Name: momo-reads's review of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
Item: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Rating: 2
Author: momo-reads

Ayana Mathis

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Elizabeth Wood

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison.’ Oprah Winfrey 'Mathis traces the fates of Hattie’s 12 children and grandchildren over the course of the 20th century . . . [it] is remarkable.' Sunday Times 'Ms. Mathis has a gift for imbuing her characters’ stories with an epic dimension that recalls Toni Morrison’s writing.' New York Times Fifteen years old and blazing with the hope of a better life, Hattie Shepherd fled the horror of the American South on a dawn train bound for Philadelphia. Hattie’s is a tale of strength, of resilience and heartbreak that spans six decades. Her American dream is shattered time and again: a husband who lies and cheats and nine children raised in a cramped little house that was only ever supposed to be temporary. She keeps the children alive with sheer will and not an ounce of the affection they crave. She knows they don’t think her a kind woman — but how could they understand that all the love she had was used up in feeding them and clothing them. How do you prepare your children for a world you know is cruel? The lives of this unforgettable family form a searing portrait of twentieth century America. From the revivalist tents of Alabama to Vietnam, to the black middle-class enclave in the heart of the city, to a filthy bar in the ghetto, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an extraordinary, distinctive novel about the guilt, sacrifice, responsibility and heartbreak that are an intrinsic part of ferocious love.

momo-reads

Mahasin S Ameen

In my quest for African American Chick Lit I came across this book. While it's definitely not chick lit it is a solid family drama that weaves together multiple story lines and spans decades. I liked this book though I found it sad, Hattie was a sad but solid character, I think each of her children were unique and that Ayana Mathis does a good job of writing about them differently.

Megan Gardner

Fran Lewis

Nicole Vanderbilt

Michele

Kay Jamieson

Sonja H

Kathy Rodger 

Maureen Carter

Mira McMahon

Kristin Hallak

margot colville

Kim Arychuk

Oprah's Book Club 2.0 Pick! In 1923, seventeen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia for Philadelphia, where, though her first two babies die because she can't afford medicine, she keeps nine children alive with old southern remedies and sheer love. Saddled with a husband who brings her nothing but disappointment, she prepares her children for a world she knows will not be kind to them. Their trials are the trials on which the history of America was forged, a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, and a force stronger than love or trouble: the determination to get by and get through. A searing portrait of an unforgettable family, an emotionally transfixing drama of human striving in the face of insurmountable adversity and a ferocious vision of humanity at its most threadbare and elemental, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie introduces a writer of the very first order.

The Twelve Tribes Of Hattie

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Elizabeth Wood &
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

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Elizabeth Wood &The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

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Elizabeth Wood &
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis