Silver Sparrow
With the novel’s opening line, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist," author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man's deception, a family's complicity, and the two teenage girls caught in the middle.
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Readers say *Silver Sparrow* is a compelling, beautifully written novel told from the perspectives of two half-sisters, exploring themes of family sec...
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What’s it about?
The novel begins with the line, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist." So the story had me from the first line. Tayari Jones is most well-known as the author of An American Marriage, but I enjoyed this earlier book as well. The story is told from two different points of view. James Witherspoon's has two daughters from different marriages and they each serve as narrators. Both stories are compelling.
What did it make me think about?
Secret lives...
Should I read it?
Tayari Jones can tell a story! This novel takes place in Atlanta in the 1990's and portrays a world I didn't know much about. That is always appealing to me.
Quote-
"And this is how it started. Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories. Love can be incremental. Predicaments,too. Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day. This was the meeting of tow people destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives. This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill. Mother had no hand in this, only heart."
If you liked this try-
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinit
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
What’s it about?
The novel begins with the line, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist." So the story had me from the first line. Tayari Jones is most well-known as the author of An American Marriage, but I enjoyed this earlier book as well. The story is told from two different points of view. James Witherspoon's has two daughters from different marriages and they each serve as narrators. Both stories are compelling.
What did it make me think about?
Secret lives...
Should I read it?
Tayari Jones can tell a story! This novel takes place in Atlanta in the 1990's and portrays a world I didn't know much about. That is always appealing to me.
Quote-
"And this is how it started. Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories. Love can be incremental. Predicaments,too. Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day. This was the meeting of tow people destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives. This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill. Mother had no hand in this, only heart."
If you liked this try-
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinit
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
I liked Silver Sparrow overall, but it was definitely a different reading experience for me than KIN. The part that stood out most was the way the adults complicated situations inevitably pulled their children into the middle. The choices made by the adults had consequences for the kids, and watching that unfold was frustrating.
As I got closer to the end, though, I found myself more eager to finish than to keep reading. It wasn’t a bad book at all; it just didn’t hold my attention in the same way KIN did.
Would I read something else from Tayari Jones’ catalog? Absolutely. But after KIN, I’m looking for that same level of intrigue and pull in my next read from her.
Tayari Jones is easily in my top 5 fave writers. The way she is able to explore each character's strengths and vulnerabilities. You find yourself empathetic to the most broken and championing the underdog. Top tier storytelling!
I enjoyed this another book that I kept coming back to finish. It would be a great book club book. I like that she wrapped the story up
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