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Banning Books Could Lead to Defunding Libraries 

SHE LIT: Banning Books Could Lead to Defunding Libraries 📖

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Public libraries becoming targets for collections that include LGBTQ+ books

A rural Michigan town defunding its library over books featuring LGBTQ+ themes is the next level of book bans.

Book bans are at their highest level, according to the American Library Association that marks Banned Books Week every year this month. From Sept. 18-24, we will mark a year where more than ever school districts are voting to remove books from campus libraries, lawsuits are being waged to remove books from public libraries and bookstores, and now those public libraries could lose community funding over a particular book.

Patmos Library in Hudsonville, Michigan, was facing closure in early August after voters rejected a measure to renew funding for the library. The vote was blamed on a campaign waged by conservative Christians who believe books associated with LGBTQ+ themes are “grooming” children to be pedophiles, a QAnon belief that has become a mainstream conservative theory, according to media reports.

Less than 1% of Patmos Library’s books have LGBTQ+ content, the nonprofit advocacy group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State found. Yet the library was defunded.

Most book bans seem to occur within school libraries since parents have more power to address their school districts to remove books they deem inappropriate for children to read. Of course, many of these books being targeted are by LGBTQ+ authors and authors of color who write about gender, sexuality, and race.

But more of these book bans are trickling inside public libraries where individuals are heading to their city councils and court systems to request books be removed from libraries and even bookstores.

A concerned Patmos Library patron started a GoFundMe that now has raised over $255,000, which is $10,000 over the goal to help the library continue operations throughout 2023. Renowned romance novelist Nora Roberts noticed the GoFundMe after reading The Washington Post story about the library’s defunding and donated $50,000, her publicist’s blog notes. The funds are from the author personally, and not from her foundation, the blog adds.

Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir is one of the books at issue. It’s also the most banned book in America. The author and cartoonist, who uses e/eir pronouns, discusses eir discovery of eir gender identity in the graphic novel. The book was also at the center of an obscenity matter in a Virginia court that is resolved for now (more on that below).

Though Patmos Library is located in a community with a population of just less than 10,000, the possibility that a library can be defunded over the books they choose to carry is concerning. The head librarian, who identified as queer, quit amid the defunding campaign after being harassed inside the library, BuzzFeed News reports, adding other librarians had also quit for similar reasons.

Now that the library received national support to keep going, hardships still lie ahead. The harassment may continue toward the librarians, another campaign to somehow rid the library of LGBTQ+ books may be planned, or people may stop using the library.

The library’s next board meeting takes place Sept. 12, so we will see what the library has in store under the spotlight glow. Though the money will be there, its location in a community that largely wants it gone over a few books is an ongoing concern.

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Virginia court dismisses request to label books as obscene

The American Civil Liberties Union announced that its clients were victorious in getting an obscenity lawsuit against two books dismissed. The Circuit Court for the City of Virginia Beach rejected an effort to label Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas as obscene and illegal to sell and lend in the state.

The ACLU and the ACLU of Virginia represented local booksellers and book organizations. Barnes & Noble was the largest target of the lawsuit. Gender Queer was the most banned book in the U.S. last year, according to the American Library Association, one of the ACLU’s clients. Legal experts believe this is just the beginning for these types of lawsuits.

Prolific YA author shares new middle grade book, film trailer

Angie Thomas, the creator of The Hate U Give, has been quite busy this week. She introduced her upcoming The Manifestor Prophecy middle grade trilogy with the first book Nic Blake and the Remarkables. In an Instagram post, she writes the roots of the book were inside her for 15 years and the story has “hellhound puppies and haints and a literal Underground Railroad. It has Black Girl Magic.” The first installment is expected to be released April 4, 2023 from HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray.

During last Sunday’s presentation of the MTV Video Music Awards, the full trailer debuted for On the Come Up, Angie’s sophomore hip-hop-infused YA novel. Directed by actress Sanaa Lathan, the film stars Jamila Gray as Bri, the prodigal daughter of a late hip-hop legend trying to find her voice in music and at school. The film will start streaming on Paramount+ on Sept. 23.

While sharing the news of her projects via social media, she also shared her concerns as a Jackson, Mississippi, native seeing the current water crisis impacting the city of 150,000 unfold. Damaged infrastructure has caused the Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves to declare a state of emergency over residents—more than 80% who are Black—having little to no water pressure.

Reese Witherspoon adds kids’ author to her bookish titles

Book club queen and book-to-screen producer Reese Witherspoon announced the upcoming release for her new children’s picture book, Busy Betty, about a girl on a mission to bathe her dog before her friends come over to play. Her book launch will take place at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. Illustrated by Xindi Yan, the book is published by Flamingo Books under Penguin Random House and will be available for sale on Oct. 4.

Michelle Buteau’s memoir-based comedy series starts casting

Comedienne and The Circle host Michelle Buteau’s book is getting the screen treatment. Her 2020 essay collection, Survival of the Thickest, will be turned into a Netflix comedy series of the same name starring the author in a fictionalized storyline. Her character will be a plus-size, single, Black woman who is struggling as a stylist but “determined to not only survive but thrive with the support of her chosen family, a body positive attitude, and a cute v-neck with some lip gloss,” according to Deadline. Tone Bell and Tasha Smith will also star.

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"The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School" by Sonora Reyes

Book Review: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

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Film Adaptation of Angie Thomas’ ‘On the Come Up’ Starts Production

Prolific young adult author Angie Thomas has teased the start of filming for her sophomore novel’s take on the big screen.

With Angie serving as a screenwriter and producer on the film, On the Come Up started filming Oct. 25, according to the author’s tweet.

In social media posts over the last week, the author drops other details such as actress Sanaa Lathan assuming her first stint as a feature film director. The film stars Jamila C. Gray as the main character Bri, a rising rapper trying to follow in her late father’s footsteps career-wise as her family battles eviction and deals with the aftermath of a traumatic school incident. Bri’s best friends Malik and Sonny will be played by Michael Cooper Jr. and Miles Gutierrez Riley, respectively.

The script is written by Kay Oyegun, who is no stranger to book-to-film projects with also penning episodes for Queen Sugar based on Natalie Baszile‘s novel of the same name and the screenplay for the upcoming Children of Blood and Bone from the debut novel of the young adult fantasy saga by Tomi Adeyemi. Variety reports that rappers Lil Yachty and GaTa are also a part of the cast.

According to Angie’s social media feeds, the project is being filmed in Atlanta.

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‘Queen Sugar’ Actress Tina Lifford Reveals New Lifestyle Book

Off the heels of Queen Sugar‘s fifth season renewal, one of its stars has announced her book tour.

Tina Lifford, who plays Violet aka Aunt Vi in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama, is on a mission to push mental and spiritual fitness through her new book, The Little Book of Big Lies. She recently discussed the book on an episode of Sister Circle on TV One and emphasized its title comes from overcoming life’s obstacles.

“There’s a self inside of you,” she told talk show co-hosts, Quad Webb, Syleena Johnson, Rashan Ali and Trina Braxton. “You need to prioritize it, take care of it, and more importantly any event that has taken place in your life that has left you feeling less than, not good enough, incapable, or limited is a lie. You gotta figure out how to let go of that lie and take your power back from it.”

Tina, also recognizable from roles on South Central and Parenthood, says she’s an “inner fitness strategist,” as she labels the book as a master class set in 14 personal stories.

“People make the mistake thinking that with success comes automatic happiness,” she said. “Two different things. Two different skill sets, and you’ve gotta learn both of those skill sets. If you’re not paying attention for the skill set for happiness, you’re gonna wake up with lots of money and power and you’re gonna wonder, ‘Why do I feel so bad?'”

Tina held an event in Atlanta last Saturday for her “Inner Fitness, Outer Beauty” tour with celebrity stylist J. Bolin.

“You gotta learn how to dress your spirit. You gotta know who you are on the inside,” she said. “You gotta not only know who you are on the inside, know who you want to become. And learn to say, ‘Up until now life has been this way, but this point forward it can be this way.'”

Her book is on pre-order and comes out in November.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Oh Mamere

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

With creating the season around a character’s memoir, Queen Sugar has focused on the traumas the memoir brought up for all the characters in the series. Wednesday’s episode emphasized those traumas and spurred an OWN Twitter chat.

Ahead of the episode, OWN held a three-hour Twitter chat under the hashtag #QueenSugarTalks to get viewers to discuss the issues of trauma and addiction. The episode starts with Nova (Rutina Wesley) and Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) Bordelon going on a retreat in the woods. Feelings come out: Nova tells Charley she hates being invited on getaways she couldn’t afford. She feels small on Charley’s dime. They realize,  as half-sisters, they still don’t know each other due to a lifelong level of competition and separation.

The addiction storyline comes in when Darla (Bianca Lawson), the former flame of Nova and Charley’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), meets up with an old friend from her partying days. Her friend acknowledges Darla’s sobriety at the restaurant but asks Darla if it’s fine she still has a drink. Then she goes on and on about one of the last parties they went to eight years ago. She says Darla was so high that she went up to a room at a house party with two guys.

The walk down memory lane appears to be the night when Darla’s son Blue (Ethan Hutchison) was conceived. Darla can barely recall those moments and the revelation of a second man throws her into a tailspin at a nearby bar. Violet (Tina Lifford), the Bordelon aunt, soon finds a disheveled Darla in a park and takes her home where Darla unveils why she lied about Blue’s paternity for years. She said she buried the rape because of the shame of being hooked on drugs and alcohol. Violet calls Ralph Angel to come to Darla’s house, and Darla shares the story.

Charley’s son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) takes Blue to a carnival, where they get split up in the bathroom area. While Micah’s back is turned looking at his smartphone, Blue dashes to the women’s restroom to avoid the line to the men’s restroom. Micah asks people in the area if they had seen Blue, and when he gets no answers, he ventures off. Blue comes out of the restroom and ends up with a police officer to wait for Micah to find him. Since last season, Micah has been dealing with the trauma of being arrested and jailed by a white cop over an alleged traffic violation.

The trauma between the sisters and Darla have been brought up by Nova’s memoir Blessing and Blood, the book that’s been tearing apart the family since the beginning of the season. Micah’s trauma is in the book also, but it became known when it happened. As the women’s trauma is amplified, so is the trauma for the men. Micah’s recurring trauma around police brings him to a mild panic attack while Ralph Angel is still absorbing how his son is not biologically his. With two episodes left in the season, viewers may see more evolution of the trauma stemming from the memoir.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Stare at the Same Fires

For Show Promotion Only
Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The OWN series Queen Sugar has been knee-deep this season in driving storylines around the memoir by Nova, the middle daughter of the sugar mill-owning Bordelon family in Louisiana. In this episode, Nova’s biological sister and former sister-in-law of sorts are dealing with the aftermath of Nova’s memoir with controlled substances.

Nova (Rutina Wesley) helps her real sister, Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), off a barstool in New Orleans, miles away from their hometown of St. Josephine. Charley had been drinking throughout the night at the bar with her sunglasses on, so her potential constituents won’t notice her since she’s running for office. Nova takes her sister to the hotel room and dresses Charley in her pajamas. The tender moment shows the distance they’ve been dealing with can be reduced so quickly. Under the blankets, Charley asks why Nova wrote her book and told the Bordelon family secrets. Nova says she thought it would help the family but now realizes it only helped her career. Charley begins crying, and Nova comforts her sister.

Once Charley returns home, she notices the front page of the local newspaper with the headline, “Charley Bordelon Is My Role Model.” It’s an op-ed by Nova about why her sister would make a great city councilwoman who will defend their farmer community. Nova adds in the op-ed that she regrets what she wrote about her sister in the best-selling memoir.

Charley’s son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) then brings his mother out to a get-together where family, friends, and mill workers have gathered to uplift each other after the mill’s fire from last week’s episode.

As the festivities are taking place under garden lights, Darla (Bianca Lawson) is at home taunted by a bottle of alcohol. Since she’s broken up with Nova’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) and lied about their son Blue (Ethan Hutchison)’s paternity, it’s striking to see her suffering no longer a concern for the Bordelons. She’s not considered family anymore. Nobody is checking on her as she deals with the impact of Nova’s memoir.

Darla’s depression in the episode starts with her visiting the musician she is dating at a practice. He approaches Darla to let her know he’s worried about what he read in Nova’s book. Since he’s working on his sobriety, he picks up on Darla’s slip. Darla becomes hard to contact like Charley.

The contrasting moments with Charley and Darla succumbing to their vices because of Nova’s book are eye-opening to the deeper impact the book has had on the family. The storyline keeps evolving every episode, where the pivotal moments are connected to the pain caused by Nova’s book. This week, the book didn’t seem to earn more awards as it seemed to in previous episodes while a character is having a breakdown. It’d be interesting to see how these characters will keep reacting to the book and how the book will keep rising on the charts.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Of Several Centuries + All the Borders

Based on the critically acclaimed novel by Natalie Baszile, Queen Sugar follows the Bordelons, a black family who owns a sugarcane company in Louisiana. As some of the members are experiencing a higher profile, it seems like the entire family is seeing the repercussions of their success.

The season has highlighted how middle daughter Nova (Rutina Wesley) wrote a memoir revealing family secrets—unbeknownst to her family. The tension grows by the episode.

Darla (Bianca Lawson), the ex-fiancee of Nova’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), arrives at her job to find Nova’s book facedown on her seat. The way the book is flipped open, it looks like it’s on the pages describing Darla’s journey in and out of drug addiction. She’s embarrassed that her past life has been made public and has followed her to work.

Nova runs into her police officer ex, Calvin (Greg Vaughan), who now owns a security company, and tells him over lunch how he’s mentioned in her book. Another ex now appears on the book tour since she was sleeping with her professor-mentor for the last two episodes.

There are bookmarks of destruction: The vandalism of Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford)’s restaurant in the beginning and the family-owned mill on fire in the end.

The second episode starts with Nova running to Charley and Ralph Angel as they watch the firefighters contain the mill fire. But her siblings are still unhappy to see her. After learning the fire most likely was caused by arson, Charley and Ralph Angel storm off to approach the nemesis sugarcane business family matriarch, Frances Boudreaux (Annalee Jefferies).

“They looked at me like I wasn’t one of them. They looked like I was a stranger. Not even a stranger, like an enemy,” Nova cries into the phone to Calvin. “I lost my family.”

Calvin runs over to Nova’s house to check on her. Micah comes over at the same time. Once Calvin goes into another room to take a call, Micah questions Nova on how she’s comfortable being with a white ex-cop who could’ve beaten the black and brown residents of St. Josephine. Last season, Micah had been mistreated by a cop during a traffic stop, creating distrust for him and his family over police presence. During that time, Nova’s profile rose as a result of her coverage on cops targeting unarmed black men, which led to her book deal. Nova later asks Calvin if he ever saw another police officer “abuse black people.” He says he looked the other way and he left the force since he had lost his relationship with Nova over the racial tensions in their town.

Nova’s book alone has destroyed her relationship with her family, but as she copes with that loss, she’s been gravitating to her toxic relationships from the past. The college professor she had an affair with turned up on the tour and now it’s her married cop boyfriend returning as divorced and retired from the force.

With her tour, Nova hasn’t really had the chance to mend the relationships at home like she thinks she has. She returns home over the mill fire, but it’s reminiscent of a few weeks ago when she ran to Violet’s home after noticing her aunt’s ex-husband, whom she had interviewed for her book, terrorizing her aunt.

The impact of the memoir is weaved brilliantly into the season with Nova enjoying the success of her book but feeling the fire of burning bridges.

“Queen Sugar” has new episodes on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on OWN.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: By the Spit

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

OWN drama Queen Sugar is focusing this season on a main character’s evolution as a memoirist and how her memoir is impacting her family.

Nova (Rutina Wesley) has written a memoir spilling many unexpected family secrets, but as her family struggles with the secrets coming out of the shadows, she’s enjoying the limelight of having a best-selling, critically acclaimed book.

After reconnecting with her former professor-mentor Dr. Octavia Laurent (Cree Summer) whom she’s also started sleeping with again, Nova learns her book is being shortlisted for the National Book Award. Octavia, who went off on Nova for a measly mention in the book, tries to convince Nova that she doesn’t need accolades to prove her voice. It’s obvious this blast from the past is a hater, but Nova doesn’t see that yet, with even inviting Octavia to an interview about the book as part of the press tour.

During the interview, Nova is told by the reporter that her sister, Charley, is running for office to stop a highway proposal that would affect their family land. The sisters haven’t been speaking to each other since Nova put in her book that Charley paid off her basketballer ex-husband’s mistresses. When the reporter drops that bomb, Octavia interjects her wisdom. “Black girl magic is a continuum,” she says to detract attention, a quotable.

Later in the hotel room, Nova brings up her family. She is still bothered that she didn’t know about Charley running for office. Octavia says family members are “biological accidents,” advice Nova doesn’t care for at the moment. “Sometimes, we have to put family in the rearview to get to where we need to go,” Octavia adds, another quotable.

At a networking soiree, Octavia goes up to a woman she knows. The woman immediately praises Nova, who is left by the hors d’oeuvre table, in front of Octavia and proposes asking Nova to edit a collection of essays on race. Octavia says she would be a better candidate for the project since she’s been looking for one. But the woman says she would prefer emerging writers for the project. Then Octavia returns to Nova and lies about singing her praises. Nova looks at her mentor fly hungrily to one person to another.

Things later come to a head in the hotel room when Nova approaches Octavia about not telling her about the editing opportunity. Octavia tells Nova that she needs 20 years of prerequisites to complete such work. That she “made” Nova. The jealousy is palpable, and Nova thanks her mentor for opening doors but she will continue to walk in her path and reminds Octavia that she invited herself on the book tour. But Octavia retorts, “Emotional labor is still work. I refuse to be treated like an afterthought,” a third quotable. They part ways. Nova later calls Charley to congratulate her on the run.

The mentor storyline stuck out in this episode. What happens when you’re a mentor to someone who reaches the pinnacle of success you always wanted? What happens if your mentor doesn’t seem happy that you found success? These questions possibly come up for writers at times when their dreams come true as some people who worked alongside them throughout their careers may not continue with them.

Other storylines still have the imprint of the memoir’s effect. Charley goes to the Latinx section of town to get votes with her boyfriend and later deals with a brick thrown into her headquarters’ window. Seven-year-old Blue (Ethan Hutchison) gets a child psychologist to deal with learning that Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), the younger brother of Nova and Charley, is not his biological father. Violet (Tina Lifford) realizes that she may have post-traumatic stress disorder after Nova’s book brought back her violent ex-husband weeks ago.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Face Speckled

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Still in the throes of Nova (Rutina Welsey) revealing family secrets in her best-selling memoir, the Bordelons are picking up the pieces as the book climbs the charts.

The episode opens with Nova having nightmares with her younger self, an image of how her memoir is impacting her as family relationships deteriorate.

Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), Nova’s sister, gets a call from her ex-husband Davis (Timon Kyle Durrett) about his past affairs resurfacing in Nova’s book. Charley says she doesn’t want to be seen in public with him but knows her cleanup skills are impeccable, so she goes to help him.

Meanwhile, Nova is at a fireside chat for her book when a woman in the audience asks why Nova didn’t back her anecdotes with data. The woman argued the anecdotes as just Nova’s experiences are “self-aggrandizing” assumptions about the African-American community. She then calls Nova’s dismissal of data and theory a telltale mark of amateurism. Nova claims to be an “everyday black American,” and that is resounding with audiences.

It turns out the critical woman is Nova’s college professor (Cree Summer!). She was mad she got a sentence of nameless recognition in Nova’s book. She blames Nova for making a conscious effort to not mention her. Then they start making out on the table.

While packing up food from a catering gig, Violet tells Hollywood she’s scared again after Jimmy Dale returned in a previous episode.

Another kid told Blue (Ethan Hutchison) that Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) is not his father, the secret revealed in Nova’s book. Ralph Angel and Darla (Bianca Lawson) comforts Blue with saying he’ll never abandon him though he’s not his biological father.

One non-book reference that was a meaningful point in the episode involves immigration. Charley sees a thriving health care clinic for immigrants that her boyfriend doctor is running in the Bordelon warehouse. Until ICE shows up and families are separated. It could be said that Charley strives to be more charitable with the sugar cane business to prove its black ownership roots, something Nova criticized in her book.

In the next episode on July 24, Nova is shortlisted for the National Book Award.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Skin Transparent

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The fallout from Nova’s (Rutina Wesley) memoir is still stirring up drama, but in this episode we get more insight on another family secret unbeknownst to most family members.

The episode starts with Nova’s nephew and her sister Charley’s (Dawn-­Lyen Gardner) son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) going to stay with Nova with plans to attend her upcoming book-signing. Sitting with his mother, Micah wonders how long the silent treatment will stay enforced among the Bordelons.

The family matriarch and aunt Violet (Tina Lifford) can’t sleep, claiming recipes are running through her head, but Hollywood pushes for her to talk about the situation with Jimmy Dale (guest star David Alan Grier), her abusive ex-husband who reappeared after communicating with Nova on her book.

Nova creeps around Violet’s restaurant since she had been banned from being around her aunt, but is turned away by an employee. Nova then calls her brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), who doesn’t pick up. News comes about her getting a six-week book tour due to her glowing The New York Times review. That news, of course, moves her attention away from the family and back on her success.

Charley tries to team up with the other female shareholder to go against the Landrys, the sugar cane empire family that had once owned her ancestors. But the shareholder tells Charley to back off because the Landrys are too powerful. So Charley sashays into a country club to approach a Landry about a highway proposal that would gut Bordelon land. The woman tells Charley that she had read Nova’s book with Charley clapping back on the book with a comparison to “sentimental dribble.”

While Charley recovers from her business-heavy moves, she gets home only to meet her ex-husband’s daughter from an extramarital affair. These affairs are described in Nova’s book with Charley paying off another mistress, so that drama haunts her with the publicity from the book and now a breathing part of evidence from an affair is right in her home.

At the book-signing for Blessing and Blood, Nova reads from a recently added chapter called “Buried Memories” about her father being beaten by three white men at a fishing trip to protect his daughter. She read she would wander the sugarcane fields at night, and on one night, she saw her father bury something into the ground. This is an addition to the book. Her ex-girlfriend comes up to her during the book-signing session and asks about Nova’s family not being there, visible with the empty chairs in the front. She gives Nova a kiss on the lips.

Darla (Bianca Lawson), Ralph Angel’s ex-fiancee and mother of their son Blue (Ethan Hutchison), receives Nova’s book and reads the details of her drug-fueled prostituting nights with baby Blue sitting in the corner. In a flash, she bursts into Nova’s door describing her shock that her past life is in those pages. Nova tries to clean it up; Darla’s name and identifying marks have been changed. This doesn’t sit well with Darla, who keeps telling Nova that she didn’t think of Blue’s feelings since he will eventually read about his mother’s past life.

Charley tells Violet and Ralph Angel at the restaurant that Micah asked about the added chapter in Nova’s book. Violet said she doesn’t know what her brother did that night Nova recalled when she was younger, but he had been worried about Nova getting sexually assaulted by those three white men until that night. Vehemently, Violet defends her brother about him and everyone else having the right to keep a secret between themselves and God.

Darla is hysterically crying on her porch about having to tell Blue the truth while Violet is doing the same in her bathroom with Hollywood hearing the muffled cries as the bathwater runs. As the family falls apart, Nova carries her heavy suitcases out the door for her book tour.

The depth of the secrets are felt in this episode. And Nova switches from concern about the book’s aftermath on her family to excitement when she receives good news from her literary agent and publisher. She still looks bad for unveiling her family’s secrets for money and success, yet she’s torn on what to do about it since her family blocks her apologies. More secrets will be revealed, or at least, there will be more coming out of the secrets we know now.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Where My Body Stops or Begins

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The season so far is wrought by the impact of Nova’s (Rutina Wesley) book that the family didn’t see coming.

The episode starts with Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) returning from vacation with Nova’s book in hand, in which his mother Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) is questioned about why she paid her ex-husband’s mistress millions to keep quiet and working for the sugarcane company ran by descendants of the owners of the Bordelon family’s ancestors. Tough questions indeed.

In the next scene, Nova is asking her agent what to wear for an interview with an audience of psychologists when she gets word of The New York Times review for book that’s called “a love letter” on race, culture, and identity. The critics love the book putting a microscope on the Bordelons.

Nova is soon sitting on a talk show similar to OWN’s Iyanla, Fix My Life with a family asking for guidance on how to mend a sisterly relationship. They want advice on how Nova and Charley became closer. Of course, that relationship is strained over the contents in the book yet the general public doesn’t know it yet…

Meanwhile, Charley is arguing over her shareholder voting status at the company. Again, the company Nova criticized her for being a part of because of their family’s slavery history. And Charley is given the how-you-should-be-grateful-to-be-in-the-room-since-you’re-a-black-woman speech by her colleague about her dividends.

Violet’s shadow-lurking surprise guest, who gave her such a fright that she fainted in her restaurant, appears to be her abusive ex-husband named Jimmy (David Alan Grier). Elsewhere, Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) tells Darla (Bianca Lawson) that the revelation of him not being Blue’s (Ethan Hutchison) biological father is in Nova’s book. “I didn’t read much after that part. I couldn’t,” he tells her as Darla gets teary about the thought of little Blue discovering the truth.

Jimmy comes back to Violet’s house later and demands to talk to her. He says he wants them to get on the right track, and Violet is hypnotized (in a bad way) by the sight of him. She shrinks, then speaks up. “You’re the last person who can talk about dignity, Jimmy Dale,” she yells. “Get out of my house!”

Nova appears and asks Jimmy why he’s there. Jimmy says it’s nice to see Nova again, which has Violet questioning if they had spoken recently.

“Whatever you did to bring this to my doorstep, it cannot be explained,” Violet tells Nova. Then Nova shoves Jimmy away from Violet until the women are pushing him out the door. But luckily Hollywood, Violet’s new husband, approaches from the driveway and repeatedly punches Jimmy on the lawn.

Nova says she had visited Jimmy for her book to get his point-of-view on his marriage to Violet. “My intention wasn’t to hurt anyone” is her pathetic excuse.

Violet tells Nova that her late parents would be ashamed and told her to leave her home. “I don’t want to look at you. I don’t want to talk to you. Not right now, not tomorrow, what I’m feeling in 10 years can’t put enough distance between us… This is the last time I let you in this house, Nova Bordelon.”

Nova leaves the house. But the greed to craft that Ta-Nehisi Coates-like memoir and using her family as a prop to fetch the fame and status as a culturally woke critic is so overpowering in this episode. Nova brought back someone who obviously was abusive to her beloved aunt. Maybe she didn’t think Jimmy would show up at Violet’s door, but the traumatizing fear a woman may have over an abusive partner returning from the grave she mentally placed him in was shown brilliantly in those scenes.

Another matter was how Blue, who’s about 7 years old, will learn maybe before he should about his true paternity that could send him into a tailspin, questioning the only family he’s ever known. While on the other hand, Micah is a teenager, so him finding out about his mother’s actions against his father’s indiscretions sure would leave a bad taste in his mouth but he’s mature enough to understand the product of the NBA world his family had been in for so long.

This season is wonderfully showing how one’s memoir could ignite a fire with the power to destroy a family. When a memoir is written, do we later see the aftermath from others who are in the story? Is there a sufficient post-memoir describing the interactions between friends and family during the memoir’s release? It’s an interesting concept that writers may not take into consideration because they own their stories, but others may feel violated by that ownership.

Categories
what's lit

‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Pleasure is Black

For Show Promotion Only
Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Queen Sugar returned for its fourth season with Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley), the activist journalist of the sugarcane business family, preparing for the launch of her book and realizing her family might not be ready for it.

In the beginning of the episode, Nova is creating a video about Blessing and Blood, looking confident while vaguely describing her “American family.” But minutes later, she’s at a restaurant chugging wine and telling her agent that she’s nervous about the impact of her memoir because she failed to prepare her family for its contents, even though she’s learned the New York Times plans to review the book.

“They know it’s coming, but they don’t know what’s in it,” Nova says.

Back in Louisiana, in their summer attire with umbrellas, the family parades up to aunt Violet (Tina Lifford)‘s new restaurant, Vi’s Prized Pies & Diner, where Nova’s antisocial demeanor stands out.

“This is the last we’ll see her serve anybody,” a woman tells Prosper (Henry G. Sanders), who works with the sugarcane business, as they chat with Nova serving behind the counter. She goes on to add her sister saw a billboard in New York City advertising Nova’s book that’s being compared to the works of Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates. “What’s the book about? Can we get a little preview? Or a taste?”

Violet’s new husband, Hollywood (Omar J. Dorsey), overhears the conversation. As Nova turns to the kitchen, Hollywood whispers his thoughts on the book to her.

“When do we get to read your book?” Hollywood asks. “You ain’t been shy about nothing you did. Something not right about that book.”

Nova hesitates.

Hollywood adds the family should’ve been prepared for what the memoir would entail because he has a feeling that family secrets have been spilled without permission.

Outside in the dining area, Violet expresses her dislike for her nephew Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) passing his son Blue like “day-old bread” in his custody exchange between his ex Darla (Bianca Lawson), who recently revealed he’s not Blue’s father. 1990s teen R&B sensation Tevin Campbell made his high-profile appearance singing at the festive opening as a Bordelon cousin.

Guiltily, Nova ambushes Charley (Dawn-­Lyen Gardner) at work the next day while her sister, dressed impeccably in a taupe pantsuit ready to head to women’s conference panel, is confused by the surprise. Nova hands her sister a copy of the manuscript and later visits her brother Ralph Angel to leave a copy as she wipes a tear away.

At the conference, Charley is getting revved up during her inspirational speech while receiving a leadership award until a reporter bombards her with questions in the crowd. The reporter claims she received an advanced copy of Nova’s manuscript and it read Charley had secretly paid off one of her basketball player ex-husband’s mistresses, which happened two seasons ago. Once Charley gets home, she pops the cork on a bottle of wine and chugs as much as she can before laying her eyes on the manuscript.

In the morning, she calls Ralph Angel to warn him to not look at the manuscript until she talks to him. On the car ride to talk to her brother, Charley calls her lawyer to send her sister a cease-and-desist over the book.

Meanwhile, Hollywood picks up the manuscript on Violet’s desk and reads the first page to see it disparages Violet calling her a self-proclaimed “strong black woman” but saying how she lived her life doesn’t show that evidence.

Elsewhere, Ralph Angel, intrigued by Charley’s warning to not look at the manuscript, decides to look at the manuscript. He reads the paragraph about how he has a “fragile ego” as it criticizes his drama with Darla for never questioning Blue’s paternity when she is a recovering drug addict.

Nova visits her father’s mausoleum at the cemetery, laying a fresh bouquet of flowers.

“I’m afraid, Daddy, that everybody will not understand what I’m doing, but I’m offering up my work to see that, to be better,” she cries on the ground. “Because I grew up with too many secrets. You did, too. And it’s time for us to be as free as you wanted us to be. Please give me the strength to see this through.”

The episode ends with a telling preview for the rest of the season with the memoir tearing the family apart while the audience waits to see what these secrets are. It’s interesting to see a TV series based on a book have a storyline where a personal story could be destructive to a family. The impact of memoirs doesn’t seem to be brought up in the book world as authors most likely don’t touch on the subject with their families or generally say their families are supportive. Queen Sugar, with the vision brought to the forefront by main producers Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, will be a standout this season on examining the impact of a published book on a family.

“This is the last time I want to look at you,” Violet says to Nova in the preview.

‘Queen Sugar’ Shows How a Memoir Could Affect Your Family

Queen Sugar returns Wednesday, June 12 at 9 p.m. / Discovery Press Web

The new trailer for Queen Sugar‘s fourth season made a splash with seeing how the Bordelons handle the activist journalist-turned-author character’s memoir, which begs the question on how much can you reveal comfortably when your family will read your work?

Nova Bordelon, played by Rutina Wesley, has turned her career of black community journalism into a memoir about her family’s rise in the sugarcane industry as they are the only African American owners to create a sustainable business in St. Josephine Parish, Louisiana. Yet, like with many families across cultures, there is deep-rooted tension that never came to the surface until Nova decides to put it to pen in what looks like will be a successful memoir. The success drives a wedge between each family member with her sister Charley, played by Dawn-Lyen Gardner, accusing Nova of the pages showing how much she hates her.

The season starts Wednesday, June 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The critically acclaimed OWN series is based on Natalie Baszile’s 2014 novel of the same name that added Ava DuVernay’s cinematographic vision to upgrade the overall story.

 

Categories
book reviews

Book Review: ‘Queen Sugar’ by Natalie Baszile

Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, the writing and pacing is really good. But the drama dragged. The actual sugar cane business overshadowed the interesting family situations occurring between characters. And because it went into detail about the business, there were all these miscellaneous characters the reader doesn’t care about. I read it because Oprah is doing a show on it, but I have a feeling OWN changed a lot for the book to be remotely entertaining on TV.

Charley Bordelon is a single mother raising her 11-year-old daughter Micah in Los Angeles, where she can’t keep a job as an artist though she enjoys the fruits of her ophthalmologist mother’s labor. When Charley’s father dies, he leaves her a sugarcane field in Louisiana, where he’s originally from. So Charley packs her things up and moves to Louisiana with Micah. They live with Charley’s grandmother Miss Honey while Charley deals with her troubled half-brother Ralph Angel, who has a son named Blue.

While Charley tries to figure out how to run a sugarcane farm, her bullheadedness leaves her making some business mistakes as Ralph Angel grows jealous that the business wasn’t left to him. As Charley gets on track with the help from Remy Newell, a competitor, she finds herself falling him though she doesn’t realize how much she’s neglecting Micah. Ralph Angel’s actions eventually lead to a timely Black Lives Matter ending, which brings the family closer.

The OWN TV series is better but totally changed characters and situations. The show added a sister, Nova Bordelon, to add even more tension between Charley and Ralph Angel. Violet is a preacher’s wife who only shows up a few times in the book as a confidant to Charley; now she’s a waitress with a knack for baking. Miss Honey doesn’t exist, like her character is combined with Violet. In the show, Violet’s love interest is Hollywood, but in the book Hollywood is an old classmate of Ralph Angel who’s a little slow (he gets his nickname for loving tabloids) yet wants to be there for his friend while having a crush on Charley. Remy is an older white man, so Charley has reservations about dating him at first since she would be in an interracial relationship in the South. Micah is a boy in the show while his father is alive and well as a star basketball player who Charley leaves in the season premiere over a cheating scandal. In the book, girl Micah’s father is dead, which is the reason why Charley has been financially desperate to the point where she relocates to handle a sugarcane farm without experience. Also, Ralph Angel returns to town with Blue assuming his son’s mother died of a drug overdose since he abandoned her in a crack house in the book. The TV counterpart has the mother as a recovering addict but still alive and trying to make amends with her family. Prosper, the old farmer who helps Charley get her business moving, is probably the only character who’s stayed the same. And maybe Blue (though the Power Ranger he played with in the book evolved into a Barbie doll in the show).

Though the book sets a good layout for the TV show, it’s one of those stories fun to compare and contrast because there are multiple changes.

View all my reviews