Dancing on the Edge of the Roof

By the time Juanita, age 42, abruptly leaves the cramped Ohio project apartment she shares with her trifling adult son and daughter, both she and the listener are well aware that this is an extraordinary journey we are about to embark upon. The combination of Lizan Mitchell's sassy joie de vivre and an exemplary range of character voices brings this 2003 Mahogany Book Club Book of the Year vividly to life. Mitchell's performance is spot-on, making us laugh, shed tears, and cheer on our heroine and her journey of self-discovery, which leads to Paper Moon, Montana. The listener will empathize with this late-bloomer, who just wants to see what else the world has to offer before she's too old to care. P.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

October 28, 2002
The discovery of a stash of romance novels forever changes the life of a downtrodden nurse's aide in this engaging debut. Forty-two-year-old Juanita Lewis, an African-American woman with three grown children, has never read a book before, but once she starts, she can't stop. Emboldened by the stories, she decides to run away from home, change her life and seek adventure. No wonder: home is a two-bedroom apartment in the Columbus, Ohio, projects shared with grand-daughter Teishia; daughter Bertie, who's on welfare and sleeps until noon; and son Rashawn, a drug dealer likely to end up in jail alongside his brother Randy. All are left behind, when, despite their protests, Juanita buys a one-way bus ticket and heads west. In Paper Moon, Mont., her new life begins at breakfast in a diner where a standoff with angry chef/owner Jess Gardiner ends with Juanita at the stove cooking her own bacon and eggs. Two hours later, she's offered a job. No black folk have been seen in town since the Lewis and Clark expedition, and she becomes a sort of tourist attraction and local celebrity. Hoping for excitement, Juanita didn't dream she'd find romance as well. Her unlikely suitor is her taciturn employer, a Lakota descendant still haunted by his stint in Vietnam. This is an easy read, with lively dialogue and a fair share of comedy, but there's a credibility problem: would a longtime enabler and battered woman discover books and suddenly morph into a feisty feminist heroine? It's doubtful, but if so, hooray for literature.