Book Review: "Silver Sparrow" by Tayari Jones

I'm not sure how I missed this book when it was first released.  It must have been one of those months when I didn't get around to reading my Essence magazine.  

Thank you, Amazon "Kindle Deal of the Day" for featuring this book a few weeks ago.  Now, I want to go back and read everything Ms. Jones has written.

Not to give anything away, but James Witherspoon is one man who can keep a secret.  At least from his wife.  Well, one wife, anyway.

I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that James Witherspoon is a bigamist.  In fact, the author reveals that detail at the very beginning.

What happens after is a tale told in fiction, but played out in real life, so many times.  

One thing we do really well is keep secrets.  We all have "family secrets" about cousins or uncles or aunts or even parents that we'll take to our graves.  But some things can only stay hidden for so long.  Because I really do believe there are "six degrees of separation."

And even though the book has its share of sadness and sorrow, there are plenty of laughs and lighter moments.

And if you're like I was and don't know who Tayari Jones is, now is the perfect time to find out.  

Visit her website for a look at all of her work and her upcoming appearances.

www.tayarijones.com

About "Silver Sparrow"

With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, “My father, James Witherspoon is a bigamist,” Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and the teenage girls caught in the middle.

Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s families– the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich and flawed characters, she also reveals the joy, and the destruction, they brought to each other’s lives.

At the heart of it all are the two girls whose lives are at stake, and like the best writers, Jones portrays the fragility of her characers with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women.