Perfect Peace: A Novel
As seen on TikTok, Daniel Black's Perfect Peace is the heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family's attempt to grapple with their mother's desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have--"a complex, imaginative story of one unforgettable black family in mid-twentieth century Arkansas" (Atlanta Magazine).
When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, "You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain't what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon' be a boy. It'll be a little strange at first, but you'll get used to it, and this'll be over after while." From this point forward, Perfect's life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events--while the rest of his family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment. "A morality tale of the consequences of letting our selfish needs trap the ones we love into roles they weren't born to play. The characters here are as flawed, their sins numerous, as any living human being held under the lens, but the author brings a compassion and understanding to their plights."--Mat Johnson, award-winning author of Invisible Things "Part cautionary tale, part folk tale, part fable, Daniel Black's Perfect Peace is a complete triumph...In Emma Jean Peace, Dr. Black has created a character as complex, equivocal and unforgettable as Scarlett O'Hara."--Larry Duplechan, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Got 'Til It's GoneBUY THE BOOK
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Community Reviews
Perfect Peace by Daniel Black is a deeply emotional novel. Its main character Perfect was born to Gus & Emma Jean Peace as the 7th child to their family. Emma Jean grew up abused emotionally and physically by her mother Mae Helen. Because of that Emma Jean desperately wanted to daughter to raise and love better than her own upbringing. Emma Jean decides to lie to her husband and sons by telling them that the new baby is a girl. She maintained this lie until Perfect’s eighth birthday. The author highlights how this lie affected not only the child’s mentally well being but the mental well being of the family as well. Now for the rest of Paul’s (formerly named Perfect) life he has to battle with his early years of being a girl and living in a small town of poor black people and their opinions regarding the matter. This causes Paul to go through many traumatic experiences with his father, brothers and the townsfolk. This book has deals with sexuality , deception, physical and mental abuse, bullying, and sexual assault. It also highlights the way women were treated by men in many households during the early 1900s.
This was the first fiction I’ve read that made me feel actual emotions. This book was so well written and with such conviction for the story that it kept me wondering what would happen next. Most intriguing read of the year.
Perfect/Paul.. such a complex story.. can’t believe the mom was so obsessed with having a daughter.. that she would raise her baby boy as a baby girl.. the obstacles of trying to overcome that devastation and even the identity crisis is a lot to bear.. the characters were extremely complex and there were so many significant imageries
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