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Blacker the Berry. . .

by: Wallace Thurman

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780684815800
ISBN: 068481580X
Label: Touchstone
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishUnknownEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: Touchstone
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 221
Publication Date: February 02, 1996
Publisher: Touchstone
Studio: Touchstone

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ISBN13: 9780684815800
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Review: One of the most widely read and controversial works of the Harlem Renaissance, The Blacker the Berry...was the first novel to openly explore prejudice within the Black community. This pioneering novel found a way beyond the bondage of Blackness in American life to a new meaning in truth and beauty. Emma Lou Brown's dark complexion is a source of sorrow and humiliation -- not only to herself, but to her lighter-skinned family and friends and to the white community of Boise, Idaho, her home-town. As a young woman, Emma travels to New York's Harlem, hoping to find a safe haven in the Black Mecca of the 1920s. Wallace Thurman re-creates this legendary time and place in rich detail, describing Emma's visits to nightclubs and dance halls and house-rent parties, her sex life and her catastrophic love affairs, her dreams and her disillusions -- and the momentous decision she makes in order to survive. A lost classic of Black American literature, The Blacker the Berry...is a compelling portrait of the destructive depth of racial bias in this country. A new introduction by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, author of The Sweeter the Juice, highlights the timelessness of the issues of race and skin color in America.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A Lesson in Standing Up for Yourself
While it was not the life-changing book I expected it to be, "The Blacker the Berry" was an eye-opener. The lesson I got out of this is to stand up for yourself. No matter where you fall in the rainbow, and no matter what your hair looks like -- no matter what -- you owe it to yourself to stand up.

Emma Lou desperately wanted the approval of people who had vile attitudes. But if she'd had the self-esteem, confidence and love for herself, people-pleasing would have been unnecessary. ... Read More

Rating:

- A good novel written differently.
What I probably enjoyed most about this novel was the way Thurman wrote it almost solely from the narrator's point of view. For it to be written from that perspective it had a lot of ambition and held the reader's attention for lengthy periods of time. Of course the portrayl of the topic of race relations and class inside of the black community of the 1920's is phenomenal. Overall, I'd say that Thurman was one of the better yet more serious writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Rating:

- The Blacker the Berry
This is a very good read. I stumbled across this book at the library back in 1970 when I was a freshman in college at the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. Just the title of the book caught my eye. I read the first few pages and was hooked. I checked the book out of the library, took it back to my dorm room and finished it in one day.

I highly recommend this book.

Rating:

- A Powerful Book!
The Blacker the Berry was assigned to me years ago at Rutgers University for a Harlem Renaissance class. I have to say that it had a tremendous impact because I remember it so well more than the other books or reading assignments given to us. The Blacker the Berry is the story of an African American woman who is considered too dark by her own race and community. It's one thing when you face prejudice from another race but to get mistreated by your own like being abused by a member of the family. ... Read More

Rating:

- The more things change......
Having grown up a dark-skinned male in the color-conscious city of Charleston SC (the book itself mentions this fact in passing) in the 1980s when Prince and El Debarge was what was happening for the ladies, I could truly relate to the tale of Emma Lou.

What I found particularly interesting in this saga of self-hate is how little it has changed since the best attemtps of Stokely Carmicheal and Malcolm X. One interesting scene in particular shows Emma Lou with a male friend at an Apollo ... Read More

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