The Moaner's Bench

i really enjoyed this book, it was great. I liked sun's humor when describing people. I also enjoyed mr. derby's characther. i wish the book could have ended on a happier note though.

"The Moaners Bench" depicts the strength, courage, and determination of a Black family and community is rural Arkansas. It is a coming of age story as told by the young narrator, Sun. The book opens with Sun in church on the moaners bench trying to find religion by praying for a miracle so that he can become one of the Faithful. The fact that his grandfather was one of the founders and the namesake of the church, and his uncle is the head deacon, only adds to the pressure Sun feels to find religion. From here, Sun then takes us back in time so that he can describe the events that brought him to the moaners bench. Sun's father comes from an established family and is highly respected within the community. He operates a general store along the pike and the family's home is located next door. The pike is the road traveled by many and they bring their "baggage" with them. The travelers and their circumstances are the source of many of the lessons learned not only by Sun, but by the community as well. It is just before the Great Depression and the Hughes family is prospering. Through Sun's eyes we see how the stock market crashed affected both his family and his community. It is through Sun's stories or "life events" that we are able to view Sun's family life and the events that help mold a boy into a man. The characters created by the author are brought to life by his use of language. Whether it is Sun's encounter with a baby rattler at the age of six or his escapades with his buddy, Ben, the author is able to make you feel as though you are there and takes the reader along for the ride. This book is rich in humor and other emotions. You feel the injustice that Sun feels, when at the age of eight he learns that back doors are for Blacks and front doors are for whites. Or, the sense of justice felt by the community when Black Nelson escapes from the local prison after beating up the white prison guard who has brutalized Black prisoners with his cruelty and bullwhip for years. Or the joy and happiness Sun derives from merely being in his father's presence. Although this is the author's first novel, he writes like a seasoned author. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

The narrator, Sun Hughes, describes coming of age as the son of a successful merchant in a community of black Baptists in rural Arkansas. His early life is idyllic. He plays with his bad-boy friend Ben, teases the girls at school, and peeps in the keyhole at his sister and her beau. Then the Depression hits, Sun's father dies, and Sun is sent to live with a harsh, self-righteous uncle. On the brink of manhood, Sun chafes against his new, restricted life, but he's still eager to face another day. Although it is billed as a novel, "The Moaner's Bench" appears to be a slightly fictionalized memoir. However, its scope is broader than that of most memoirs, encompassing not only the events in Sun's life, but the whole fabric of his community. It includes houses and cars; mules and goats and pigs; the Crash of 1929; harvests and locusts and rocky, red Arkansas clay. Best of all, it includes people. Sun's neighbors and relatives span the human spectrum. He knows strivers and loafers, cuckolds and polygamists, deacons and drunks. He knows Tuskegee graduates. He knows an ex-slave who prides himself on being able to calculate the product of 1250 and nine by taking a stick and adding 1250 nine times in the dirt. None of these characters are stock types. Each is allowed to reveal his or her rich, contradictory human complexity though action and speech. "Sorghum was like most fruits, vegetables, and nuts: each stalk had a different taste," Hill writes. In the same way, he notices and savors the uniqueness of each event, each person. Readers are lucky that a writer of such discernment and enthusiasm has applied his gifts to a piece of America's past.

I enjoyed this book because I grew up in the South. I sat on a Moaner's Bench! I relate to the feelings of not being allowed to mingle with all the people. I am stronger because of the lack of recognition! I am not sure where the rage will show up-- The rage which comes from having to leave his family- or the rage within him which is caused by racism or both!