Rattlebone

This is the best book! Once I started it I didn't want to stop. Towards the end of this book, I started to read slowly so it would not end. This book is really cool in that all of the stories inter-twine and come together by the end of the book. Some parts made me want to cry, while other parts made me want to stand up and shout YIPPIE! I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Rattlebone is great book to read, not for just African-Americans, but for the many people who have encountered a moment of being different. Maxine Clair used many different interviews she had to come up with the different chapters she had in this novel. In doing so, she opened my eyes to another world that I had yet to discover. Her stories made me realize that society today, has way more than what it had in the past. We need to stop blaming one another for the past, and make what we have now, so much better so that we don't have to live the lives of the characters in Rattlebone.

First off, don't think that the title of this review is referring to this as question and answer book, that would be incorrect. This is more of a book that gives an in-depth idea of what it may have been like living and growing up in 1950's as in African American, in an area of Kansas City. As far as the question part of my review title, I simply mean to a reader there might be a question of who is the nararator of each chapter. Don't look down on this aspect, it is what makes reading the book so enjoyable. You get a diffrent view from each person in the story, giving you even a more in-depth look on each situation.

I'm currently studying at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Reading Rattlebone is one of the requirements for our English 102 class. I don't know if that has anything to do with the fact that the author, Maxine Clair, graduated from KU. Anyways, it is pretty much a thrill to be able to read about the past of a place where you're living right now. It's not only that, it kind of takes you back through time to the 50's and lets you experience or see a young African American girl's (Irene's) life back then. How family problems, social conflicts, and major political changes affected her life as she went through puberty and early teenage life. I think Maxine Clair does a pretty good job in using and creating different, but unique characters in Irene's life which influences her in their own unique manner. I think that if you're looking for a book to take you back into time, Rattlebone is a must-read book, especially if you live in Kansas or in the midwest. I know everytime I go down to Olathe or Kansas City, I will not look at it the same way I used to.

Maxine Clair has taken a gift and honed it to perfection in these beautifully written stories about people who linger in my mind two years after my first reading. It's wonderful to discover a writer who weaves perfect prose around compelling plots -- once who clearly revels in the art, and craft, of storytelling. As soon as I finished this collection I wrote to the publisher and ordered six more copies. I've given them as special gifts to close friends who I knew would appreciate this uplifting -- and always truthful -- work. Their reviews are as glowing as this one. Best of luck to Maxine Clair.