Book Review
Feb. 27th, 2022 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariCaul Baby
by Morgan Jerkins
Caul Baby centers around the women of two Harlem families. The Melancons are born with cauls which give them healing abilities. For three generations, they have sold pieces of their cauls to those willing and able to pay. Denise Danville's sister Laila sought a caul piece from the Melancons and was refused, with disastrous consequences. Denise's daughter Amara then becomes pregnant but hides the pregnancy and gives up her baby daughter, Hallow. Since Hallow is born with a caul, the Melancons adopt her, unbeknownst to Amara. Hallow grows up in the crumbling Melancon brownstone, raised to fuel and eventually take over the family business but also chafing at it. Amara becomes an assistant DA, harboring a desire to exact vengeance on the Melancons for their treatment of her aunt Laila.
Caul Baby is a very interesting, very meaningful, and very good book. The story is absorbing, the characters are compelling, and there are several layers of meaning and metaphor beautifully woven together. Jerkins' entire premise, that of Black women who literally cut pieces of themselves off to sell or give away in order to secure their place in the world, is a rich and hard-hitting metaphor. The way this practice plays out for the Melancons and the Danvilles also explores motherhood, gentrification, and how people relate to their communities.
by Morgan Jerkins
Caul Baby centers around the women of two Harlem families. The Melancons are born with cauls which give them healing abilities. For three generations, they have sold pieces of their cauls to those willing and able to pay. Denise Danville's sister Laila sought a caul piece from the Melancons and was refused, with disastrous consequences. Denise's daughter Amara then becomes pregnant but hides the pregnancy and gives up her baby daughter, Hallow. Since Hallow is born with a caul, the Melancons adopt her, unbeknownst to Amara. Hallow grows up in the crumbling Melancon brownstone, raised to fuel and eventually take over the family business but also chafing at it. Amara becomes an assistant DA, harboring a desire to exact vengeance on the Melancons for their treatment of her aunt Laila.
Caul Baby is a very interesting, very meaningful, and very good book. The story is absorbing, the characters are compelling, and there are several layers of meaning and metaphor beautifully woven together. Jerkins' entire premise, that of Black women who literally cut pieces of themselves off to sell or give away in order to secure their place in the world, is a rich and hard-hitting metaphor. The way this practice plays out for the Melancons and the Danvilles also explores motherhood, gentrification, and how people relate to their communities.
