Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

 

I read an reviewed An American Marriage by Tayari Jones in February 2019. I really enjoyed reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. I have been meaning to read another one of her novels ever since then.

I'd heard good things about Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones from another book blogger who enjoyed reading this novel and has similar reading tastes as myself. So, earlier this month, I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones and narrated by Rosalyn Coleman Williams and Heather Alicia Simms.

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is an interesting read. The story revolves around the lives of two women married to the same man. The second wife and her daughter known about the existence of the first wife and daughter, but the first wife and daughter do not know about the existence of the second wife and daughter. The second wife and daughter live in secret due to the bigamist nature between herself and her husband, who is also still married to his first wife.

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is told in two parts. Part one is told through the eyes of Dana Lynn, the daughter of Gwen, the second wife, and her husband, James. Part two is told through the eyes of Chaurisse, the daughter of the first wife, Laverne, and her husband, James. 

The different perspectives of both Dana and Chaurisse couldn't be more at odds, yet eerily the same in some regards. Dana has pretty much always known about her father and his other wife and daughter. Dana and Gwen have even gone out of their way to spy on the first wife and daughter. Whereas Chaurisse and Laverne have no clue about the second wife and daughter.

It becomes a story of the haves and the haves not in this story as the novel unfolds over time until the devastation and destruction occurs towards the end of the novel when everything cracks wide open... Sure there seems to be a silver lining for James and his first wife and daughter... But for Dana and Gwen it's open to interpretation.

I liked Silver Sparrow, but honestly, I didn't like it as much as I did An American Marriage.

Below is the publisher's summary for Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones from Audible:

Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, Silver Sparrow revolves around James Witherspoon's two families - the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters - the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle - she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another's lives. At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers - think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye - Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just not as their mothers.

I am giving Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!