By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In my review of a book set in Wicklow, Alabama, the protagonist, Anna Kate, returns to bury her grandmother and confront her family history while grappling with magic realism. I explain the genre of ‘magic realism’, discuss my genre preferences, and note that some genres present stumbling blocks to some while not to others.
Synopsis of the book by the publisher:
Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.
As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.
The genre tags are fiction, magic realism, Chick Lit, southern
MY REVIEW: It was OK. I am not a fan of shifting points of view. Each chapter featured a different character’s voice and I found it hard to keep track, especially because I feel the author introduced too many people/names too early and it got confusing. I’m also not a huge fan of family drama novels. One author who did a good job with shifting points of view is Amanda Peters in The Berry Pickers, and her book featured family drama/forgiveness/reconciliation themes like the Blackbird Cafe did, but Peters did it in a masterful and gripping way.
MAGIC REALISM: There was a trend of magic realism novels in the 1980s and 1990s when South American literature was first hitting the stands. Isabel Allende (The Stories of Eva Luna) and Gabriel García Márquez (Love in the Time of Cholera) were foremost novelists adept at this genre and introduced it to us, their northern neighbors. I went thru a South American literature phase back then and read a lot of Allende and Marquez. Here is a definition of magic realism:
Magic realism in literature is a genre where fantastical or supernatural elements are blended seamlessly with a realistic setting, often blurring the lines between the ordinary and the extraordinary. It’s characterized by the acceptance of the magical by characters and readers alike, without logical explanation or explicit distinction from the everyday.
Some Christians object to any and all magic whatsoever, decrying Harry Potter (but giving Tolkien and CS Lewis a pass?). Some are uncomfortable with some aspects of magic, while its presence in literature does not bother the others.
There is a difference between magic used for occult purposes, and magic realism in what is obviously imaginary fiction.
Personally, I don’t mind books with magic in them. I know that blackbirds are not guardians of a portal back to the land of the dead that bring messages from the dead to sleeping family members in their dreams after they eat a piece of blackbird pie.
I was not bothered by Harry Potter either. I am not bothered by other genres where one must suspend disbelief, such as the book The Hail Mary Project which features aliens. These characterizations do not present a stumbling block to me, while they may to others. We all have different opinions on such matters, different triggers, and different tolerances.
What does bother me is people judging each other on opinions. Romans 14:1 says not to do that.
It’s good to think through what pricks your conscience or what would be a stumbling block to you by reading reviews, or a stumbling block to others. Talk with a friend or pastor if you have questions about a book’s content (or movie, video, TV show, etc).
I tend to favor action books, detective, and legal thrillers. A melding of Chick Lit and detective genres would be the Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman and the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I also enjoy more hard boiled detective stories, like Sherlock Holmes, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Will Thomas’ Some Danger Involved (Barker & Llewelyn #1), and of course the ‘Alphabet Series’ by Sue Grafton.
After Backbird Cafe I started Tracie Peterson’s “Land of the Heart”, a historical fiction book about settling Montana. I am hoping for a book that I enjoy and finish. I have more DNF (did not finish) on my Goodreads list than ever. Hope springs eternal. 🙂
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