Book Review: Growing Where you are Planted
Posted by Deborah - 13/10/09 at 06:10 pm
Purple Hibiscus is a beautifully written coming of age story of a 15 year-old girl Kambili and her experience growing up in a repressive Catholic household in Nigeria. The story focuses on how Kambili and her brother find their voices despite the abuse of their father (who clearly struggles with his own internalized racism and self hatred), the silence of their sometimes courageous mother and the deterioration of the Nigerian society’s infrastructure as it undergoes a military coup. Kambili is a very sheltered child who is incredibly insecure because of the dominance of her father over the family. Ironically, she is looked down upon by her peers and initially scorned by her outspoken cousin because she is viewed as a privileged snob. It is only after she leaves her parents home to live with her aunt and cousins that Kambili learns to speak up for herself. I am not doing the novel justice here. All I can saw is that Adichie is an incredible story teller. I really enjoyed her talk.
Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave by Leonard Todd
I had a strange relationship with this book. I didn’t really want to finish it but I couldn’t put it down. With so many books to read and so little time I rarely stick with books that fail to draw me in. Still, there was something about this book. Maybe I felt I owed it to fellow artist Dave to try to hear his voice in this book. The book is written by one of the descendents of Dave’s enslaver, Leonard Todd. Mr. Todd stumbled upon his family connection to Dave while reading an article in the New York Times about Dave’s pottery. The article mentioned Mr. Todd’s great great grandfather, Lewis Miles, a pottery entrepreneur and Dave’s owner. For 200+ pages Mr. Todd attempts to recreate the life and times of Dave by using WPA narratives, primary resources and historical accounts. Throughout the book Mr. Todd speculates about what Dave might have felt, seen and experienced. He painstakingly works to recreate family and friendship connections Dave may have had. While I reading I could not help but wonder about Dave’s descendents and what they would tell about his life and times. I wondered if they had the opportunity to collect and or/keep any of the work that Dave created during his enslavement or later as a freedman. From the little we learn of Dave through written accounts we know he must have been a pretty amazing man. First, Dave was an artist. Second, Dave was literate. Not only did he frequently sign his pots, he often literally inscribed them with his finger prints and/or wrote poetry on his pots. From Mr. Todd’s account, Dave learned to wear the mask pretty well too. Dave apparently knew when it was time to fully reveal his skills and abilities and when it was best to be quiet about them. Toward the end of his book Mr. Todd puts in a call for descendants of Dave to add to the story. I hope they recognize themselves and come forward.
Grayson Studios is the dreamworld created by Deborah R. Grayson, an artist, voracious reader and writer. Visit