JUMBO HILL - An Amazing Debut Fiction Novel (the next Toni Morrison?)

JUMBO HILL is by far the best book I've written and read. Make room between your Toni Morrison and Alice Walker novels. Please order your copy now on Amazon.com. Comes in hardcopy and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Eula’s skin was fair and her looks were beautiful. As a black woman in the 1930’s she hoped it would be enough to carry her from the drudgery of existing as a poor, Southern, colored woman. Upon meeting Badge, a fast speaking city man from Pittsburgh, PA, she believed she’d found everything she’d hoped for, or did she? Soon after marriage, Eula is blindsided by unexpected tragedy, the stifling oppression felt from mothering children, joblessness and her husband’s desire for a simple life, all of which lead her on a salacious journey of escape.

When Eula Ashby moved with her husband and three

small children into the house on Jumbo Hill in the bustling city of Pittsburgh, she was convinced her dream of being an upwardly mobile negro family would be realized, but when her husband loses his job at the steel mill and work in the coal mines is infrequent at best, Eula’s hope for an exciting urban life dwindles. Not only does her city-bred husband reveal his true country nature by turning their cramped backyard into a suburban farm, but he expects his beautiful, ambitious wife to embrace the life she rejected. When this hardship is combined with more children, the death of her mother and subsequent revelation about her paternity, she spirals from the conventionalism of devoted wife and mother and into the careless, lascivious realm of scandal.

As Eula abandons traditional norms set for women and selfishly travels down a road laden with alcohol, gambling, men and provocative gratification to numb the agony of her predictable life, her neglected children and husband struggle to hold their crumbling household together and maintain their love for her.

'WHITNEY' Lifetime Movie - Why'd you do it Angela Bassett?

I, like so many other Whitney Houston fans, could not wait to watch the Lifetime movie 'Whitney.' The fact that it was directed by her former Waiting to Exhale cast member and friend Angela Bassett made it even better. This was destined to be good, but unfortunately it immediately wasn't. The movie begins with Whitney Houston meeting Bobby Brown at the Grammy's and I learned soon enough that the movie's premise was more about their relationship and who Bobby Brown was during this period than about Whitney and her life or accomplishments. According to this movie Whitney was more of a coke whore who loved parties, lascivious sex and had commitment issues. The movie made sure to shine a light on the rumored lesbian relationship she had and made it a point to highlight she did not write her own music. Bobby, on the other hand, refused Whitney's drug offers, preferring his beer, was a dedicated father, and was literally at Whitney's beck and call. The actor cast to play him also looked like a Kappa whereas the actor/model chosen to play Whitney looked disheveled in most scenes. How did that happen?

Frankly, I was appalled and disappointed by this horrible depiction of Whitney Houston. We already know about the failure that she and Bobby ultimately became. Did we really need to know Bobby's version of it? If so, do a movie about him and call it by his name. Did you need to call it Whitney so we'd watch? And let's just say that Whitney was wild and liked to party. She worked hard to keep all of that under wraps and never had her name blasted in the media until her debacle of a marriage with Bobby. Why work to further besmudge a dead woman's name? Her impeccable reputation was already damaged but we as fans want to move on and look back in retrospect to the woman we fell in love with. The beautiful black woman with that amazing, infectious smile who sang perfect notes and made little black girls like me believe we could be just like her one day. We too could model in magazines or sing on tv or act in movies. And whoever Whitney might have been behind closed doors, she carried herself with nothing but class in public. Thank you though for the scene of her dry humping Bobby in the club and getting her neck licked like it was a dripping ice cream cone. How could you make this movie with the slant you took Angela? For shame.