Archive for the ‘20th Century’ Category
SAG HARBOR by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead’s newest “novel” is not strictly a novel at all. A book that he himself refers to as his “Autobiographical Fourth Novel,” it features a family that resembles his own—middle-class, upwardly mobile, and well-educated—a New York City-based family that spends summers at their vacation home in Sag Harbor, on Long island, “in the heart of the Hamptons.” Sag Harbor in 1985, the time frame of the action, has a large African-American summer community which owns compact homes on the beach, and a white summer community which lives uphill, with larger homes and panoramic views. For Benji, the fifteen-year-old main character, “There was summer, and then there was the rest of the year…It didn’t matter what went on during the rest of the year. Sag Harbor was outside the rules.”
May 23, 2009
Tags: 1980s, African-American, Doubleday, Summer Posted in: 20th Century, African-American, Coming-of-Age, NE & New York 
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HONOLULU by Alan Brennert
At least at the beginning of the 20th century, Korean fathers prized their male children as they would carry on the family name. Female children, whose sole purpose is to serve their brothers, fathers and husbands, languish without an education. This partly explains how the protagonist in this novel, HONOLULU, was named Regret. Not satisfied with her lot, Regret longs to read, write, learn English and not live in the shadow of her male family members.
May 22, 2009
Tags: 1920s, Diaspora, Honolulu, immigration, Time Period Posted in: 20th Century, Award Winning Author, Book Club Choice, Facing History, Fiction based on Time Period, Hawaii, Multicultural, immigration No Comments
