Kinfolks (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Does reading a book in a moving car make you nauseous? I happen to be one of the lucky few who don't suffer from motion sickness. Shortly after I began working at Ballantine's One World, I took a week off for a road trip from New York City to Montana, to visit my sister, and brought along Kristin Lattany's KINFOLKS for some vacation reading. As we drove, I read this engaging novel, and came to especially appreciate the way each character is forced to re-evaluate and affirm an understanding of what it means to be part of a family. Is your best friend family? What about a sister with whom you often fight? The estranged father of your child? Is it the people you love? The ones you live with? In KINFOLKS, we as readers grapple with these questions as we watch Patrice and Cherry struggle (with wit, humor, and heart) also.

Whether they are raucously remembering the chants and songs of their radical past (in the novel's vivid first chapter) or embarking together on a quest to find Gene Green's other children (in an effort to construct a version of the historical black family book), Patrice and Cherry have the conversations and beliefs of people you know. Their dialogue is rich with a shared background, irritations at each other's differences, and the funny sweet lingo of best friends or even sisters. As I covered long hot Midwest miles on our road trip, KINFOLKS highlighted for me this kind of sister/best friend relationship, making me appreciate the love, laughter and ultimate trust that my sister and I share--not to mention my ability to read on the road!

Excerpts from reviews of Kristin Hunter Lattany's Kinfolks

"While exploring all of the comic possibilities of her story, Kristin
Hunter Lattany also raises some serious questions about family, parenting,
sexual freedom and responsibility, and African American values and
priorities. She reminds us that a family--mother and father, brothers and
sisters--has many sides, many hearts, and the brilliant capacity to
persevere through any storm."

--Carolina Times
"Heartwarming, with vivid characters (especially among the children)."

--Kirkus Reviews
"Lattany succeeds in enticing the reader into the miasma and holds us
there in an often mesmerizing vise."

--Rapport
"...she juggles several characters in chapters named exclusively for them,
chapters through which each can stretch their thoughts. The voices and
movements of these characters are so distinctive that you don't even have
to look at the top of the page for clarification as to whom you are
listening or watching."

--Savannah Herald