I do not identify participants for their own privacy, but it does give you a sense of the range of opinions shared:

When I use 'I' I am often referring to the person who said the comment. It is an extraordinary feat of writing and Dana and Chaurisse will stay with me for some time.Now on to our lively discussion. Tayari Jones excels at digging deep into human emotion (she did this with aplomb in An American Marriage) and in Silver Sparrow I found myself overwhelmed by the themes and issues addressed. It isn’t any easy read though, and by that I mean it is emotional and heartbreaking in places. It makes for an immersive and rewarding reading experience. It shows the varied ways in which we are brought up, the pressures and the implicit expectations. We are taken back in time to their childhoods and to when they first met and fell in love with James. It explores the intricacies of family and family dynamics not only through the eyes of the children but of their mothers. Strong characterisation of not only Dana and Chaurisse but of their mothers and other characters make this an impressive richly textured novel. Tayari Jones is a skilled writer who drew me into feeling this way and then turns everything on its head by introducing me to Chaurisse. I was viewing her through the eyes of a daughter who has a father but not a dad and found myself resentful on Dana’s behalf. I was sympathetic to Dana and almost begrudged Chaurisse, disliking her before I was even introduced to her. There is a stark contrast between Chaurisse who walks through life with the confidence of a person who is secure in the love she receives and Dana who is a hidden daughter, for whom love is something that is not easily received.ĭana and Chaurisse have unique and strong voices and their characters are strongly drawn.

We watch as they are brought up a few miles from one another but lead completely different lives. Written from firstly Dana’s viewpoint and then Chaurisse’s, we learn about their lives, their relationship with their dad and their family units. She becomes his other wife, the woman which he keeps secret and the mother of the child which he will never publicly claim. James is a bigamist who married Chaurisse’s mother when he was a young man and then, years later met and fell in love with Dana’s mother, Gwen. In fact he is married to both of their mothers something which Chaurisse and her mother are blissfully unaware of. They’re step sisters and share the same father, James. Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is a wonderfully vivid novel set in Atlanta, Georgia which explores the life of two young women Dana and Chaurisse.

Silver sparrow book review