Brown Girl, Brownstones - Softcover

Paule Marshall

4.07

3,428 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0912670967 ISBN 13: 9780912670966

Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 1981

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Brown Girl, Brownstones, tells the story of a young Barbadian American caught between the ambitious dreams of her forward-looking mother and the rose-tinted nostalgia of her father. While Selina's mother strives diligently to save enough money to buy a brownstone in Brooklyn, her father dreams only of returning to his home in Barbados. Managing a constellation of difficult family and cultural dynamics, Selina is also faced with navigating the complex maze of immigrant identity in America and bearing the burdens of racism and poverty.

Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and WWII, the close-knit community of immigrants from Barbados where Selina grows up is drawn from the author's own experience as a young girl in Brooklyn. This novel, first published in 1959, was one of the first to probe the difficult cross-cultural conflicts and identities so integral to the experiences of America's innumerable immigrant communities. A vibrant and compelling tale of self-discovery, Brown Girl, Brownstones, is a striking and honest novel about a too-often overlooked American experience.

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From the Back Cover:

"An unforgettable novel, written with pride and anger, with rebellion and tears."—Herald Tribune Book Review
"Passionate, compelling . . . an impressive accomplishment."—Saturday Review
"Remarkable for its courage, its color, and its natural control."—The New Yorker
Selina's mother wants to stay in Brooklyn and earn enough money to buy a brownstone row house, but her father dreams only of returning to his island home. Torn between a romantic nostalgia for the past and a driving ambition for the future, Selina also faces the everyday burdens of poverty and racism.
Written by and about an African-American woman, this coming-of-age story unfolds during the Depression and World War II. Its setting—a close-knit community of immigrants from Barbados—is drawn from the author's own experience, as are the lilting accents and vivid idioms of the characters' speech. Paule Marshall's 1959 novel was among the first to portray the inner life of a young female African-American, as well as depicting the cross-cultural conflict between West Indians and American blacks. It remains a vibrant, compelling tale of self-discovery.
Dover (2009) unabridged republication of the edition published by Random House, Inc., New York, 1959.

About the Author:

Paule Marshall grew up in Brooklyn and barbados. She has published four novels and a book of short stories in career dating back to Random House's publication of BROWN GIRL in 1959. She has received the John Dos Passos Award for Literature and an American Book Award, and was an honoree of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Marshall teaches creative writing at New York University.

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