The Salt Eaters

Product Details

• Proviso: NEW
• ISBN13: 9780679740766
• Notes: Marque New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Description

Set in Claybourne, a small town somewhere in the South, THE SALT EATERS is the story of a community of black faith healers who, searching for the healing properties of salt, witness an event that will change their lives forever.

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Customer Reviews

Want to feel Stupid?
I can't believe that this book got that many stars or good reviews. I've been reading this book for two weeks and it usually doesn't take me that long just when i think I'm about to get it...I don't and there is so much going on I think I've developed ADHD or something. I don't know if there are healing properities in salt, but at this point I don't care if they find out or not. If it weren't for the fact that I hate not finishing a book...I would be just that finished. I'm not an Einstein but im definetely no dummy and this book made me feel stupid. I hope her other books arent as hard to keep up.

2007-04-02 | shopper extrodinaire (texas) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 1

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Salt Eaters Requires Much, Rewards Much
This book is best read straight through in one or two sittings. The main action of the story, Velma Henry's healing, takes place in a matter of minutes but requires the entire book to extend through the minds past, present, and future of multiple characters--onlookers and passersby. Each scene requires subsequent scenes to unpack, unfold, and explain it. Toni Cade Bambara has ensured that the attentive reader will be richly rewarded for waiting and wondering. Even the smallest details--a baby bird fallen from its nest--are presented so luminously that when they are revisited pages later they are instantly recognizable. These continual moments of recognition knit together a novel that otherwise might stretch to bursting the limits of time, place, character, and spirit.

This wise novel cares deeply about healing on political, environmental, and personal levels. Salt, the title image, serves as an antidote to poison but embitters a body; it runs through the neck of an hourglass as a moment in time becomes crucial.

In this moment in time, to drumbeats and the strains of popular music, we meet a group of healers, a spirit guide, a bus driver, the doctors at a free clinic, a paperboy, winos, sisters, lovers, all kinds of mothers, tourists, thugs, transvestites, elders, animals--all of them teach us something about the soul of one strong woman broken under the weight of her passion for justice.

Are there weapons stockpiled at the Academy? Is the nuclear power plant slowly killing its employees? What will happen tonight at the carnival? These questions pale beside the central question: Will yesterday's struggle yield fruit tomorrow? Is there hope?

-K. Beachy

2004-03-04 | Helpful Votes: 10 | Rating: 5

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Not for the faint at heart...
"The Salt Eaters" by Toni Cade Bambara is definitely not a book for those who are faint at heart. This book is filled with unexpected twists and seemingly extraneous information, and may seem quite confusing at times. There were times when I contemplated not finishing the book, thinking that I was too lost in the thick of the plot to truely garner any meaning. I later realized that the beauty of this classic comes at the end, upon the realization that you were never lost - it was the characters who were lost, they were just bringing you along for the ride. It is much like an excursion through a dense jungle, filled with possible pitfalls and dangerous twists and turns that leads one to emerge upon a beautiful beach, just in time for the sunset.

The possible confusion that one might encounter on a first read through this book is due in part to the fact that it is largely written in the style of an epic poem, rather than in the "traditional" form of a novel. Many of the books subtleties and gems can be discovered upon subsequent readings of the book. As this is my first book by Bambara, I am somewhat unfamiliar with Bambara's usual style - if it can be said that she has one at all - but my experiences with "The Salt Eaters" draws me to dig deeper into her repertoire and learn to appreciate her mastery for her craft.

2001-02-06 (NYC Metro) | Helpful Votes: 19 | Rating: 4

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For people that love reading
You need to be aquipped to enter the world of Toni Cade Bambara. I discovered Bambara because her name was often associated with that of Toni Morrison.Bambara is a strong writer, with strong convinctions, and with a militant kind of writing. What she teaches us in this novel is that everything is organized in a network, that everything goes together. More importantly perhaps, she teaches us that freedom is a matter of choice and that it always carries reponsibilities: do you want to be free and what do you want to do with your freedom? This is the question that the novel underscores, the question to which the characters need to find an answer. You come out of "The salt Eaters" full with questions about your place in the universe and what you want in your life. Bambara does not merely depicts a world of victims, of brutalization, alienation and dehumanization. At the center of the novel is the message that you can do something to better the world you live in if only you choose to be well and take responsibility for what it entails. Bambara also makes clear that though everything's in a network, the individual still has the power to take action that may change not only himself and his community but the world at large. For sure, we may question this somewhat idealistic and utopian vision, but is literature anything else but a big utopia?

Some readers may be beffudled at Bambara syntax and vocabulary (and yes this is hard to decode), but once you get beyond that you're just disappointed that Bambara did not write many novels: you're in the presence of a great artist, that is someone that has a style, a vision, and a message.

1999-08-05 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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For people that love reading
You need to be aquipped to enter the world of Toni Cade Bambara. I discovered Bambara because her name was often associated with that of Toni Morrison.Bambara is a strong writer, with strong convinctions, and with a militant kind of writing. What she teaches us in this novel is that everything is organized in a network, that everything goes together. More importantly perhaps, she teaches us that freedom is a matter of choice and that it always carries reponsibilities: do you want to be free and what do you want to do with your freedom? This is the question that the novel underscores, the question to which the characters need to find an answer. You come out of "The salt Eaters" full with questions about your place in the universe and what you want in your life. Bambara does not merely depicts a world of victims, of brutalization, alienation and dehumanization. At the center of the novel is the message that you can do something to better the world you live in if only you choose to be well and take responsibility for what it entails. Bambara also makes clear that though everything's in a network, the individual still has the power to take action that may change not only himself and his community but the world at large. For sure, we may question this somewhat idealistic and utopian vision, but is literature anything else but a big utopia?

Some readers may be beffudled at Bambara syntax and vocabulary (and yes this is hard to decode), but once you get beyond that you're just disappointed that Bambara did not write many novels: you're in the presence of a great artist, that is someone that has a style, a vision, and a message.

1999-08-05 | Helpful Votes: 26 | Rating: 4

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Gorilla, My Love

Product Details

• Fettle: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Surplus Mark.
• ISBN13: 9780679738985

Description

Ms. Bambara grabs you by the throat...she dazzles, she charms." -- Chicago Daily News

In these fifteen superb stories, written in a style at once ineffable and immediately recognizable, Toni Cade Bambara gives us compeIling portraits of a wide range of unforgettable characters, from sassy children to cunning old men, in scenes shifting between uptown New York and rural North CaroLina. A young girl suffers her first betrayal. A widow flirts with an elderly blind man against the wishes of her grown-up children. A neighborhood loan shark teaches o white social worker a lesson in responsibility. And there is more. Sharing the world of Toni Cade Bambara's "straight-up fiction" is a stunning experience.

"Among the best portraits of black life to have appeared in some time." -- Saturday Review

"Bambara presents situations that build like improvisations on a melody....As drawn with spirit and subtlety. [her characters] are-even in their defeats-a pleasure to watch."

-- Newsweek

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Customer Reviews

A Gem
I find it interesting that some reviewers think that this book is too mature for kids to read. This has been one of my favorite books since I was 14. The rhythm and flow of each story are flawless. The voice and language are unique and beautiful . While some stories definitely take the cake (Raymond's Run, The Lesson, Gorilla, My Love), the entire body of work is really quite something. It's just unfortunate that more people don't know about Bambara. While I agree that it may be somewhat unreasonable for 13-year-olds to read this, I don't think it's as far a stretch as some may predict. Sometimes, things make more since when you're younger. Sometimes, you learn something different when you read it at different ages. Either way, this collection does not disappoint, and I'd recommend it to everyone.

2007-05-26 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Not What I Had Hoped For
I bought this collection of short stories based on "The Lesson," which is a tremendously good short story...one that is at the top of my list of many. However, the rest of the stories, with the exception of "The Hammer Man" fell short for me. Some seemed a little off track and nonsensical, and some, I am sorry to say, seemed a bit banal. Perhaps the problem lies with me and I am simply not making the connections necessary to feel "close" to the literature...
I will always love "The Lesson," and the fact that Bambara's storytelling in authentic black vernacular is raw and unparalleled... but there were stories here, in my opinion, that simply did not move me. When I finish reading something...anything... I expect it to have taught me something new (like a "lesson") or to have made me think differently in one way or another. For the majority of these stories, this just simply did not occur.
Nevertheless, the collection is worth purchasing if only for "The Lesson" and "The Hammer Man."

2006-06-18 (Royal Oak, Michigan United States) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 3

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The title story is amazing.
I sympathize with all the thirteen and fourteen year olds who have to write about this book. You are all morons. I have to write an essay on it too and I am a sophomore in college. (I think the lesson here is don't go to college. Seriously, you're wasting your time and your parent's money. You'd be better off taking up smoking crack as a hobby.) But, I still think this is a good story. And I will enjoy writing this paper. And I will enjoy the crepe I eat tomorrow morning for breakfast. And I will be satisfied for as long as I live for crepes exist and they are made to be eaten by people with teeth and jaws, both of which I possess. I suppose you could say crepes were made for me and I was made for crepes.

Love, and God speed, weary travelers,
The Pooper

2005-03-25 | pooper (New York, NY) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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"Here we are . . . the Johnson girls."
The posted reviews make clear that students are being asked to read this book at too young an age. I teach the book to my college students, and they too struggle with the stories, which are sometimes puzzling. At a first go-through, the reader is in the position of the two Northerners in "Mississippi Ham Rider," who go down South to interview a famous blues singer and get tested by locals who won't make the task of locating the singer easy. In fact, the book teaches you how to read it as you move through it. Rarely has a collection of stories been more tightly unified and balanced. The stories vary point of view, and do not reflect the perspective of one person, although some characters come back in various stories.

Perhaps the hardest one in the book is the title story ("Gorilla, My Love"). Here the author uses a difficult stream-of-consciousness style to convey the mental condition of Hazel, a young girl heartbroken to learn that her uncle ("Hunca Bubba") is not going to marry her like he promised he would. Hazel innocently believed that that when you say something, you stick by it. The point of view initially obscures the problem Hazel has, but finally reveals it: she hasn't grown up yet. Bambara introduces difficult flows of thought and unclear words into the story to confuse the reader and make her feel like Hazel does. Thus the reader identifies with the character just by reading the story. (By the way, the film Hazel sees named "Gorilla, My Love" is about the crucifixion of Jesus, and it has no gorilla in it--which is exactly the point: you often don't get what you expect out of life, but must take what it gives and work with it.)

The strongest stories here are "My Man Bovanne," "Gorilla, My Love," "Raymond's Run," "The Hammer Man," "The Lesson" (my personal favorite), and the final story, "The Johnson Girls," which pulls the themes of the book together when Gail stands up and says that as a group, all the women can come up with "a sure-fire program" to help one of them win back the man she wants. That's the author's ultimate message: in isolation we lose out, but together there is nothing we can't accomplish. Of course, Bambara is right.

2004-05-08 | michaeleme (MO, United States) | Helpful Votes: 14 | Rating: 5

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A favorite!
There are beautiful stories in this highly recommended book. The title story and "My Man Bovanne" are two favorites. Poignant, funny, sad, inspiring, these stories are destined to be American classics. Buy this book!

2003-10-21 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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The Sea Birds Are Still Alive

Description

Ten stories of Black life written with Ms. Bambara's characteristic vigor, sensibility and winning irony. The stories range from the timid and bumbling confusion of a novice community worker in "The Apprentice" to the love-versus-politics crisis of an organizers wife, to the dark and bright notes of the title story about the passengers on a refugee ship from a war-torn Asian nation.

Young girls, weary men, lovers, frauds and revolutionaries -- Toni Cade Bambara handles them all the expertise, passion and huge talent. As the Chicago Daily News said, "Ms. Bambara grabs you by the throat...she dazzles, she charms."

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BAMBARA, TONI CADE: An entry from Macmillan Reference USA's <i>Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed.</i>

Description

This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses. The length of the article is 455 words. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years.

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Biography - Bambara, Toni Cade (1939-1995): An article from: Contemporary Authors

Description

This digital document, covering the life and work of Toni Cade Bambara, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3160 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

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Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson": A Study Guide from Gale's "Short Stories for Students" (Volume 12, Chapter 10)

Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to cram for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary work?

Turn to "Short Stories for Students" to get your research done in record time. Brought to you by Thomson Gale--the world's leading source of literary criticism and analysis--this e-doc contains: plot summary; character analysis; author biography; an overview of the story's themes, style, and historical context; a compendium of in-depth critical material; study questions; suggestions for further reading; and much more.

Why choose "Short Stories for Students"? Because no other source offers so much in such a compact package. Trust the experts: Thomson Gale--and "Short Stories for Students."

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