In honor of the family ties that bind, the Alachua County Library District presents this list of great books about families.
Faulkner's literary themes are family, Southern traditions and passions, the land, and the effect of the past on the future. Covering four generations of the Sutpen family, Absalom, Absalom! is often considered Faulkner's masterpiece. Absalom, Absalom! is the story of a self-made plantation owner and his tragic fall; a compelling exploration of race, gender, and the burdens of the past.
Inspired by her family's oral history and traditions, a modern-day American woman traces four generations of women in her family - first powerful Mexicans, later, Mexican-Americans. Their stories blend truth with conjection, resonance, authenticity, and a natural charm.
On board the Mayflower (yes, the Mayflower), animosities are begun between two families, the Hilyards and the Bigelows. 370 years later, they are still raging. Both families settled on Cape Cod, and the history of the Cape, the new nation, and these two "first families" are interwoven in a sweeping historical saga.
Four generations of women. One cursed family in Jerusalem. It begins at the end, when the fourth-generation daughter gives birth to a son.
Rolvaag's powerful drama docuemnts the tremendous psychological impact of the vast Midwestern prairies on 19th century Scandinavian pioneer. He portrays the two grand themes of American history - the westward movement and immigration.
A lecture on genetic inheritance starts Faro Gaulden thinking..."How much freedom do we really have to change our lives? Do our genes predetermine our family stories, or are we able to create ourselves from our own unique set of circumstances?" The nature/nurture debate comes to the fore in Margaret Drabble's fictional exploration into her family's genealogy and her attempt to come to terms with her mother's and grandmother's unhappy histories in South Yorkshire, England.
In this intense portrait of her father, a poor illiterate black "Caribbean Everyman," Jamaica Kincaid observes that all human beings are "made up of the past." Driving a taxi on the island of Antigua, Mr. Potter is one link in a long chain of human beings who have suffered injustice, violence, and sorrow. He is a man who never asks for compassion, never gives any, and certainly never examines his own life.
For 12 years, Alex Haley pursued his maternal family history with only a few slender clues of oral history he had learned from his maternal grandmother. His journey eventually led him to Gambia in West Africa and finally to the publication of his research. Roots is the story of Haley's family - from his ancestor Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped into slavery in 1767, through the Civil War, and finally to freedom. Roots was acclaimed by the New York Times as "a gripping tale of individuals whose stories have become an emblematic historical saga."
Toni Morrison's lyrical prose takes the reader into a magical world peopled by four generations of an African-American family with the very unusual surname "Dead." Milkman Dead unravels the mysterious and emotional riches of the family's roots with great depth and humor.
In the spring of 1914, renowned photographer August Sander took a photograph of three young men on their way to a country dance. This haunting image, capturing the last moments of innocence on the brink of World War I, provides the central focus of Powers's brilliant and compelling novel. As the fate of the three farmers is chronicled, two contemporary stories unfold. The young narrator becomes obsessed with the photo, while Peter Mays, a computer writer in Boston, discovers he has a personal link with it. The three stories connect in a surprising way and provide the reader with a mystery that spans a century of brutality and progress.
In Yellow Raft in Blue Water, a vivid picture of an American family emerges as three generations of women recount their lives - a Native American grandmorther, "Aunt" Ida, her daughter, Christina, and Christina's daughter, Rayona. Incidents are repeated, but with different perspectives, exposing bitter rifts and deep bonds. The result is a beautifully passionate novel.
