Silver Sparrow: A Novel [Hardcover]

Silver Sparrow is a powerful and unforgettable book, full of soul and intelligence and is Tayari Jones's finest work which is saying something given the beauty of her earlier books. This is a novel where you know, from the first page, what the major tensions of the narrative are. You also get a sense of how the story will end. This is not to suggest that this novel is without its surprises or complexities; you will find both in this book. Nonetheless, Silver Sparrow is a book where how the writer leads the reader to an inevitable ending matters most. Normally, this approach of revealing so much of what is at stake in the early going might seem like a prescription for failure but such is not the case in what is a remarkable novel. Silver Sparrow is thoroughly engaging and although there is so much intense emotion driving the story forward, that emotion is expertly controlled, never becoming indulgent or melodramatic. We all come to reading for different reasons. I mostly read to be moved and engaged; with this book I very much was. I haven't been able to stop reading this book since I got my hands on a copy.

Silver Sparrow is the story of two daughters, Dana Lynn Yarboro and Chaurisse Witherspoon, the bigamist father they share, James Witherspoon, his might-as-well-be brother and shadow Raleigh, and the mothers of the two girls, Gwendolyn and Laverne. The backdrop is black, middle class Atlanta during the 1980s but there's also a lot of really interesting and difficult historical context brought into the novel to help explain how the adults, in particular, came to such a complicated pass. The writing is subtle, elegant and the exceptional attention to detail really elevates this book.

I also appreciated how sensitively and honestly the writing detailed the intimate and complex inner lives of teenage girls--their hopes and insecurities and fears are detailed so nicely. As a recovering teenage girl, I found both Dana and Chaurisse eminently relatable. Chaurisse, for example, has created her own taxonomy for girls and there's a real bittersweetness to how she describes "silver" or pretty, popular girls and where she stands in relation to those girls.

The pacing is another strong element of Silver Sparrow. Given that the novel is told in two parts, first from Dana's point of view then from Chaurisse's point of view, I wondered how the story could possibly be resolved effectively and how all the tension built in the first part could be capitalized on in the second part. In fact, when I first realized the novel had a two-part structure I was actually kind of irritated because I thought we were going back to the beginning just when I was completely invested but I have to tell you, this novel is smartly written and controlled and there are many craft lessons to be learned in reading Silver Sparrow. The second part of the novel complements the first part really nicely and in its own way, Chaurisse's story picks up right where we have diverged from Dana's while also giving us a clear sense of how she got to where and who she is. By the end of the novel, I literally could not turn the pages fast enough. More than once I found myself holding my breath. I know a book is damn good when I stop breathing. Silver Sparrow is, by far, the best book I've read this year and I return to it often. You won't regret getting your hands on this book.

This book is about people who have done well in their businesses, but their personal lives are train wrecks.

I guess every fiction book (or diet book, but that's another story), from Shakespear and Tolstoy on down is about people whose lives are in some way train wrecks - or you would have no plot, no conflict. So why were these train wrecks so unsatisfying?

The book was very well written, Dana and Chaurisse were compelling, sympathetic and well drawn, the story full of twists and turns and an original plot building up to a final confrontation, and the dialogue especially good. So why didn't this work for me?

This book felt like the kind of friend's divorce I'm sure everybody has seen - when it first erupts you're sympathetic, fascinated, supportive and frankly kinda nosy. But say the friend never grows and moves on, but continues to have the same fights with the ex for the next twenty years (with different incidents, but basically the same fights), and after awhile it gets dull and repetitious and when the subject comes up you zone out and while you still may make sympathetic noises when she talks, you're sympathy is pretty much dead.

Here, the train just kept wrecking, over and over, and the characters just kept having the same conflicts and fights and issues, and never seemed to grow or develop. Despite all the drama nothing really seemed to happen- and in the end, the daughters appear to be essentially replaying the train wrecks of their parents' lives, with a few changes in the details.

Sometimes this can be a very powerful statement (Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises) but here it just got tiresome. I kept thinking this novel begged for some kind of growth, change, or development in the characters, but it just didn't happen.

So despite the good writing, for me in the end the book fell flat.

Have you ever wondered what life would be like growing up in a family of bigamists? The situation seems unthinkable, but it happens. I'm not referring to a strange polygamist cult with unusual beliefs and an alternate lifestyle. I'm speaking of ordinary folks just like you and me, except that they live in secret and hide from the ones they love.

These are people with children, jobs and commitments, upstanding citizens in nearly every sense of the word, the only difference being that they sustain a strange, dual family system --- a system that inherently requires deception and is forced upon the children. It is done in order to preserve the daily harmony and protect the feelings of others, yet as the psychological strain builds (and we know it must), it becomes all-too clear that the ones who are hurt are always the innocents.

Bigamy is the subject of this unusual story told in SILVER SPARROW, covering the life of a bigamist husband and dual father. James Witherspoon is a middle-aged African American man who has lived his lie for two decades. His story begins innocently with his daughter's recollections of her own illegitimacy. Dana describes her parents' affair in full detail, including what it's been like for her through the years. She has been kept a secret all her life. Dana's mother originally confided their story to her daughter years ago, telling of her affair directly and honestly. Dana understands their reasons and relates to the longings of a lonely heart. She believes it happened out of the blue, and though it was certainly a dishonest act, she recognizes that it wasn't premeditated at all. It seemed to happen very naturally, though resulted in a pairing that could not be recognized and would lead to a life of disasters and hurts.

Dana's tale of her father's two wives and lives is a sad one, though compelling. This is a realistic story about deception, created by the needs of flawed people. The reality of James's life, years down the road, is a collection of lies and daily betrayals, with James being insistent on keeping both families and loving them all. His illegitimate wife Gwen seems to love him every bit as much as his public one, and his two daughters both adore him. Dana, however, is naturally bitter about being kept secret, only seeing her father occasionally and just at home. Yet, strangely, knowing her father's dirty secrets seems to make both Dana and her mother feel superior; they claim their victories where they can.

Amid this dishonesty and treachery is a touching story of two innocents: the sweet daughters who are the products of James's love. These girls only want to be loved and valued, and though Dana does love her parents, she can see the trap they're in. Because James's families live in the same small town in Alabama, they are bound to run into each other sooner or later. While Dana and her mother have been expressly forbidden to associate or speak to James's legitimate family, Dana has become intensely curious and jealous, making her brave enough to finally approach them.

There are some shocking realities to the odd situations of a bigamist family, and one of these is the strange notion that these families are mirror images of each other. Though James's girls and wives are physically different, they do live with the same man and share his bloodlines. This gives them certain similarities, especially in their emotional makeup, and leads to a situation when the girls will meet.

SILVER SPARROW is a touching story that will leave audiences identifying with all the lost children of the world. Though the subject seems heavy, Tayari Jones's third novel (following LEAVING ATLANTA and THE UNTELLING) really does read quickly and easily. The characters are all amazingly relatable and lifelike, and readers will definitely love the two daughters. The book will also satisfy any curiosities you might have about the psychology of bigamy.

--- Reviewed by Melanie Smith