Suzan-Lori Parks's Hurly-Burly: "Getting Mother's Body"
Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks
Hardcover, 257 pages
Publisher: Random House
Price: $23.95
Publication Date: 2003
Suzan-Lori Parks's Getting Mother's Body grabs you with its opening line—" 'Where my panties at?' I asks him."—and holds you until its very last word. You are quickly drawn in to the hurly-burly lives of Parks's quirky characters. And like any good story, film, or play that has you invested in its drama, anxious for the action to unfold, Getting Mother's Body piques your curiosity. You need to know what's going to happen next in this offbeat, intriguing tale of family, deprivation, camaraderie, and perseverance.
Set in Lincoln, Texas, in 1963, Getting Mother's Body revolves around the snappy, ever-resourceful, 16-year-old, Billy Beede. She's "five months gone," and the hump of her "baby-belly" can no longer go unnoticed. People in town are talking about how she's "growd almost to womanhood, also growd as big as a house with no ring on her finger and no man in sight." But, Billy thinks, she'll have the last laugh on those "biddies" and their talk, because she just got a marriage proposal from her coffin-selling-businessman-boyfriend, Clifton Snipes.
The lead-up to Billy's nuptials introduces the novel's other cast of characters. There is Billy's uncle, Roosevelt "Teddy" Beede, and her aunt and Teddy's wife, June. There's Laz Jackson, a somewhat slow-witted, though steadfast ally who's sweet on Billy. There's Dill Smiles, a "bulldagger" who likes her overalls and boots and lives her life as a man. Last but not least, there is Willa Mae Beede, Billy's deceased mother and Teddy's sister who is an overarching presence in the characters' thoughts, memories, and motivations. Willa Mae is the linchpin in the uproarious and eccentric adventure that this tapped-out, luckless group is about to undertake.
Parks acquaints you with this entertaining bunch by letting them speak for themselves. She uses an unconventional, difficult-to-do literary technique in which each character narrates his or her own chapter. For this effective shifting in point of view, Parks and her novel have been likened to William Faulkner and his masterwork As I Lay Dying (1930).
This is not an overblown comparison. Getting Mother's Body's down-home wisdom; steady and well-paced movement toward its gratifying climax; and memorable, afflicted characters hearken back to Faulkner's similarly moving Southern tale of a mother's death and its aftermath on her family.
Willa Mae Beede died six years ago. Throughout those arduous years, times have been tough on the Beedes. Earnings have been lean. Teddy and June operate a filling station on a month-to-month basis, an agreement on which the owner insists. They sleep in a trailer behind the station. Billy lives with them, but she sleeps on a pallet under the cash register counter.
According to family legend, when Willa Mae died, she was buried with a "treasure" of her favorite jewelry. Teddy and June have toyed with the idea of digging up Willa Mae's body to retrieve the treasure. The money they could get for it would surely help out. June, who lost a leg when she was a child, could buy a prosthesis for herself, and Teddy could bury Willa Mae in the same cemetery as their parents.
Dill Smiles has been dead set against this fandango of an idea. She and Willa Mae were lovers. When death came early and tragically for Willa Mae, Dill prepared Willa Mae's body and buried her on Dill's mother's property in Arizona.
Dill protests: " 'Willa Mae was proud of two things. Her pearl necklace and her diamond ring. Getting buried with them two things was her dying wish. I coulda took them, I coulda stole them from her while she was breathing her last breaths, but I weren't about to go against her dying wish. So I put her in the ground and I put her jewelry in the ground with her...."
And then, a letter arrives from Candy Napoleon, Dill's mother, stating that developers plan to plow up and pave over a parcel of land she sold to them. Willa Mae's grave is in that section, and digging is soon to begin.
The Beedes must decide what to do. Cautiously, June pipes up: " 'If we ever was thinking we should go get Willa Mae's body, we better go and get her now,' I says. I make sure I say 'body' and not 'treasure.' "
And Billy throws in her two cents: " 'Willa Mae's getting paved over don't bother me none....[I]f they gonna put a supermarket on top of her, I ain't wasting my honeymoon running out there trying to stop them.' "
Billy doesn't have much use for Willa Mae or her memory. Right now, she's fixated on the wedding dress she finagled out of Mrs. Jackson at Jackson's Formal and scraping together bus fare so she can travel to Texhoma and get married. She takes off to join Clifton—encountering a bevy of one-of-a-kind characters along the way—and is met with a most unexpected situation upon her arrival.
Getting Mother's Body really kicks in gear after Billy's episode. Money—or more precisely, the lack of it—is foremost in the minds of the Beedes. Scrounging around for any coin or bill that they can come up with will not do for their immediate expenses, especially Billy's.
Also, time is dwindling in the matter of Willa Mae's resting place. The Beedes decide to go dig up Willa Mae. A humdinger of a road trip ensues, replete with fast-moving vehicles, scuffles with the law, shotguns, secrets revealed, and more Beedes.
Parks's wild, cunning tale is terrific, and it rings with truth. She shows how people on the receiving end of bad luck and miserable circumstances can persevere. They may not triumph grandly, but they do endure.
Suzan-Lori Parks was the recipient of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. Spike Lee directed her first feature film, Girl 6. Parks is currently writing adaptations of the musical Hoopz for Disney and Toni Morrison's novel Paradise for Oprah Winfrey. Getting Mother's Body is Parks's debut novel.
This book review was originall published in MotherTown in 2003.
Hardcover, 257 pages
Publisher: Random House
Price: $23.95
Publication Date: 2003
Suzan-Lori Parks's Getting Mother's Body grabs you with its opening line—" 'Where my panties at?' I asks him."—and holds you until its very last word. You are quickly drawn in to the hurly-burly lives of Parks's quirky characters. And like any good story, film, or play that has you invested in its drama, anxious for the action to unfold, Getting Mother's Body piques your curiosity. You need to know what's going to happen next in this offbeat, intriguing tale of family, deprivation, camaraderie, and perseverance.
Set in Lincoln, Texas, in 1963, Getting Mother's Body revolves around the snappy, ever-resourceful, 16-year-old, Billy Beede. She's "five months gone," and the hump of her "baby-belly" can no longer go unnoticed. People in town are talking about how she's "growd almost to womanhood, also growd as big as a house with no ring on her finger and no man in sight." But, Billy thinks, she'll have the last laugh on those "biddies" and their talk, because she just got a marriage proposal from her coffin-selling-businessman-boyfriend, Clifton Snipes.
The lead-up to Billy's nuptials introduces the novel's other cast of characters. There is Billy's uncle, Roosevelt "Teddy" Beede, and her aunt and Teddy's wife, June. There's Laz Jackson, a somewhat slow-witted, though steadfast ally who's sweet on Billy. There's Dill Smiles, a "bulldagger" who likes her overalls and boots and lives her life as a man. Last but not least, there is Willa Mae Beede, Billy's deceased mother and Teddy's sister who is an overarching presence in the characters' thoughts, memories, and motivations. Willa Mae is the linchpin in the uproarious and eccentric adventure that this tapped-out, luckless group is about to undertake.
Parks acquaints you with this entertaining bunch by letting them speak for themselves. She uses an unconventional, difficult-to-do literary technique in which each character narrates his or her own chapter. For this effective shifting in point of view, Parks and her novel have been likened to William Faulkner and his masterwork As I Lay Dying (1930).
This is not an overblown comparison. Getting Mother's Body's down-home wisdom; steady and well-paced movement toward its gratifying climax; and memorable, afflicted characters hearken back to Faulkner's similarly moving Southern tale of a mother's death and its aftermath on her family.
Willa Mae Beede died six years ago. Throughout those arduous years, times have been tough on the Beedes. Earnings have been lean. Teddy and June operate a filling station on a month-to-month basis, an agreement on which the owner insists. They sleep in a trailer behind the station. Billy lives with them, but she sleeps on a pallet under the cash register counter.
According to family legend, when Willa Mae died, she was buried with a "treasure" of her favorite jewelry. Teddy and June have toyed with the idea of digging up Willa Mae's body to retrieve the treasure. The money they could get for it would surely help out. June, who lost a leg when she was a child, could buy a prosthesis for herself, and Teddy could bury Willa Mae in the same cemetery as their parents.
Dill Smiles has been dead set against this fandango of an idea. She and Willa Mae were lovers. When death came early and tragically for Willa Mae, Dill prepared Willa Mae's body and buried her on Dill's mother's property in Arizona.
Dill protests: " 'Willa Mae was proud of two things. Her pearl necklace and her diamond ring. Getting buried with them two things was her dying wish. I coulda took them, I coulda stole them from her while she was breathing her last breaths, but I weren't about to go against her dying wish. So I put her in the ground and I put her jewelry in the ground with her...."
And then, a letter arrives from Candy Napoleon, Dill's mother, stating that developers plan to plow up and pave over a parcel of land she sold to them. Willa Mae's grave is in that section, and digging is soon to begin.
The Beedes must decide what to do. Cautiously, June pipes up: " 'If we ever was thinking we should go get Willa Mae's body, we better go and get her now,' I says. I make sure I say 'body' and not 'treasure.' "
And Billy throws in her two cents: " 'Willa Mae's getting paved over don't bother me none....[I]f they gonna put a supermarket on top of her, I ain't wasting my honeymoon running out there trying to stop them.' "
Billy doesn't have much use for Willa Mae or her memory. Right now, she's fixated on the wedding dress she finagled out of Mrs. Jackson at Jackson's Formal and scraping together bus fare so she can travel to Texhoma and get married. She takes off to join Clifton—encountering a bevy of one-of-a-kind characters along the way—and is met with a most unexpected situation upon her arrival.
Getting Mother's Body really kicks in gear after Billy's episode. Money—or more precisely, the lack of it—is foremost in the minds of the Beedes. Scrounging around for any coin or bill that they can come up with will not do for their immediate expenses, especially Billy's.
Also, time is dwindling in the matter of Willa Mae's resting place. The Beedes decide to go dig up Willa Mae. A humdinger of a road trip ensues, replete with fast-moving vehicles, scuffles with the law, shotguns, secrets revealed, and more Beedes.
Parks's wild, cunning tale is terrific, and it rings with truth. She shows how people on the receiving end of bad luck and miserable circumstances can persevere. They may not triumph grandly, but they do endure.
Suzan-Lori Parks was the recipient of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. Spike Lee directed her first feature film, Girl 6. Parks is currently writing adaptations of the musical Hoopz for Disney and Toni Morrison's novel Paradise for Oprah Winfrey. Getting Mother's Body is Parks's debut novel.
This book review was originall published in MotherTown in 2003.
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