Tempest lacks an emotional core, leaving the characters to flail miserably in a storm of pretty words and good intentions. Wonderfully drawn character descriptions placed in odd predicaments find their way to a fanciful, ridiculous ending. Tempest Rising reads like a well-written summary. Ramona, a buyer for a local department store, often ends up taking care of the foster kids while Mae is out taking care of Mae.Īnd then there are more characters and more story lines and more flowery writing and long-winded prose. In Part II, readers meet Ramona, the “saucer-eyed, butter-toned West Philly head turner.” She is bitter about how her card-playing, booze-guzzling mother, Mae, takes advantage of her. No character, it seems, is too small to have input. Instead, McKinney-Whetstone shares the insights and history of almost every character she names. Yet, the viewpoint rarely swings in their direction. The story promises to share the tale of three sisters, snatched from the bosom of privilege and forced to find their way in a shaky foster home. Too many characters, too many story lines, too much hand-holding. Grating as a tactic, this is forgivable if there is sufficient payoff. The pages read like a long, literary preface. The voice of Part I of the book rumbles with the authority of a distant narrator. The author of the critically acclaimed novels Tumbling, Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight, Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Black Caucus of the American L. All of this happens in the first 33 pages of the 280-page book.
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