Archive for Sunday, December 25, 2005
BOOKS
SUSAN STRAIGHT
Novelist
Susan Straight doesn’t experiment with narration or construct bizarre linguistic puzzles, but she does venture into territories that some have thought inappropriate – namely, that of being a white woman in her 40s writing about the interior lives of black characters. Straight has always challenged the notion that one must “write only what you know,” preferring instead to delve into the emotional issues that move her the most. Any objections have been muffled by critical praise for her lyrical prose style and the nuanced approach that she takes with her characters.
In her new novel, “A Million Nightingales,” which will be published in March, she steps back in time, describing a mixed-race girl in 19th century Louisiana and her efforts to leave the plantation and find freedom. With every book, the canvas seems to grow, suggesting that there’s no limit to where Straight will take readers next.
Save/Share:
- Steve McQueen was a pilot, not a celebrity, at Santa Paula Airport
- A quarter-century marriage to a man behind bars
- The GOP's McCarthy gene
- Economic rescue could cost $8.5 trillion
- Gold Line extension to L.A. Eastside stirs hopes, fears
- First AME pastor's spending examined
- Time for Dad to die
- A cloud over India's Muslims
- Recipe: Turkey pot pie
- Systemic failure seen in India's response to attacks
- L.A. Chabad mourns couple slain in Mumbai
- Oklahoma vaults Texas to No. 2 in BCS standings
- Court may not be able to end Thailand crisis
- Consensus emerging on universal healthcare
- Systemic failure seen in India's response to attacks
- Foreseeing a Clinton State Dept., Israelis and Arabs retool their expectations
- Lakers play it fast without getting too loose
- Black Friday sales gain seen as a one-time gift
- Spector's lawyer goes negative -- on his own client
- This time, it's Texas that gets rocked by BCS vote
