Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)'s Reviews > The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
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Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)'s review
bookshelves: all-fiction, america, cultural-and-social-commentary, domestic-and-relationship-fiction
Dec 31, 2012
bookshelves: all-fiction, america, cultural-and-social-commentary, domestic-and-relationship-fiction
Rating = 3.5 stars
Aw, hell. How am I supposed to rate this? There's some powerful writing here, but the structure of the novel prevents it from gaining much momentum. Each chapter is devoted to one or two of Hattie's children, and after they get that one chapter, they're mostly abandoned for the remainder of the novel. Each character has to be introduced and developed within the space of one long chapter, never to be heard from again (mostly) once their time in the spotlight has passed.
Adding to the discontinuity are the long time gaps between chapters. You get "Philadelphia and Jubilee" in 1925, followed by "Floyd" in 1948, then "Six" in 1950, and so on. Instead of a novel, it begins to feel like a series of interconnected stories, with one or two characters binding them all together. Hattie is the only character we can connect with throughout the entire book, and often that connection is from a distance.
Does this mean I didn't enjoy the book? No. Ayana Mathis is a mighty fine writer. She seems to write from a place of understanding the hearts and minds of a people whose history offered them limited options, often resulting in self-destructive behaviors.
In 1923, Hattie moves to Philadelphia as part of the Great Migration, when many Southern black people moved north hoping to escape abuse and poverty. The absence of Jim Crow laws allows her greater dignity and freedom from fear, but financial success eludes her. Her husband is a hard-drinking, gambling, womanizing scoundrel, but she can't resist him in the bedroom. So baby after baby after baby arrives. Hattie is so busy just trying to keep them fed and clothed and out of trouble that she doesn't think to give them the warmth and affection they crave. Each chapter shows how that life of poverty and apparent hopelessness infects each child with a certain poverty of spirit.
What Ayana Mathis does masterfully is show how removal from oppression does not automatically lift the feeling of being oppressed. At the end of the novel, Hattie observes:
"Here we are, sixty years out of Georgia, a new generation has been born, and there's still the same wounding and the same pain."
Healing takes more than a generation, and the work is still upon us.
This has no bearing on the story, but I found it interesting and effective the way Mathis uses references to food to illustrate the various skin tones. She describes people with skin the color of liquid caramel, clover honey, milky tea, nutmeg, and cinnamon. And Hattie, who could have "passed," has skin "the color of the inside of an almond." I'm so pale that I practically glow in the dark, but when I look at my skin, it's not really white. The closest I could get, using a food reference, would be the inside of a Yukon Gold potato. Appetizing, ain't it?
Aw, hell. How am I supposed to rate this? There's some powerful writing here, but the structure of the novel prevents it from gaining much momentum. Each chapter is devoted to one or two of Hattie's children, and after they get that one chapter, they're mostly abandoned for the remainder of the novel. Each character has to be introduced and developed within the space of one long chapter, never to be heard from again (mostly) once their time in the spotlight has passed.
Adding to the discontinuity are the long time gaps between chapters. You get "Philadelphia and Jubilee" in 1925, followed by "Floyd" in 1948, then "Six" in 1950, and so on. Instead of a novel, it begins to feel like a series of interconnected stories, with one or two characters binding them all together. Hattie is the only character we can connect with throughout the entire book, and often that connection is from a distance.
Does this mean I didn't enjoy the book? No. Ayana Mathis is a mighty fine writer. She seems to write from a place of understanding the hearts and minds of a people whose history offered them limited options, often resulting in self-destructive behaviors.
In 1923, Hattie moves to Philadelphia as part of the Great Migration, when many Southern black people moved north hoping to escape abuse and poverty. The absence of Jim Crow laws allows her greater dignity and freedom from fear, but financial success eludes her. Her husband is a hard-drinking, gambling, womanizing scoundrel, but she can't resist him in the bedroom. So baby after baby after baby arrives. Hattie is so busy just trying to keep them fed and clothed and out of trouble that she doesn't think to give them the warmth and affection they crave. Each chapter shows how that life of poverty and apparent hopelessness infects each child with a certain poverty of spirit.
What Ayana Mathis does masterfully is show how removal from oppression does not automatically lift the feeling of being oppressed. At the end of the novel, Hattie observes:
"Here we are, sixty years out of Georgia, a new generation has been born, and there's still the same wounding and the same pain."
Healing takes more than a generation, and the work is still upon us.
This has no bearing on the story, but I found it interesting and effective the way Mathis uses references to food to illustrate the various skin tones. She describes people with skin the color of liquid caramel, clover honey, milky tea, nutmeg, and cinnamon. And Hattie, who could have "passed," has skin "the color of the inside of an almond." I'm so pale that I practically glow in the dark, but when I look at my skin, it's not really white. The closest I could get, using a food reference, would be the inside of a Yukon Gold potato. Appetizing, ain't it?
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 29, 2012
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Finished Reading
December 31, 2012
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message 1:
by
ilovebakedgoods (Teresa)
(new)
Dec 31, 2012 11:16AM
![ilovebakedgoods (Teresa)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1483630520p1/2154037.jpg)
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![Angela](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1300488874p1/4560604.jpg)
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![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
It's hard to say if calling it a novel is a marketing ploy, or the author's choice. Maybe a little of both. I do know that if you call it a collection of linked stories, you lose about half your potential buyers.
It could just be a difference of opinion on what constitutes a novel. I needed/wanted more depth.
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
I thought of cauliflower, but I'm not quite that white. And if I'm cauliflower, does that mean my skin is all bumpy? :-0
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
Check your pantry, Teresa. Lift your shirt, hold a food up to your belly, and see if it matches. Does it look like graham crackers? Potato chips? If it looks like curry powder, call 911, because you're about to expire. Be sure your kid's not around while you do this, or he may begin to think his mother is edible.
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
![Jason](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1651861607p1/4426615.jpg)
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The consensus among readers so far seems to be that it doesn't live up to its potential as a novel. Vaguely disappointing because we see that it could have been so much richer. I didn't finish The Warmth of Other Suns either. Had it not been a library book, I might have stuck with it, but it was so dense and slow moving. Decidedly a bigger achievement, but some people don't read nonfiction, so they get "educated" by reading fiction.
![Julie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1699138619p1/1213607.jpg)
Check your pantry, Teresa. Lift y..."
Great. Thanks. Wine snorted up my nose. I'd like a refund for my viognier, please.
I'm sort of underripe apricot that's fallen from the tree and is slowly rotting....ah, winter in the Northwest...
![Julie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1699138619p1/1213607.jpg)
'Warmth' is what I thought of when I first caught wind of 'Twelve Tribes'. It knocked my socks clean off. I read so little non-fiction these days- just an extended phase-but 'Warmth' held me fast. I know it wasn't your cuppa, but I have a copy should you ever want to finish. Be happy to send down your way!
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
"I'm sort of underripe apricot that's fallen from the tree and is slowly rotting....ah, winter in the Northwest..."
Ha ha. That Irish 'suntan' is fading away? I do hope there's no green on that underripe apricot.
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
![Julie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1699138619p1/1213607.jpg)
"I'm sort of underripe apricot that's fallen from the tree and ..."
I shall send!
A little green last week with a bout of the flu, but if I could just be left to ripen in some warm patch of sun, I'd be so sweet...
![Julie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1699138619p1/1213607.jpg)
Another must-read. I so enjoy her.
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
Sorry to hear about the flu, but now you've had it for the year, you don't have to wear a mask in public to protect yourself. I could use a patch of sun myself, although I'm already overripe.
![Ibyl](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1424461125p1/4818963.jpg)
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
Yes, it definitely needed a gathering of forces at the end to make it feel more like a novel. It will be interesting to see what her next novel is like, given the large number of people who have expressed dismay over the disconnected nature of this one.
![Barbi](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1627144082p1/28567373.jpg)
![Deb](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Mari Shum](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1361335337p1/17636993.jpg)
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![Janet](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1351538865p1/4502247.jpg)
I'm mashed potatoes.
![Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304653755p1/796425.jpg)
I'm mashed potatoes."
With or without gravy? 😀