Melting the Blues is a more than worthwhile read. I love Tracy Chiles McGhee's literary voice…it is fresh and inventive and her strongest technique, I'd say, is her power of personification. In this novel, I cared about the opinions of the Flies, the Crickets, the Trees, and I so looked forward to all the Moon had to say.
With passages such as, “Truth be told, the crickets, who had been in their business the moment Pearl stepped on the porch, stopped chirping and started whispering as soon as they saw it. The bright eyes of a thousand gossipy fireflies flickered with excitement. All of nearby nature was a witness to that look and there was no taking it back even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to.” I laughed.
The lyrical prose made me marvel: “Every weeping chord told the story of his lonesome loneliness and empty emptiness.”…“Before long, the old house hushed its squeaks, the entire Rivers family arrived on the shores of dreamland, and the moon, all tuckered out, rested its head comfortably on the horizon.”…“A song sung from deep down in the soul is either a sign of God or a cry for God. Either way, it's all God's business.”
Melting the Blues made me think. Almost 100 years after being introduced to America, Sorghum Syrup would play a role in this 1957 tale, but did you know that this drought-resistant, heat-tolerant grass used to make the sweet syrup is a native of Africa? Did you know that the jazz artist Thelonious Monk was not only one of the main creators of ‘Bebop’ jazz (which he played until the late 50s) but he is also an inspiration in this southern tale? And did you know that 1957 was the year that Little Rock, Arkansas would make history with the Little Rock Nine? Did you know that Little Rock’s Central High School was integrated for the 1957–58 school year, yet the following year, all of the city’s high schools would close to prevent further desegregation? This is the frame that Melting the Blues, an Arkansas portrait, resides in. This is the historically rich lens that we, the readers, get to view this spectacular and well-written tale through. This is the magical creation that Tracy Chiles McGhee has captured.
With writing and history like this, this debut effort introduces a literary voice that I will definitely continue to follow. Ms. McGhee, it was a pleasure reading you.
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Reviews with images
Melting the Blues was easy like Sunday morning
Haven't been this engaged in a book in some time. It felt easy like Sunday morning reading Melting the Blues. Like collared greens, homemade cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet fresh out the oven. Like sweet potato pies and pound cake. Like Nanny's hugs and lazy Sundays after church. Reuniting with places that bring both memories of love and pain, hurt and healing.Still a bit underneath the spell of Tracy Chiles Mcghee's magic, and careful storytelling. Not surprised to see the author pay tribute to J. California Cooper and Zora Neale Hurston at the end of this beautiful novel — two of only the few other authors to wrap me so tightly within their bosoms and capture the entirety of my being, while guiding me to relive places and spaces from past lives in between the pages of their words.Having grown up in a small town about 200 miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas with many remnants of a Chinaberry like past, I not only read Melting the Blues in one day but I time traveled — much like an Octavia Butler character — to a world and a place that was both unknown and yet very familiar.Thank you Tracy Chiles McGhee for helping to melt some of my own blues away that weekend when I picked up your book and journeyed through time and space — while woven into your homemade, love filled, easy like Sunday morning comforting and meticulously prepared story of Augustus, Pearl, Eye, Boy, Patty Cake and the Chinaberry community.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2016
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017
Still a bit underneath the spell of Tracy Chiles Mcghee's magic, and careful storytelling. Not surprised to see the author pay tribute to J. California Cooper and Zora Neale Hurston at the end of this beautiful novel — two of only the few other authors to wrap me so tightly within their bosoms and capture the entirety of my being, while guiding me to relive places and spaces from past lives in between the pages of their words.
Having grown up in a small town about 200 miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas with many remnants of a Chinaberry like past, I not only read Melting the Blues in one day but I time traveled — much like an Octavia Butler character — to a world and a place that was both unknown and yet very familiar.
Thank you Tracy Chiles McGhee for helping to melt some of my own blues away that weekend when I picked up your book and journeyed through time and space — while woven into your homemade, love filled, easy like Sunday morning comforting and meticulously prepared story of Augustus, Pearl, Eye, Boy, Patty Cake and the Chinaberry community.
Melting the Blues was easy like Sunday morning
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017
Haven't been this engaged in a book in some time. It felt easy like Sunday morning reading Melting the Blues. Like collared greens, homemade cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet fresh out the oven. Like sweet potato pies and pound cake. Like Nanny's hugs and lazy Sundays after church. Reuniting with places that bring both memories of love and pain, hurt and healing.Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017
Still a bit underneath the spell of Tracy Chiles Mcghee's magic, and careful storytelling. Not surprised to see the author pay tribute to J. California Cooper and Zora Neale Hurston at the end of this beautiful novel — two of only the few other authors to wrap me so tightly within their bosoms and capture the entirety of my being, while guiding me to relive places and spaces from past lives in between the pages of their words.
Having grown up in a small town about 200 miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas with many remnants of a Chinaberry like past, I not only read Melting the Blues in one day but I time traveled — much like an Octavia Butler character — to a world and a place that was both unknown and yet very familiar.
Thank you Tracy Chiles McGhee for helping to melt some of my own blues away that weekend when I picked up your book and journeyed through time and space — while woven into your homemade, love filled, easy like Sunday morning comforting and meticulously prepared story of Augustus, Pearl, Eye, Boy, Patty Cake and the Chinaberry community.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2016
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016
