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The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter
The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter: A Novel | Kia Corthron
15 posts | 7 read | 22 to read
The hotly anticipated first novel by lauded playwright and The Wire TV writer Kia Corthron, The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter sweeps American history from 1941 to the twenty-first century through the lives of four men--two white brothers from rural Alabama, and two black brothers from small-town Maryland--whose journey culminates in an explosive and devastating encounter between the two families. On the eve of America's entry into World War II, in a tiny Alabama town, two brothers come of age in the shadow of the local chapter of the Klan, where Randall--a brilliant eighth-grader and the son of a sawmill worker--begins teaching sign language to his eighteen-year-old deaf and uneducated brother B.J. Simultaneously, in small-town Maryland, the sons of a Pullman Porter--gifted six-year-old Eliot and his artistic twelve-year-old brother Dwight--grow up navigating a world expanded both by a visit from civil and labor rights activist A. Philip Randolph and by the legacy of a lynched great-aunt. The four mature into men, directly confronting the fierce resistance to the early civil rights movement, and are all ultimately uprooted. Corthron's ear for dialogue, honed from years of theater work, brings to life all the major concerns and movements of America's past century through the organic growth of her marginalized characters, and embraces a quiet beauty in their everyday existences. Sharing a cultural and literary heritage with the work of Toni Morrison, Alex Haley, and Edward P. Jones, Kia Corthron's The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter is a monumental epic deftly bridging the political and the poetic, and wrought by one of America's most recently recognized treasures. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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BrownGirlReading
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Bailedbailed

Sadly this was the most disappointing read. I had very high hopes for this book, but I had to DNF. The writing was terrible. It was very hard to follow I was having to re-read passages and that combined with the very strange dialect she was writing just down work for me. I quit once I reached page 330. The book is over 700 pages so much too long with such poor writing. This book needed to be severely edited!I don‘t recommend it!🙅🏾‍♀️

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shawnmooney
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Bailedbailed

There was quite a bit that I liked about the 40% of this that I managed to get through, but what did me in was the tough, unrelenting slog of the vernacular prose, unrelieved by even a smidgeon of easy-to-read quote-unquote ‘standard English‘ exposition or 3rd-person narration. So, in the end, just no.

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JulAnna
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Pickpick

Wow. Just Wow. My advice is to take the time to read this book (it is a long book). The plot deals with 2 sets of brothers, one white, one black, and covers a long time period from the 1940s to 2010. The author includes detail (maybe too much sometimes) about secondary characters but she also makes you care about the characters a lot. This will stick with me for a while.

35 likes6 stack adds
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JulAnna
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Destructive puppy 🐶, really big book 📚 😊

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JulAnna
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Book mail! 😊

36 likes1 stack add
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LauraBeth
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It is not even 8:30 a.m. where I'm at and @shawnmooney already has me adding books to my TBR - stop it! 😂 https://youtu.be/gbxiEnNBvFE

shawnmooney 👍👍👍 I aim to please! 7y
emilyhaldi 😂 7y
Cinfhen Same! I added this one & 7y
See All 12 Comments
Cinfhen But it was 3:30pm where I am 😘😘😘 (edited) 7y
LauraBeth @Cinfhen 😂💕 I've had Forty Rooms on the TBR pile since it came out - I need to get to it! 7y
LauraBeth @emilyhaldi I need to set a personal goal for myself to not add any books to my TBR before noon 😂 7y
LauraBeth @shawnmooney that's what @LeahBergen said! 😂 7y
LeahBergen @LauraBeth Bahahaha!! 😂😂 7y
LauraBrook Hahaha! Love it! I want to watch his channel but am afraid for my TBR and wallet. 😲 Hey, you're in northern GA, right? My friend and her husband will be in the Dalonega area for a wedding this weekend (it's at a vineyard - I want to Kaya or Kava?) and the last they heard was that the place didn't have power yet. Do you know what the recovery is like? Assuming you know what I'm talking about, of course. ☺️Thank you in advance! 7y
LauraBeth @LauraBrook Dahlonega is about an hour from me but my friend's sister lives near there and she was telling me that the area did get hit particularly hard with power outrages - I just called Kaya - they ARE open and fully operational. They said they had been closed Mon-Wed due to the storm but they're in good shape now! So tell your friend not to worry! And Kaya is very lovely 😀 7y
LauraBrook @LauraBeth Thank you SOOO MUCH for this! Annie and her husband really appreciate it, as do I! They weren't sure if they should pack stuff to deal w/o electricity or not and weren't able to get ahold of them on the phone yesterday. You are the bestest, my Litsy sis! 💖💖💖 7y
LauraBeth Anything for you @LauraBrook 😘 7y
87 likes12 comments
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My_novel_obsession
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Look what the Easter Bunny brought 🤗🐰

LeahBergen 👏🏻👏🏻 8y
Texreader Happy Easter! 🐣🐇🐰 8y
shawnmooney I've had the Corthron doorstopper for several months. It is so intimidatingly huge! Let me know when you start reading it; I may decide to buddy read it with ya! 😍 8y
My_novel_obsession @shawnmooney I plan on tackling this one in May after I return from my daughters wedding so starting the week of May 8th. Let me know if that works for you - I'd love to do a buddy read - it would help with this monster 📚 8y
shawnmooney Great! Unfortunately, I just won't be able to get to it that soon. Look forward to your posts about it, though! 8y
44 likes5 comments
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Suzze
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My bookshelf overflow was out of control, with piles all over the living room. So....I decided to use my stairs. I'm just worried they'll eventually end up going all the way up.

shawnmooney Love it - wish I had stairs! 8y
shawnmooney Oh and have you read that doorstopper of a novel? The Corthron? 8y
kspenmoll Great thinking! My stairs too narrow! 8y
See All 21 Comments
DeborahSmall Great! My stairs too narrow x 8y
Suzze @shawnmooney Not yet. I haven't read any of these. All my books are unread. I donate my read books. That's why this is so crazy! 8y
Kshakal That is so clever!! 8y
8little_paws That looks cute! 8y
Reviewsbylola Books will eventually drown us all. 😂😂 (edited) 8y
Suzze @Reviewsbylola I do believe that. 8y
Lmstraubie Just think of it as starting the new stair bookshelf trend 😉📚📚📚 8y
Zelma I always though a shelf just below the crown molding running through the house would be the perfect way to shelve more books. 8y
Suzze @Zelma I like the way you think! 8y
Zelma @Suzze thanks! I am super clumsy and have already broken my ankle stepping off a street curb. I get twitchy with clutter that I could injure myself on. 😉 8y
Suzze @Zelma I broke my ankle exactly one year ago stepping over the threshold at a friend's house. Needed surgery, plates and pins and was in a rehab place for two months! Wish Litsy had been around then, it would have made my stay easier. (edited) 8y
Hooked_on_books I would think you'd be *hopeful* that they'll eventually go all the way up. 😉 8y
Suzze @Hooked_on_books No! I must read them! I own over 800 books that I haven't read yet! 8y
Hooked_on_books @Suzze I have over a thousand. Hopefully that makes you feel better. 😬 My name is Holly and I am a book addict. 8y
Suzze @Hooked_on_books It makes me think we should compare books and be reading buddies. 😁😁 8y
Amandajoy @Suzze @Hooked_on_books I bow down at your awesomeness. I only have about 250 sitting around unread! 8y
Suzze @Amandajoy Better start catching up! 🤣🤣 8y
Clare-Dragonfly I love it! Efficient storage and great decor. 8y
114 likes21 comments
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Buddys_Momma
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Pickpick

With so many notable books out this year, many great reads inevitably fell through the cracks. This is one of those books, in my opinion. This story of 2 pairs of brothers--one black, the other white-and how their lives tragically intersect is outstanding. The Civil Rights movement and other pivotal historic events provide the backdrop for this book. An emotional read for sure but an important one and one that I strongly recommend. #2016reads

booksbythecup Thanks for sharing. I'm going to definitely add this to my list for next year's reading 8y
Buddys_Momma @r3ad3rsan0nym0us You're welcome--I hope you enjoy it! 8y
11 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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decaturmamaof2
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This book is slaying me so hard... It's so good and totally devastating.

2 likes1 stack add
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decaturmamaof2
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Starting this with great anticipation!

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Suzze
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Book mail! Three books I am extremely excited to read!

LeahBergen All 3 are on my "to buy" list!! 8y
Betty A deaf brother?! That grabbed my interest until I saw it is 800 pages Eight Hundred ?!?!? 8y
Betty PS someone here said tiny print. I'll wait for the t.v. series 📺 8y
Suzze @Betty I don't think the print is tiny. And I read 800 page Stephen King books, so I'm looking forward to digging into this. 8y
Suzze @LeahBergen They had been on mine for awhile too. I took advantage of the Barnes & Noble coupon for 15% off $40. 8y
54 likes5 comments
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shawnmooney
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BOOKMAIL! At 800 pages, this book is so heavy I'll need a table in order to read it. And tiny print, too!

OSChamberlain Looks beautiful! 8y
BookishMarginalia The cover design is freaking me out. 8y
ImaginativeMom Holy smokes, I can't wait to read your review of that one. Looks like it could be amazing! 8y
shawnmooney @ImaginativeMom I am intimidated by the girth and tiny print, yet dying to dive in! 8y
37 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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shawnmooney
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BookishFeminist This sounds great! 8y
MyBookLife @BookishFeminist I agree, it sounds great!! 8y
24 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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tkmadden
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lil Poe serving as my bookmark today. Thanks @kaitlyn !

PurityofEssence Poe looks grumpy to be there lol. There needs to be a company that makes bookmarks like that one, where each bookmark depicts a different writer at their grumpiest. I wanna see a grumpy @tkmadden! 🤘😏🤘 8y
25 likes1 comment