J. California Cooper
The folk flavor of her storytelling has earned herÂ Â constant comparison to Langston Hughes and ZoraÂ Â Neale Hurston, but through four collections ofÂ Â short stories and two novels, J. California CooperÂ Â has proven that hers is a wholly original talentÂ Â --one that embraces readers in an ever-wideningÂ Â circle from one book to the next. With ,InÂ Â Search Of Satisfaction,, CooperÂ Â gracefully portrays men and women, some good and othersÂ Â wickedly twisted, caught in their individualÂ Â thickets of want and need. On a once-grand plantationÂ Â in Yoville, "a legal town-ship founded by theÂ Â very rich for their own personal use," aÂ Â freed slave named Josephus fathers two daughters,Â Â Ruth and Yinyang, by two different women. HisÂ Â desire, to give Yinyang and himself money andÂ Â opportunities, oozes through the family like an elixir,Â Â melding with the equally strong yearnings ofÂ Â Yoville's other residents, whose tastes don'tÂ Â complement their neighbors'. What Josephus buries in hisÂ Â life affects generations to come. J. CaliforniaÂ Â Cooper's unfettered view of sin, forgiveness, andÂ Â redemption gives ,In Search OfÂ Â Satisfaction, a singular richness that belies itsÂ Â universal themes.
Fiction,Cultural,African American,Short Stories,Historical,Historical Fiction,Literature,Black Literature,Novels,Literature,American,Drama,Literature
In Search of Satisfaction