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Overview
"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction."--Publishers Weekly
"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."
--Toni Morrison, author of Beloved
"The sharpness of the prose and power of the story make it hard to stop reading even the most brutal scenes . . . The story feels real perhaps because it’s familiar . . . Or maybe, as Frey points out, the story is too vivid to be read purely as fiction. But in this Precious-style novel, genre is the least of our concerns."
--Bust magazine
"This is a story that cuts across all race and social strata in its need to be told."
--The Dallas Morning News
The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.
Bernice L. McFadden is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
McFadden’s reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism. At 34, Kenzie Lowe is a recovering alcoholic who lives with her mother, Delia, in a Brooklyn housing project. She finds herself at her father’s deathbed and recalls all the drunken abuse that she; her brother, Malcolm; and Delia endured. Her father, Hy-Lo, beat Delia if the dishes weren’t done, trained Kenzie to buy his vodka, and whipped his children with belts. The fights grew bloodier as Delia started drinking and Kenzie and Malcolm began to fight back. Temporary respite came with Grandmother Mable, but Delia, “afraid to stay, but more afraid to go,” always returned home with her children. Still, as Kenzie stares at her father’s desiccated body in the hospital, she feels an unwanted tug of forgiveness and, through the kind intervention of a nurse, tries to leave her past behind. This is not a story of easy redemption; Kenzie, unlike the rest of her family, escapes because of her strength, courage, and a touch of luck. Though McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction, the power of her story is lessened by wooden dialogue and hazy characterizations. Agent: Jimmy Vines, the Vines Agency. (Feb.)Kansas City Star Best Books 2001
Always powerful.Envoy
...a constant page-turner...Publishers Weekly -
"Now and then I forget things.... One day last week I forgot that I hated my father... " McFadden's graphic, poignant second novel (following her praised debut, Sugar) charts the resonating legacy that alcoholic parents pass on to their children through the cycle of addiction and domestic violence. Narrator Kenzie Lowe, an African-American woman in her 30s on welfare, has used alcohol to repress the memories of abuse she suffered growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, caught in the physical and emotional grip of her whiskey-swilling father, Hyman Lowe. As Hy-Lo (a name that reflects his erratic mood swings) lies comatose in his hospital bed, dying of liver disease, Kenzie finds herself in the grip of buried memories. Deftly evoking the turbulence of Kenzie's tormented recollections, McFadden builds tension as Kenzie's subconscious releases events from a fearful childhood dominated by Hy-Lo's sadistic punishments. Incidents where he burned a cigarette into her palm, broke her ribs with lashes from his belt, knocked out her mother's teeth and terrorized her brother, effectively causing his death, graphically illustrate a child's powerlessness in the grip of an appallingly abusive parent. Seamless transitions between Kenzie's past and her present life anchored by AA sessions imbue this difficult tale with dramatic suspense. While McFadden's decision to tie up loose ends into a neatly contrived ending may seem facile, its cathartic message of forgiveness and recovery will elicit tears. Agent, James Vines. (Jan. 15) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.KLIATT
The adult Kenzie Lowe visits the bedside of her dying father and remembers her childhood and adolescence in a series of brutally grim flashbacks. Kenzie's adult scenes are vague and unreal—in one scene, Kenzie worries that she is having alcohol blackouts, as she cannot recall any details of the immediate past—but her flashbacks are detailed in their pain. Her childhood visions are of alcoholic parents and physical abuse. Kenzie remembers the broken ribs, cigarette burns, and humiliations of her youth. The occasional interludes in the present reveal a young woman who is struggling to recover from the alcoholism that has destroyed her career, and has driven her into the projects and onto welfare. Kenzie's angel is Nurse D. Green, her only real human contact in the present. After an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Nurse Green explains that she knew Kenzie's father when they both were children, and she tells of his physical and psychological abuse by his own alcoholic mother. Kenzie finally begins to forgive her father, as she recognizes that she will never be able to recover from her own alcoholism and self-loathing until she does. As the novel closes, Kenzie sees her first chance to end the cycle of alcoholism and abuse. Use this book with adolescents with caution, as the relentless despair may be too much for many readers. KLIATT Codes: A—Recommended for advanced students and adults. 2001, Plume, 239p.,— Deborah Kaplan