Carolivia Herron

A few lines I jotted down from Thereafter Johnnie:

You could learn to play tennis or swim or drive a car. And what if you really do belong in the world after all and the prophecy is wrong that says you must lose your soul? Why should you lose your soul? Why does so much horror lie upon you? Why don't you give up and live?

Why are you so sad? You read too much poetry. And you believe the wrong things about poetry. Poetry doesn't come from outer space. Poetry doesn't descend from heaven. Give life a chance. Life is stronger than the interpretation of life.

In the evenings we sat wondering how the end of the world would come. Perhaps the sun will set yellow but green skirted, and the next morning it will rise in the west emerald green.

It is possible never to have done with knocking our heads over the same few biographical incidents that insist upon being the arbitrary markers of our lives.

She thought the world was a good idea that had failed.

This country can't have me anymore. Back home I'm going to tell them about these people. These people don't flow. Each one is a separate drop of water falling into a still pool, each drop waiting for stillness before it falls.

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This book is a little hard to talk about. The title is considered derogatory by many. At the time it was published (1997) this may have not been the case. Uncle Mordici is telling his niece where she got her hair. That it was sent by God to represent her culture. I liked this book, and think I understand it. However, I am not the right person to tell one how true or how good of a representation this book is or isn’t. It has been banned in the past, and back in 1999, it even caused some problems in a community that caused a teacher to change schools. Overall, I think this is a good addition to a library but understand that I may be wrong.… (more)