Silver Sparrow

Incredible prose and pacing, with a focus on the meaning of love– not in a more airy sense, but a practical focus that asks what it means to grow within a shortage of love and care. An excellent novel.

“People say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But they are wrong. What doesn't kill you, doesn't kill you. That's all you get. Sometimes, you just have to hope that's enough.”

This is a beautifully written book about how easily children can internalize things adults say off-handedly and then forget, and about living in the shadow of someone who doesn't even know that you exist. Both protagonists have strong voices, and the characters around them feel real. This book is a slow-motion car crash you can't look away from.

“And this is how it started. Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories. Love can be incremental. Predicaments, too. Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day. This was the meeting of two people who were destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives. This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill. Mother had no hand in this, only heart.”

I first heard of Tayari Jones years ago when I read The Secret Miracle. [b:The Secret Miracle: The Novelist's Handbook|7225851|The Secret Miracle The Novelist's Handbook|Daniel Alarcón|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317793076s/7225851.jpg|8045786] was one of those “round-table” author books where writers are asked a question and each author shares their perspective. Tayari Jones was one of the participants. I decided to keep score and figured I would read the works of the top-scoring writers. Tayari Jones was a top scorer.

Years have passed and I've read only one of those five authors I told myself I'd read (Aleksandar Hemon, the only author from that list I've read, I'd been familiar with prior to The Secret Miracle). It's time to rectify that.

Silver Sparrow stands behind a very intriguing premise. James Witherspoon, a bigamist, has two families. One family knows about the other. The other family does not. It's a wonderful setup and the story that unfolds is exciting and dramatic. I loved the narrative choice of using Witherspoon's daughters as well as the structure of giving each of the daughters half the novel to tell their story. The one negative about this was that Jones delved too far into things these girls wouldn't know about family history and such. I get that they've probably been told things by their mothers and would know some, but the detail into which they go, especially Chaurisse and the stories she tells about her mother's younger years, are unbelievable; in a story such as this, believably is extremely important. Going with a limited-third-person perspective might have aided in making this knowledge more believable, but would've distanced the reader from the characters too much. Going with any other perspective than that of the girls would've ruined the story. I think perhaps the best choice would've been to tell less of the back story, leave it to what the girls might have been told.

Jones' novel is full of characters that are realistic and interesting. The particulars and repercussions of bigamy are details most of us probably give little thought to. Silver Sparrow explores these uncharted lands with great insight and heart. It's a story of not only the Other Woman, but the Other Daughter as well.

I liked this book but not sure liked the characters much. I felt sorry for the daughters but wished the resolution had been a bit happier. I would have liked the daughters to have a better view of things once time had passed.