An inter-generational story of triumph!
Rating:
5 / 5
One decision sets in motion a ripple that will affect a family for years, until finally a daughter is faced with the decision whether to break the chain, even at the expense of her own future. This book is deep, but written in a style that is easy to read.
Clearly, a good read
Rating:
5 / 5
No Pockets in a Shroud wasn't at all about what I expected. I had thought it was about how the use of heavy religious based ideals helped a family solve issues from unresolved past secrets. However...it's not...not at all. The story took you inside flawed and weak humans who, through fear, clutched tightly to lies and secrets hoping they will simply go away, or better yet that they can simply carry them with them wherever they may go...however, as the author brings out, you can't take them with you, as there are no pockets in a shroud.
The book takes you back to the days when the old folks whispered the word sex, and what we take for granted, was forbidden.
Reading this book...again on the train, it took me several hours to get through it as it was deep with plot, although it had one storyline, the depth of that storyline, at times, had me a little confused about who was doing what. Eventually it all worked out and I fully got the jest of Ms. Thompson's rich tale of secrets revealed.
Up to the last page...you are left guessing. It's definitely a sit on the sofa with a cup of cocoa and your full concentration read. You have to get fully into it to get all you need out of it. --M.M
Trouble in the family
Rating:
4 / 5
Every family has secrets but maybe not quite like the secrets that the Godbolt clan hold. Nefertiti Godbolt, a decent, God fearing teenager falls for Pharaoh Curry. He is her first experience with love and the inevitable happens; Nefertiti becomes pregnant. Her father, a stern minister who has never treated her the same as he treats her siblings, is outraged and demands that she be sent away to a home for unwed mothers. Nefertiti is coerced into giving her daughter up for adoption. Later, under her father's stern and unrelenting guidance, she
marries Pharaoh's younger, steadier brother, Isaac, but she is forever the soiled woman. When that marriage falls apart, Nefertiti leaves town and marries a white man in California.Many years later, the unresolved issue of where her daughter is, begins to haunt Nefertiti and she returns to her hometown determined to find the answers. In her search, she finds herself pursued by both Pharaoh and Isaac. Isaac is now married to Roshanne, whom he cheated with while married to Nefertiti. It is her search that stirs up old issues and brings hidden secrets out of the closet. She finally finds out why her father treats her differently and maybe even begins to love herself a little. It is a stirring story of life in the sixties in small town America where shame counted for more than love, where a good reputation was worth more than gold and preserving the family's good name was paramount. It is well written and will hold the reader's attention. Reviewed by Alice Holman
of the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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