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The story opens with Belinda, also known to intimates as “Pecan”, describing her childhood being raised by her father. It appears that her mother has abandoned her and all she knows is the love of her father. As she ages into adolescence, she meets a very handsome young man named Ricky that her father dislikes immediately. Before Ricky can gain the approval of Pecan’s father, he dies unexpectedly leaving Pecan all alone in the world with nobody but Ricky to scoop her up. He promises her a good life when his boxing career takes off and rapidly possesses her as his wife only a week after her fathers death and whisks her off to Chicago. Before long, she is pregnant and dumbfounded with her first child. She was never mothered as a child, so she didn't know how to be a mother of her own. She was also subjected to physical and emotional abuse by the man that promised to take care of her. As the years pass, she has child number two, then three and then four. Ricky grows increasingly more agitated and unhinged as he thinks its her fault he don’t have a son yet. Pecan by this point has found love in the arms of another man, one that appreciates her but when she tries gather her girls and escape Ricky to be with him, he balks.
Pecans life doesn't get any better as she begins to become bitter that all men are bad. She even discovers that her boss has other motives. The future looks pretty bleak for Pecan, but she finds a way to be strong and overcome her obstacles.
I personally grew up about one hour from where Pecan was born, so I greatly appreciated the main character and really commend the author on on even capturing the dialect as used by the uneducated and poor black community of the time. I felt such empathy on the struggles the main character had and found myself thinking so often, can it possibly get much worse for this poor woman? This is a great read, hard to put down, and I wasn't disappointed at all in the end!
I can find nothing negative to say, it was well written and flowed at a great pace. I will give this 4 out of 4 stars as I think most people will enjoy reading it. I noticed at the end, Mrs Simmons plans on writing more books based on the children of Pecan. I look forward to reading them all.
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So, glad to hear you enjoyed the dialect!
