Johnson, Angela - The First Part Last
At first glance, this is just another book about teen pregnancy, and starring black characters at that. But it's not really; it's more a book about love and grief, particularly Bobby's love for his newborn daughter Feather.
This is a slight book in terms of size, but not in terms of emotion. Johnson presents us with tiny scenes of "then" and "now," "then" being right around when Bobby discovers that his girlfriend Nia is pregnant, and "now" being a few days after Feather's birth. They're really small scenes, very intimate and very delicate, and I still love the end of the first chapter:
But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.
Then everybody could end their life on their momma or daddy's stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.
It didn't hit me as viscerally as some other books have, but I suspect a lot of that was because I read it in one sitting at an ungodly hour of the morning (I need to stop doing that). Also, it's a nice change from the usual Book Warning about Teen Pregnancy (exclamation point!), and while I normally would protest books about pregnancy that are all "Oh woez! My life!" for the guys and books with black kids caught painting graffiti, I very much like Bobby, and though we only get to see a little of Nia's POV, I like that we see her making choices. And, of course, there's the fact that Bobby ends up raising Feather, and while the book goes into how it affects his life, it's really less about that and much, much more on his love for Feather. It reads as very stereotypically maternal, only not, because it's placing those "maternal" instincts with the father.
I also like how Johnson manages to portray just how difficult raising a baby is, but mostly I love the writing, how the fragments of chapters feel dreamlike and peaceful, despite the topic. I went back to the library to pick up several more of her books on the strength of this one.
Links:
- rachelmanija's review
This is a slight book in terms of size, but not in terms of emotion. Johnson presents us with tiny scenes of "then" and "now," "then" being right around when Bobby discovers that his girlfriend Nia is pregnant, and "now" being a few days after Feather's birth. They're really small scenes, very intimate and very delicate, and I still love the end of the first chapter:
But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.
Then everybody could end their life on their momma or daddy's stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.
It didn't hit me as viscerally as some other books have, but I suspect a lot of that was because I read it in one sitting at an ungodly hour of the morning (I need to stop doing that). Also, it's a nice change from the usual Book Warning about Teen Pregnancy (exclamation point!), and while I normally would protest books about pregnancy that are all "Oh woez! My life!" for the guys and books with black kids caught painting graffiti, I very much like Bobby, and though we only get to see a little of Nia's POV, I like that we see her making choices. And, of course, there's the fact that Bobby ends up raising Feather, and while the book goes into how it affects his life, it's really less about that and much, much more on his love for Feather. It reads as very stereotypically maternal, only not, because it's placing those "maternal" instincts with the father.
I also like how Johnson manages to portray just how difficult raising a baby is, but mostly I love the writing, how the fragments of chapters feel dreamlike and peaceful, despite the topic. I went back to the library to pick up several more of her books on the strength of this one.
Links:
- rachelmanija's review