A review by shanaetheflyest
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell

5.0

I just finished reading "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine" and all I can say is, "Wow!" Bebe Moore Campbell (may she rest in peace) wrote a really fantastic historical fiction novel. The language was beautiful! I'm fascinated by Campbell's writing. I am still trying to figure out how she managed to switch narrative voices, so accurately, with so many characters. Each character had a distinct voice. For example, the strongest characters, Delotha, Ida, Mamie, and Doreen all have a completely different voice, despite having the same struggle and the same roots. Campbell tackles several painful familial issues including self-hate, alcoholism, and lovelessness and she describes their affects on people so consumed by these issues that they embody the hatred, the alcohol and the lovelessness just to get through the day. Moreover, Campbell's depiction of the men in this novel, all weak, and yet still so strong, is amazing - one might assume that a man wrote the novel, Campbell is so in tune with the feelings men (must) have when they cannot make money, provide for their families, and feel oppressed by society. Additionally, this expression by Campbell is made so much more perfect by the fact that she shows that men are men regardless of race. I mean, it's brilliant. The very fact that Campbell can present 20, 30 and 40 years of American history in 332 pages (according to my copy) and still have the time to discuss the people and how they relate to the socio-political regress and progress of their surroundings. Campbell's depiction of Black America is astounding and while reading her novel, I couldn't help but feel as if I, too, were in Mississippi, on Mamie's porch listening to the field of singing niggers; living and loving in Chicago - finally free of my motherly responsibilities, able to be just a sensual woman; and feeling the anguish and frustration that come after having my nation dilly out rights to those my father said were meant to serve me. This is one of the best novels I've read in quite a while. Campbell captures the spirit of America in this novel. My only upset is that we, the reader, along with W.T. never got to hear what Odessa, William, Wydell, and Delotha used to sing.