lists. It is more of a fall/winter book. It is not light and airy and fun, it is serious and deep and really sad.

It is about two sisters growing up in the 70s and 80s in the south. Dana knows they are sisters, Chaurisse has no clue. How does this happen? James, their father married both their mothers! Is that legal? No. But doable apparently. Dana's mom was his second wife, they knew that James had a first family and they were the secret family. Dana grew up feeling second best always to Chaurisse. Dana has to make sure they don't end up at the same jobs, high schools, parties, and eventually colleges. This of coarse would make a giant impression on a young girl's mind about relationships. They knew it was wrong, but "at least she had a daddy, most black girls didn't even have that." I don't know how that makes it okay, but for them it did. In their senior year at high school the girls become friends (because Dana seeks Chaurisse out) and that is when it all comes tumbling down.

There is no happy beginning or end in this story. It is far to real for that. It is a story about sisters and the real bond that exists between them, and the destroying power of secrets. It is about making choices and living with the consequences no matter how great they are. What got to me was often the dad and his wives would say "this is between me and your daddy, he hasn't done you wrong" and that point of view is so wrong, so very wrong.

I might be painting this is an awful terrible book, it isn't. I am glad I read it (even though it did hit it's quota for swear words in the LAST CHAPTER). It showed me a time of life that I know very little about and what what going on in some of the homes. It reminded me the importance of choices, family and honesty. I am glad I picked this book to read, I just wish I had done so in the winter time when the weather would fit the mood of the book.

Quote: : "People say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But they are wrong. What doesn't kill you, doesn't kill you. That's all you get. Sometimes, you just have to hope that's enough."

Grade: B-