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Title: The Worthy Ones by Charlie L., Jr. Russell, Marvin McMillian ISBN: 0-932693-11-3 Publisher: Jukebox Pr Pub. Date: August, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (6 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: Poetic, Lyrical and Intriguing
Comment: Filled with lyrical prose, metaphors, similes, pen and ink illustrations and unforgettable adages you heard from your elders, Charlie L. Russell describes the life of the members in the community of the Quarters in rural Louisiana in The Worthy Ones. They work, play baseball, dance at The Say When, celebrate Juneteenth, worship at Mount Calvary Baptist Church and fall in love. When they have the misfortune of encountering a white person or run into the racist sheriff, they are stripped of their manhood/womanhood, as they have to bite their tongues and bow down while the "superior" ones degrade them.

The Pettiway and Johnson families are pillars of the community. Their children, James Pettiway and Mattie Johnson, play a cat and mouse game with love. When Mattie becomes pregnant they have to marry. They continue to reside in the community until James becomes fed up with the racism and its ramifications. His friend, St. Elmo, makes plans to flee the prejudice in the South and find work in the shipyards in California. James sees this plan as a way of making a new start and leaves with him for California,

Once Mattie and the children are on the train traveling to California to become reunited with James, the book takes a strange turn. On one page we read Mattie and the boys are on a train in St. Louis heading west. The next chapter starts in slavery times and proceeds though post Civil War. The Pettiway's family tree is presented from Caesar to Aaron Pettiway. While there were interesting historical facts about the Negro soldiers leading the fight at Port Hudson, I could not understand why the drastic change in the storyline, and why at this point in the book. Otherwise, while not much action, it was a good read about the residents of the Quarters and their day to day survival in a world that was against them.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

Rating: 5
Summary: A Worthy Read
Comment: This book was a great look back in time focusing on the hardships of African American families in the south, while remaining poetic and entertaining. You take a step back to Lena Horne movies and live performances from Muddy Waters singing Hoochie Coochie Man and Louis Armstrong doing West End Blues to slavery and the Civil War. The Worthy Ones is a touching, humorous novel filled with rich characters. The folklore, music and language make this an American classic. This is history filled with passion, hardship and triumph making The Worthy Ones a worthy read.

Rating: 3
Summary: Origin of Love
Comment: Russell goes back to 1928 to tell a story of the origin of love between Mattie Johnson and James Pettaway as they fashion their lives to get through the oppression of being black. Although no particular event marked a drawn out scenario, several examples of racism were exemplified. A breaking point was finally reached for many people of the black community that caused them to move away from the south.

The novel basically focused on 'normal everyday' events while smoothing several rhymes allegorically told by Mordecai, to assuage the spirits of many.

Russell evens takes the storyline back to the early 1860's to tie the relationship of the Pettaway family to the historical event, "The Assault on Port Hudson". Caesar Pettaway, James's grandfather, participated in that battle and realized although he and other blacks were fighting for the union, respect, fairness, and confidence remained undeserving in the white man's eye.

Although this story was told with a flow unswerved, a grand denouement was never met. However, the novel can be appreciated for its historical details.