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    The Good Braider
    The Good Braider
    The Good Braider
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Good Braider

    Written by Terry Farish

    Narrated by Cherise Boothe

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Good Braider was selected as the 2013 Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year and a book of Outstanding Merit. In spare free verse laced with unforgettable images, Viola's strikingly original voice sings out the story of her family's journey from war-torn Sudan, to Cairo, and finally to Portland, Maine. Here, in the sometimes too close embrace of the local Southern Sudanese Community, she dreams of South Sudan while she tries to navigate the strange world of America - a world where a girl can wear a short skirt, get a tattoo or even date a boy; a world that puts her into sharp conflict with her traditional mother who, like Viola, is struggling to braid together the strands of a displaced life. Terry Farish's haunting novel is not only a riveting story of escape and survival, but the universal tale of a young immigrant's struggle to build a life on the cusp of two cultures.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateDec 6, 2013
    ISBN9781470383237
    The Good Braider
    Author

    Terry Farish

    TERRY FARISH is the author of The Good Braider (YALSA and SLJ Best Book for Young Adults), Either the Beginning or the End of the World (Maine Literary Award) and A Feast for Joseph (with OD Bonny and illustrated by Ken Daley). She lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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    Reviews for The Good Braider

    4.5/5

    7 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Viola's family is from Juba. Arab soldiers from the north are trying to force the Christian blacks from the south to convert. Revolutionaries from the South are fighting back, and normal life is destroyed. Viola's family decides to escape. The book is divided into three parts of Viola's life: Sudan, Egypt and Portland, Maine, as she tries to find a place for herself away from what her family knows.
    • 4/5
      Engaging narrator, hopeful story on spite of atrocities committed against her. Nice blending of the old world and new, with all the culture shocks and traumas one would expect.
    • 4/5
      Violet is a young woman growing up in the southern part of Sudan, a part of the world that is currently at war. This book chronicles her experiences there and her eventual move to Portland, Maine. A good overview of the current immigrant experience, I think this will be especially relevant to Maine students as they seek to understand their peers in the oldest and one of the whitest states in the nation.
    • 5/5
      Farish, Terry. The Good Braider: A Novel. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish.Characters: Viola; Viola’s mother; Habuba (Viola’s grandmother; Andrew (Viola’s love interest in America); members of the Sudanese community in Portland, Maine Setting: war-torn Sudan (1999); Cairo, Egypt (1999-2002); Portland, Maine (2002-2003)Theme: immigration experience; trauma; cultural identity/traditions; community; family relationships; refugee life; warGenre: YA realistic fiction/poetry; YA historical fiction (middle school)Golden Quote: “In my imagination I put my fingers over my mother’s. Together, our fingers fly over the lady’s hair and we make a pattern, beginning at her crown and moving down the back of her dainty head. I am twisting the hair over and under. The rhythm is natural in my fingers, and I remember Kiden-my little cousin-and how she liked me to do her hair and then she’s lean in and flicker her eyelashes into mine. My finger fly.”Summary: Follows Viola as she survives brutality in war-torn Sudan, makes a perilous journey, lives as a refugee in Egypt and finally reaches Portland, Maine, where her quest for freedom and security is hampered by memories of past horrors and the traditions her mother and other Sudanese adults hold dear. Includes historical facts and map of Sudan.Audience: Age range- 13 and up; Grade level- 8th and upCurriculum ties: language arts- discuss and write about the immigrant experience and how people are affected by war; history- recount the events of war (war in Darfur) and ask essential questions such as: what was the causes of conflict?, how did people react and why?, why did people leave their homeland for a better life somewhere else?; social science- what is life like for refugees?, where do refugees go/decide to live when they have been displace?, how do people adapt to their new life and experiences?, how does cultural and social identity affect who we are as humans? Awards: American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, 2013Personal response: Ever since I was an undergraduate student in anthropology, I have always made a point to be in tune with the traditions and social norms of other cultures other than my own. Throughout my studies, I have always tried to put my best foot forward in attempting to understand the varying perspectives of others, even extremists, however the war in Sudan and the atrocities the Sudanese people have endured have baffled me in so many ways. Even to this day, I still cannot fathom how one group of people would want to eradicate another group to the point of genocide. Perhaps, that was why I was drawn to this novel and the story of Viola. Written in short free verse chapters, The Good Braider is a heartbreaking, yet at the same time, hopeful account of a Sudanese refugee who escapes the horror of war to seek a better life in America. As Viola comes to terms with leaving her homeland (and her beloved grandmother), she finds out who she really is in the process- a beautiful and strong American teenager with Sudanese roots. It is quite evident the book was well researched in order to capture the heart and spirit of the Sudanese people and Farish’s literary style is a fresh and innovative way to convey Viola’s experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 5/5
      Viola is a teenager living in warn-torn South Sudan with her grandmother, mother and younger brother, Francis. When the danger and desperation become too much to bear, they leave their small town of Juba and escape to Cairo, where they finally gain refugee status and come to the US, and the town of Portland, Maine. However, once in the US, Viola finds it difficult to keep her identity straight. The Good Braider tells the story of Viola's transition to a new life, and the struggles and sorrows that go hand-in-hand with that change.This book was written in free verse, and I have to say that the short phrases, the emphasis on portions of the sentences, really worked well to convey Viola's voice and feelings. You get to see through her eyes as things become too much for her to bear in Sudan; you get to experience what it's like to be a refugee traveling to a camp, and then on a boat to Egypt, and a bus to Cairo. You get to see her and her mother's struggles to gain refugee status and be permitted to come to the US, and the differences in cultures and the ways they had to adapt and change. Viola was a very well-drawn character with such a unique voice and spirit; even when she's at her lowest, there was just something about her that didn't allow her to give up. She has very real flaws, mostly dealing with the fact that she had to leave her grandmother behind in Sudan, and also something traumatic that happened to her. She and her mother face so many difficulties, but both are wonderfully strong women who never give up.I do want to warn that this book contains a rape scene; it's not graphic so much in terms of the way it's written about, but the words she uses when she's flashing back and thinking about it are quite descriptive and could trigger someone who experienced something similar. While the initial scene isn't long, it's referenced several times throughout the story, so I just want to give a heads-up if that's something that you might struggle with.There were portions of this book that were so moving I was almost in tears; Viola's struggles to adjust to the US, to try to become more American, to try to get out from under the sometimes suffocating presence of the Sudanese community in Maine, were so well written that I was just completely empathetic to Viola's plight. Like most children of immigrants, she has an easier time of it than her mother, who wants to continue to raise Viola the Sudanese way, not realizing that what she could do in Sudan is not tolerated in the US in terms of punishment or even lifestyle. There was one particular section that was quite painful to read, but I don't want to expand on my thoughts in order to avoid spoilers. You'll know what I'm talking about if you read the book.Throughout it all, you get to see pieces of the Sudanese culture, particularly when it comes to the way the women braid each other's hair. Viola learned from her mother to braid, but the journey from Juba to the US leaves her with a bit of a bitterness toward it, and she refuses to braid anyone's hair, least of all her own. As the book progresses you see her continued struggle with the idea of braiding, and you see her work out where she stands and how she feels, until it comes to its natural progression. The mentions of the braiding were particularly strong; it's such a part of her, but she's so traumatized - even if she doesn't know it - that she refuses to let her gift live inside her.The Good Braider is an extremely powerful look at what it's like to journey from one life to another, and the challenges and hardships that leaving your life behind entails. There are some very disturbing parts to this book - I would rate it as upper YA - but the strength of Viola's character is so wonderful that I can't help but recommend it.The Good Braider will be released in North America on May 1st, 2012. Definitely check it out.An e-galley was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      The best books are not only those that transport you to a far, far away alternate universe. Although I love those books very much, every now and then I have to be reminded of the ones that keep you grounded enough to thank whatever entity you believe in that you haven’t had to go through what others go through in this world. The best books will always remain, at least for me, those that make you FEEL, THINK and WONDER. Not only while you are reading but hours, days, months later. Great books embed themselves into your DNA.This is that kind of book. I signed up for Netgalley and this was the first book I requested and received. I saw the cover and title and had to read the description. I read the description and knew I would like this story. I read the story and walked away in love. I cannot begin to describe how much I felt this book mine, knowing fully well that it couldn’t be because I’m 34 and no I haven’t had to live with a war right outside my front door. Yet I could still relate and many parts of this book could be my story. Perhaps it’s because some of my ancestors are from Africa. “For this moment, let’s be free, I say to them. They could not know the dance of the journey I am just beginning, but they dance with me always.”Perhaps it’s because when my mind wanders it too sways to the beat of drums and they too beat “Be Free”. Perhaps it’s because I know what it’s like to live in the United States and your elders desperately want to hold on to their history, culture and traditions while raising you in a very different world because “no one in America is from America” yet are. This entire book is written in free verse, a poem if you will. It flows and you are instantly transported to Sudan where you meet Viola, her mother, brother and grandmother. You walk the streets as she does in constant fear until she escapes her town and then follow her to the United States as a refugee. This book was written by a WHITE woman, Terry Farish, who became a part of the Sudanese community in Maine in order to give Viola the most accurate/beautiful voice I have read to date. She did her research and did it incredibly well. As I mentioned before a great book is one that will stay with you and it has been a month since I’ve read this book and stuck with me it has. As I also mentioned a great book will have you thinking and so this one has. One thought is this…Not too long ago we were raving about The Hunger Games movie and the trilogy. We continue to rave about dystopian novels similar to The Hunger Games. What we fail to recognize is that there are people in present day living these dystopian novels only hours away. Although Viola’s story is “fictional” it is very much real and we should make sure our children know this. With that said I’m gifting this book to every member in my family.