Billy

1937. Mississippi. Two teenage girls. Two young boys, ages ten and twelve. A fight ensues and one of the girls ends up dead. The community is outraged and more interested in revenge than justice. Why? The girls are white and the boys are black. Should that matter? Regardless, it does. French unapologetically drops the reader right into the times with all its prejudices glaring. It's impossible to avoid an emotional reaction to Billy. The grief of the families' losses, Billy's confusion about what's happening to him as well as what happened during the fight, and the blatant racism all serve to make the reader question whether things have really changed since 1937 or whether all that racism really just boiling under the surface searching for any excuse to break free.

I would have read this book in a single seating if I weren't a mother of two young boys. The tension and terror in this book are so palpable that I could hear my own heart beating and breaking with Cinder's. It is an absolutely chilling portrait of racism in this country. Though set in 1937, it is a story still very relevent to our attitudes about race today. I felt a bit manipulated emotionally at the end of the books and was tempted to put it down for I couldn't bear the sorrow any longer.

In the small town of Banes, Mississippi, ten year-old Billy Lee Turner awaits execution for the accidental death of fifteen year-old white girl: Lori Pasko. Young and afraid, Billy and the entire town, are affected by the incident and the consequence Billy must face. This extrodinary first novel sinks deep within the reader's mind with vivid characters and a powerful setting. Questions will arise about death, racisim, and class as the reader follows the sad and gruesome, yet everyday reality that Billy and the town face. This novel does not rest. This is one that will keep you reading, your emotions twisting and your mind racing with brilliant images and remarkable characters. Billy will effect you, no matter your race or class, and open your eyes to the reality that sometimes is too agonizing to confront.

I was enthralled by this book after I met the author at a writing class. I immediately bought the book and it has been a wonderful read all nine times I have read it. French uses down to earth language to tell a wonderful although disturbing story. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading well written, beautifully worded literature. A must read for aspiring writers!

I felt every breath of emotion that Albert French's characters experienced. Mr. French has crafted an incredibly powerful story with a precision of language and structure. Every scene builds on the one before it. Characters and their situations evolve into a heart wrenching crescendo of emotional devastation. The screams of Billy's mother still resonate -- echo in my mind and spirit... three years after initially reading this story. Also, Mr. French brings the ignorance and prejudice of the time period alive. He masterfully bludgeons us with the brutality of it through desciption and dialogue. The reader must grapple with his/her own perspective of racism and its history. There is no easy way out. I highly recommend reading this book aloud. Many of my high school students from years past, still talk about this one book, read aloud to them in class. Like Toni Morrison's Beloved, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Ernest Gaines The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Albert French's Billy becomes a part of the way you view the world.