I just put down The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis and I am so overwhelmed with emotion.
I just want to put on a hoodie and brood for a while over this book
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an amazing fictionalized memoir of the Shepard family, with Hattie as the matriarch. It also happens to be the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 pick, and it’s outstanding.
Hattie is a woman with many children and a not-so-wonderful husband, August. Each chapter is told by one of Hattie’s children. Through their individual stories, the reader learns about Hattie and August, the individual child (as he/she grows into adulthood, etc), and how everything fits together as a whole.
Each person in the Shepard family experiences the same feeling of being alone, being separated for some reason, but they have a common thread of having Hattie as a mother.
Mathis takes you on this family journey from Six Shepard who is overcome by fits of religion and anger and takes to preaching, to Bell who does something horrible to her mother Hattie and feels like it’s her time to die, to Hattie’s own experiences in the south as compared to the north.
Check out this short video on the evolution of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, where Ayana Mathis shows where she wrote most of the novel, as well as a little clip of her from the Oprah show.
And as a little teaser, tomorrow my post will be all about hearing Ayana Mathis talk at the Brookline Booksmith!!!!!
What do you think of Oprah’s picks?
Thanks for reading,
I will definitely get to this book at some point.
I think it’s become fashionable to slam Oprah and her book picks. I don’t understand why. She did a wonderful thing, encouraging reading and literacy. AND I’ve rarely been disappointed by any of her picks. So I’m a fan of what she’s done for the world of books
It’s fashionable to slam anything that is too popular. Oprah is a successful woman who has high morals. I’m not some huge Oprah fan or anything, I’ve rarely watched her show. But she’s a positive role model and smart!
I have only been disappointed by a small number of her choices, like less than 5 out of however many I have read.
This one is a really great choice, too. It’s not a “good” choice, it’s a GREAT one. I’m pretty obsessed with the book at the moment.
I agree with Jennifer – people love to slam Oprah. I’m a fan of hers and each month I devour her magazine. As for her book picks, I tend to not read them – but only because they never really interest me. However, this book was an exception – it wowed me! I loved Tribes and consider it one of my new favorite reads! I’m excited to read your post tomorrow! Great review!! By the by, I love that gif at the beginning
Yay to the whole post you wrote!!!
I don’t follow Oprah that way with her mag or watch her show, but I love her book choices as a whole.
As I responded to Jennifer, people can bash all they want, but Oprah has done amazing things. She’s a savvy, successful, intelligent woman. And on a whole, her books for the Book Club are chosen well. Yes, there were a few I haven’t enjoyed, but as a whole, they rock!
Great review, Rebecca! Can’t wait to hear about how you met Ayana Mathis.
You’ll have to wait until tomorrow!
But tonight I get to see Jodi Picoult! It’s been a whirlwind of a week!
I didn’t get a chance to go see Karen Russell though. . . Boo.
I love the sound of a book where you get to hear from each person from their own perspective, it sounds quite complex in that way but the characters must be developed a great deal. Just from your review I can see why you wanted to attend that event.
The characters were incredibly well-developed! This book was fabulous, and I can’t stop thinking about it. On top of that, Ayana Mathis seems so down to Earth and relatable.
Tribes sounds fantastic! Looking forward to hearing about Ayana Mathis tomorrow.
It is! Pick it up soon!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!!!
Thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts on this book Rebecca. I have read good and not so good books that Oprah has recommended, but I highly respect her and will certainly put The Twelve Tribes of Hattie on my “to read” list.
This would also be a great book club book because I think there is so much you can discuss, about the great migration from the South to the North, about the struggles each person in the family goes through. . . Oprah made a great pick with this one!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it so much! It’s always better when you like the book of the author you see and vice versa – and you had both!
Yes! You did too with Brad Meltzer!
Thanks for telling me about this book. I will definitely try to get ahold of it! It is hard to get info on books here and you make this sound so interesting! I enjoy your blog!
Thank you!!!!
The book really was great, I almost wish I could erase my mind and reread it freshly! Enjoy Japan!
So glad to have found you, as I am always looking to hear about a good book to read — or to find an outlet for talking about the books that I’ve really enjoyed! I tried to read this book, but there was a glitch in my kindle version and it kept skipping to the last chapter at page 5 or 6. They are trying to fix it so for now I’m waiting … I did read Oprah’s first 2.0 selection Wild and I loved being able to see the video clips and photos etc on her site. After reading your post, I hope I can get a working version soon!
Hopefully this can be a place where you can not only find new books but talk about them! That’s one of my favorite things to do! Talk. . . and to do it about books, even better!
I haven’t read Wild yet, but I have read a lot of the Oprah Book Club (prior to the 2.0) picks and enjoyed the majority of them. She makes some great choices!
I don’t follow Oprah but I love your picks. This sounds like a story I would love to read. But my speed of reading is very slow. Will have to revisit this post again when I’m done with the existing ones.
This might be perfect for that! I felt like each chapter could have been a stand-alone short story, but all together they make a novel. It’d be a good one you could pick up and put down. . . if you could put it down!
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I told you I didn’t know the author, but the book sounds great.
I’m sure it’s not in Spanish yet because it’s new here in America, but it is one to try to get if it comes out. The book is Ayana’s first, and Oprah chose it for her pick for her book club, which usually is a good sign, and then of course I read it and LOVED it, so I think that should be a good sign, too!!!
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I’m happy to have read your review. This has been teetering on the edge of my TBR shelf for some time. I now know that I need to secure it firmly so it doesn’t fall of, and give it a prominent position on said shelf to make it accessible because I’d like to read it soon.
Yes! And Ayana Mathis was just such a great person to meet, it makes me love her book even more!
Interestingly enough, my mom listened to the book on CD, and accidentally had it on shuffle. She didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, but I wonder if it had to do with the out of order way she read the novel!