The Salt Eaters
A community of Black faith healers witness an event that will change their lives forever in this "hard-nosed, wise, funny" novel (Los Angeles Times).
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
Set in a fictional city in the American South, the novel also "inhabits the nonlinear, sacred space and sacred time of traditional African religion” (The New York Times Book Review).
Though they all united in their search for the healing properties of salt, some of them are centered, some are off-balance; some are frightened, and some are daring. From the men who live off welfare women to the mud mothers who carry their children in their hides, the novel brilliantly explores the narcissistic aspect of despair and the tremendous responsibility that comes with physical, spiritual, and mental well-being.
One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
Set in a fictional city in the American South, the novel also "inhabits the nonlinear, sacred space and sacred time of traditional African religion” (The New York Times Book Review).
Though they all united in their search for the healing properties of salt, some of them are centered, some are off-balance; some are frightened, and some are daring. From the men who live off welfare women to the mud mothers who carry their children in their hides, the novel brilliantly explores the narcissistic aspect of despair and the tremendous responsibility that comes with physical, spiritual, and mental well-being.
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Community Reviews
I always felt at a distance from this book. Bambara’s style is dense, a tangle of overlapping perspectives and voices, which makes it difficult to follow what’s happening. This is not unexpected, and to be fair, there’s an atmosphere that is sustainable without that narrative support. Still, I found it difficult to care. I would say that tone—layered, heavy, often incantatory—became the dominant experience rather than the story itself.
The more I think about the book and its themes—fractured community, ancestral power, political exhaustion, despair, healing—the less I think I actually got from it. I suspect it might be more powerful to sit and read through in one or two sittings, rather than my preferred method of stretching the reading out over some time. But since that really is my preference, this probably isn’t a book I’d ever enjoy much. I hesitate to actually assess how good it is, though.
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