Somebody Else’s Mama

Author's Bio:

David Haynes is the author of several novels, including All American Dream Dolls, Somebody Else's Mama, Live at Five, and most recently, The Full Matilda. He teaches in the creative writing programs at Southern Methodist University and Warren Wilson College. He has worked as a classroom teacher and as a teacher-in-residence for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. His short stories have been published in journals and anthologies, and two were read and recorded for National Public Radio’s "Selected Shorts." Granta magazine selected him as one of America’s best young novelists in 1996.

Quotes:

"Somebody Else's Mama is a sensitive and textured look at the complexities of black middle-class family life, both its rewards and its neuroses. One can detect the influences of the black middle-class novel of the Harlem Renaissance, but Somebody Else's Mama is never derivative, even as it acknowledges its tradition. This novel is richly evocative and enjoyable to read." —Gerald Early, author of Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood

"I'm very glad I took the time to read this extraordinary, rich, and beautifully written novel. While reading Somebody Else's Mama, I kept wishing it was somebody else's novel—mine."—Reginald McKnight, author of The Kind of Light that Shines on Texas

“Marvelously affective, warm and searching. . . . Interior monologues alternate with dialogue that sings off the page in this engrossing, endearing reach to the front line of middle age.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Miss Keeze has the old-time strength of Eudora Welty's Phoenix Jackson and the sharp-tongued wit of one of Tina McElroy Ansa's modern-day matriarchs. It is her voice, demonstrating Mr. Haynes's flawless ear, that makes his novel come to life.” —New York Times Book Review

“David Haynes's novel, Somebody Else's Mama, . . . offers an example of a book that succeeds in being, to borrow from the commercials for the U.S. Army, just about all that it can be.” —Two Cities