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Review
Erudition, as
we know, means learned, or to achieve profound scholarly knowledge. What is learned and by whom is the story of
Grace, a teenager maturing with her mind and hormones creating her coming of
age like a nuclear reactor without containment rods. Her mother, Veronica, an English professor
trying her best to raise her daughter after the loss of her husband, has an
incredible task on her hands.
Jocelyn
Crawley has a uniquely polished ability of using distinctive and creative
adjectives in her writing that took me back at times, making me think just how
powerful her words used represent her thoughts.
As many authors may “write down” to the common denominator of the
anticipated audience, Jocelyn Crawley writes to the best of her ability each
sentence, allowing her readers to catch up if necessary to her train of
thought. This brings a stimulating and
exhilarating reading experience to her work, and makes Erudition stand out with candor and honesty beyond many other
literary works.
There is a moment in a mother’s life
when her daughter says to her, “Mom, I hate you!”
Because of
the turmoil and conflict of the mother-daughter relationship, Jocelyn Crawley
writes razor sharp dialog with italic thoughts in a fashion as combative as a
Ninja Warrior taking out an enemy. Her
chapters begin with a few sentences setting the scene, a description of the
weather or season for example, then peel away right into the dueling minds and
tempers of her character’s relationship.
In this regard the book made me think of a prize fight, with each
chapter separation being the bell, a break, and once again back into the center
of the ring. An incredibly intellectual
bout of passion and persuasion progressing towards a profound erudition. Where Jocelyn Crawley draws her incredible
sensitivity of character development is beyond imaginable, and can only be by
some creative genius of empathic cognitive observation, or perhaps direct
experience. One wonders.
This is a thought provoking book which covers issues of racism, sexism, sociocultural issues and how these issues can affect people's lives. It took me awhile to figure out the symbolism of the cover, three candles positioned with two below and one higher up. It's obvious to me now the candles symbolize a memorial, to Grace's deceased father, and the two of them now must find their way to live their lives together. I wonder if the two candles represent the union of the parents conceiving Grace, the higher candle, or if the dad is the higher candle, up in heaven, and the two burning below are Grace and Veronica. I'll let you figure that one out.
Buy this book at Amazon.com
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