Reviewer Sandra Shwayder Sanchez: Sandra is
a retired attorney and co-founder of a small non-profit publishing
collective: The Wessex Collective with whom she has published two short fiction collections
(A Mile in These Shoes and Three Novellas) and one
novel, Stillbird.
Her most recent novel, The Secret of A Long Journey is soon to be released by Floricanto Press in April 2012 and her first novel, The Nun, originally published by Plain View Press in 1992 is being reissued in a 2nd Edition with additional material by PVP in March 2012.
Authors: Joseph Anderson & Judy Millspaugh Anderson, M.D
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1-4653-6764-8
Click Here To Purchase Kissing the Underbelly
Authors: Joseph Anderson & Judy Millspaugh Anderson, M.D
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1-4653-6764-8
Kissing the Underbelly is a brilliant book for many reasons and on many levels. To start with, the voice: sharp, witty and directly to the point. Every word counts and every word fits. The fact that the two co-authors maintained this excellent voice so consistently is noteworthy. They clearly work well together.
Second, this book nails it when describing the extremely timely issues of Wall Street greed and fraud, as well as the nuts and bolts of survival on next to no income. All those books about how to live on a low income during these difficult times? Forget about them! Buy this one instead. It is a real two-for the-price-of-one bargain because you get a fascinating work of fiction to entertain and enlighten you and tucked in among the twists and turns of plot, great dialogue, insightful desciptions of feelings and the overall drama are very real and useful tips about how to live on less.
Third, it offers unique
and unusual insights into the very important and timeless issues of
class and race. Jonathon Harrington Crossley’s successful parents
protected him so completely, he had no clue what being a black man in
the United States of Amerika was like for so many other black men
until a twist of professional fate lands him in the “Hood” with a
white woman. At work he always perceived his employer’s
girlfriend as the essence of upper class elegance but it is Marina
who turns out to have had the difficult upbringing that makes her so
savvy about survival. And, lucky reader, these insights are offered
in the context of a romance. Nothing unbelievable but very real and
very much what a good, solid, relationship should be about. Here’s
a taste:
“She thanked Jonathon for giving her some “space” for all of these months while she figured out who she was and what she wanted. Jonathon hadn’t really been aware that that was what he was doing. For one thing, he always had respected whatever boundaries women put up and this was no different. For another thing, she had simple intimidated him, but he didn’t say so.
“Some nights they talked about the narrow confines of Jonathon’s upbringing. He told her of the pedantic lives his family lived, of how his mother strived to shield him from reality and how that gave him a thirst for what he termed “the real world”
“I guess she never heard of Margaret Burroughs,” Marina commented one night.
“Who?”
“Margaret Burroughs was a black poet. She wrote a famous poem about what to tell black children about the world they live in.”
“I never heard of her.”
“My point exactly. Come to think of it, Jonathon, your mother was an English teacher. She had to have heard of Margaret Burroughs. She didn’t want to tell you of her. She didn’t want you to know the things a black child needs to know in this world. In fact, she didn’t want you to know you were black!” (p.159)
After more discussion when Jonathon opines that there needs to be a middle ground, a balance between his mother’s view of the world (determined not to see the racism that exists) and a co-worker’s view where he saw racism everywhere, a view that Jonathon deemed paranoia, Marina tells him he IS the middle ground and he responds “We’re the middle ground” . . . and the romance begins.
Fourth and lastly, this book is just so real, so authentic, it does more than tell a great story, it does indeed give the gift of experience. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Kissing the Underbelly a 20.
Click Here To Read An Interview with Joseph Anderson and Judy Millspaugh Anderson, M.D.
Click Here To Purchase Kissing the Underbelly