Life is Short But Wide

December 8, 2008
With another multigenerational, wonderfully crafted Midwest ensemble cast, Cooper (Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns
) presents the town of Wideland, Okla., through the eyes of folksy nonagenarian Hattie B. Brown. This community sentinel, though sometimes short on memory, acts as tour guide and historian, introducing the town at the beginning of the 20th century, when the railroad first arrived and, with it, a growing population. Among the new residents, Hattie introduces the industrious, loving African-American cowboy Val Strong and his Cherokee “brother-friend” Wings; Val's hardened but beautiful wife, Irene Lowell; and their two strong-willed daughters, Rose and Tante. Following the Strong family and their associates through the better part of the 1900s, Hattie finds history running roughshod through their lives, crushing some and strengthening others, introducing new generations and obstacles to love, home and happiness. Cooper's characteristic motherly wit carries an appealing raft of characters through a world tougher than it is tender, but touched with beauty and wisdom.

January 1, 2009
This multigenerational saga about African-Americans in a small Oklahoma town covers a large chunk of the 20th century.

The novel 's 91-year-old narrator, who plays no active role and has no viable reason to know the intimate details of the characters ' stories, allows Cooper (Wild Stars Seeing Midnight Suns, 2006, etc.) to adopt a folksy, sometimes preachy tone —with a decided sympathy for Jehovah 's Witness theology —and a casual approach to dates and facts that might be considered sloppy otherwise. Hattie B. Brown explains that her story is shaped like a "Y, " two strands coming together. The "Strong " line is much more substantially developed. In 1910, Val Strong, a cowboy of mixed African and Native American parentage, marries teacher Irene Lowell and builds her a house in Wideland, Okla., where they raise two daughters. Independent Tante leaves for college back East and never looks back, but passive Rose stays in her parents ' house after their deaths. A teacher like her mother, Rose marries smooth-talking Leroy and has a daughter, Myine Wee, but Leroy takes up with an old girlfriend. Evil Tonya poisons Rose, then knocks off Leroy for good measure so she can claim possession of the house. She turns Myine Wee into a Cinderella stepdaughter servant. Eventually Myine Wee hears from Aunt Tante, now living in France, who swoops into town to save the house and give Myine Wee start-up cash to finish her education and become a teacher. Meanwhile, one of Rose 's best students, Herman Tenderman, is making his way in the world —getting a college degree, joining the navy, working as head mechanic in a garage where he 's paid less than the less-skilled whites, marrying a floozy he eventually leaves. As the years speed by, along with the chapters —and they do speed —Herman and Myine Wee cross paths frequently. Although they are obviously made for each other, not until they are approaching their 60s do they acknowledge their love and complete Ms. Brown 's "Y. "

Cooper 's manufactured folktale pulls all the expected strings too hard.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 15, 2009
Reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston's groundbreaking 1937 novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", this story chronicles the lives of impoverished blacks in the town of Wideland, OK, from the early 20th to the 21st century, as told by the town gossip, Hattie Brown. Narrated with gentle wit and humor, the book explores the importance of love, religion, redemption, and family. Cooper ("A Piece of Mine") allows the characters to speak in the African American Southern dialect, a technique that lends veracity and texture to their personalities. The pace of the plot is like a slow-burning fire: there's time for rumination, but readers won't be bored. Some, however, may be irritated by frequent references to the Bible and the Christian overtones throughout. Suitable for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/1/08.]Orville Lloyd Douglas, Brampton, Ont.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
This is a story about love: hard-to-find, hard-to-get, hard-to-keep love.The narrator is 91-year-old Hattie B. Brown, who, along with her 105-year-old mother, relates the saga of a family that begins with Val Strong, a Native American cattle driver, and Irene, the African American woman he comes to love. Between them they build a life in Wideland, Oklahoma, with a house and some land. Their daughters, Rose and Tante, want different lives. Tante gets her PhD and moves to Paris, while Rose stays in the home she grew up in, continuing to teach poor children. Another family story, that of Herman Tenderman, emerges parallel to this one. It is when the two stories, or families, come together that the hard love story begins and winds its agonizing way to happiness. Cooper tells her story with simplicity and grace. No apologies are made for the foolishness or baseness of any of her characters, and she freely sermonizes and moralizes whenever she feels it is called for. The result is a poignant and often-funny story of people trying to survive and find someone to love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)