The story was OK. I did not like the ending -- it was too abrupt and totally unsatisfying. I thought it was poorly written. Sentences. That aren't sentences. Filled the book. Sometimes writers use incomplete sentences -- phrases -- to give emphasis or to mark some kind of rhythm. But if you do that over and over again for no good reason, you end up looking like you've never learned grammar. I am talking here of the writer's voice, not those of the characters who are more real when they talk in their true conversational style. Reading. Sentences that aren't sentences. Can make the reader weary. And earns one star. ( )

Paule Marshall does an excellent job dealing with several themes, issues and obstacles in life facing families.
She starts out slowly, setting up the situation and the characters, such as the great grandmothers - Florence Varina, the "high-yellow" southerner, and Ulene Payne, a demented and bitter West Indian. But, once the story established itself and the storyline picked up, I got into the novel around page 88. I liked the flow of the dialogue and the surprise twist ending that brought the novel to an ambiguous but to me, a satisfying close. ( )