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threeara's review against another edition
4.5
This was fascinatingly complex, with one of the most intense narrative voices I've read in a long time. It was honestly challenging to follow at times but I'm glad I read it!
minnieb's review against another edition
4.0
I found everybody insufferable but especially Joan and her husband but I loved this story a little
passionyoungwrites's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
In the story we follow Harlan, a faith healer who travels from town to town healing people. Gayl then takes us on Harlan’s previous career as a rock stars manager. Y’all, Harlan is a mess with these men. However, the remainder of the story tells of her ventures as she reaches her first healing, the one where she healed herself.
⚡️
Now, there is no plot. Just a stream of consciousness and conversation here and there. My favorite parts of this were the parts when Harlan visits her mother and grandmother - both beauticians. The ending though? Not expecting that one..
In the end, I asked this question - “Does betrayal really push you to purpose?”
apollonium's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rebadee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book captured me from the first page and didn't let go. Gayl Jones's ability to capture a voice authentically is unmatched. She reveals characters with all their knotted intentions and experiences so that their actions become inevitable for the reader. Jones's work is a case study in showing vs telling. Grateful for her body of work.
libbysbookshelf's review against another edition
THE HEALING by GAYL JONES
This is my second Jones book. My first was Corregidora; one of my favourite books ever. The Healing is a different beast altogether.
Jones’s The Healing is about an African American spiritual healer and the story of how she became a healer. Her story involves a lot of dialogue with a lot of men she meets and the alternative rock star she manages. But Harlan — the protagonist — is a beautician by trade, like her mum and granny before her. Her husband or ex-husband is an anthropologist who is interested in African healers. There’s also a Black German character who’s incredibly paranoid and through whom we learn that there have been Black people in Germany for centuries and not just ex-slaves. There’s the Italian woman who wants to stay with her South African husband but she’s afraid of deportation. I could go on, but I’ll save some for you to discover.
There are so many interesting characters in this book and they are all given ample space to develop and tell their stories. The novel is full of monologues and repetition and at times it feels almost rhythmic. Each character’s voice is loud and clear in my head even now.
Although, Joan, the rock star, stared to try on my nerves, I defy anyone not to fall in love with Harlan; she was an utter delight and I’d love her to do my nails and makeup while we have a good chat.
This book is not like many other books I’ve read. It’s unique. And it’s gorgeous.
This is my second Jones book. My first was Corregidora; one of my favourite books ever. The Healing is a different beast altogether.
Jones’s The Healing is about an African American spiritual healer and the story of how she became a healer. Her story involves a lot of dialogue with a lot of men she meets and the alternative rock star she manages. But Harlan — the protagonist — is a beautician by trade, like her mum and granny before her. Her husband or ex-husband is an anthropologist who is interested in African healers. There’s also a Black German character who’s incredibly paranoid and through whom we learn that there have been Black people in Germany for centuries and not just ex-slaves. There’s the Italian woman who wants to stay with her South African husband but she’s afraid of deportation. I could go on, but I’ll save some for you to discover.
There are so many interesting characters in this book and they are all given ample space to develop and tell their stories. The novel is full of monologues and repetition and at times it feels almost rhythmic. Each character’s voice is loud and clear in my head even now.
Although, Joan, the rock star, stared to try on my nerves, I defy anyone not to fall in love with Harlan; she was an utter delight and I’d love her to do my nails and makeup while we have a good chat.
This book is not like many other books I’ve read. It’s unique. And it’s gorgeous.
buta_comes_home's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
hannahmarierobbins's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
readbyrodkelly's review
5.0
After reading Gayl Jones's first two novels, Corregidora and Eva's Man, I found myself defaulting to a habit of comparing her work to that of Toni Morrison. There are surely certain stylistic parallels as well as similarly conspicuous themes that the two writers explore brilliantly.
However, it's time for me to put aside the comparison because The Healing is nothing short of extraordinary, and her work in this novel speaks for itself in endlessly inventive and luminous ways. My entire reading experience was punctuated with the question of How?: mainly, how was Jones able to create an entertaining story out of utterly outlandish and disparate narrative threads? The plot set up in the first 40 pages—Harlan Jane Eagleton, a former manager of a D-list rock singer named Joan Savage, has left the music business to travel the world conducting “faith healings”—is merely a frame for a much larger story woven into a picaresque that takes its structural cues from Jazz compositions and black, porch-side storytelling.
The novel is astounding in its scope: Jones riffs on subjects like anthropology, music, philosophy, feminism, black beauty shops, intelligence agencies, racism, sex and sexuality, film, art, gastronomy, scientific theory, literary criticism, and horse racing to create a pseudo brief history or encyclopedia of the Black American experience and all its possibilities.
Jones makes no linguistic concessions or compromises, writing the whole novel in an invented, yet wholly convincing, black dialect. How Jones made this novel work is ultimately not a concern when I consider how rich and deeply felt my joy was in discovering all of its unpredictable delights!
However, it's time for me to put aside the comparison because The Healing is nothing short of extraordinary, and her work in this novel speaks for itself in endlessly inventive and luminous ways. My entire reading experience was punctuated with the question of How?: mainly, how was Jones able to create an entertaining story out of utterly outlandish and disparate narrative threads? The plot set up in the first 40 pages—Harlan Jane Eagleton, a former manager of a D-list rock singer named Joan Savage, has left the music business to travel the world conducting “faith healings”—is merely a frame for a much larger story woven into a picaresque that takes its structural cues from Jazz compositions and black, porch-side storytelling.
The novel is astounding in its scope: Jones riffs on subjects like anthropology, music, philosophy, feminism, black beauty shops, intelligence agencies, racism, sex and sexuality, film, art, gastronomy, scientific theory, literary criticism, and horse racing to create a pseudo brief history or encyclopedia of the Black American experience and all its possibilities.
Jones makes no linguistic concessions or compromises, writing the whole novel in an invented, yet wholly convincing, black dialect. How Jones made this novel work is ultimately not a concern when I consider how rich and deeply felt my joy was in discovering all of its unpredictable delights!
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