Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor

 

Hello my lovely readers!

Fences...even at the university: big, stone fences--and why? The gates are open, so it's not to keep anybody out or in. Why fences? To get you used to the idea that what they have in there is different, special. Something to be separated from the rest of the world.

So I picked up this book when I was exploring my downtown. I've been trying to find a good used bookstore, but I've really had no luck so far. The bookstores here either don't have a good selection of used books or they just don't have them at all. Le sigh.

I did manage to find Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor (along with Vigilance) so it wasn't a completely wasted trip! Let's get into it. 

SUMMARY

Linden Hills is home to affluent black families. It's the ultimate indicator of "making it," with its showcase homes, elegant lawns and other trappings of wealth. However, those who strive to get in, don't even know what the qualifications are, only that they want to be among the elite.

But once they do get to Linden Hills, the quest continues as the ultimate goal is to get a house on Tupelo Drive. It's the epitome of achievement of visible success. However, getting a house on Tupelo Drive or in Linden Hills will make its residents realize that with the American dream: everything that glitters is not gold. In fact, the price of success may very well be a journey down to the lowest circle of Hell.

MY THOUGHTS

This book was incredibly interesting! I really loved seeing how Naylor structured her novel off of  Dante's Inferno through Linden Hills and how  Willie and Lester (read Dante and Virgil) navigate each level of their neighborhood as they get closer and closer to the level of Hell. 

It's funny because this "Hell" is what's desired most by the people who want to live there. It's Tupelo Drive. The ending...my goodness that ending. I mean, it really signifies Hell. 

I had to sit with this book a while afterwards and now that I'm done with it, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it. This was my first time reading something by Naylor and it was a really well done, well written book. It also had so much social commentary and if there's anything that I love, it's reading social commentary from decades past (this book was written in 1985). Keeping this one on my shelf!