By Arleta Little
Contributing Writer
“Sometimes life curves on you. Sometimes we follow the curve. Sometimes we don’t.” Life Is Short but Wide, the latest novel from J. California Cooper, continues her career as a masterful storyteller crafting tales that bring the triumphs and heartaches of the human drama to high relief. In this tale, we follow the lives of three African American families, the Strongs, the Smiths, and the Tendermans, in Wideland, Oklahoma over the first 90 years of the 20th century.
Over the years, Wideland grows from a rural village into a small town and the lives of Cooper’s characters connect and intertwine as they persevere through poverty, rape, fraud, and murder to ultimately create the beloved community.
In a culture obsessed with instant gratification, an increasing dependence on technology, and the glorification of youth, Life Is Short but Wide reminds us that human stories and relationships are what give life its breadth and meaning. Cooper’s rich and layered voice invites the reader to rest as though on a porch swing on a quiet country evening, to focus on the moments that matter and the choices that give definition to our lives.
As the pages of the novel turn and the story is spun, Cooper reminds us that our histories are not written by the passing of time alone, but that life is in the living. “Live, child, live…” she coaxes us through her characters, “that’s what you have to do; make life.”
J. California Cooper will be the featured author at the 15th Annual Literary Luncheon hosted by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in partnership with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature. The event will be held on April 16, 12 pm at Nicollet Island Pavilion. Tickets are sold out.
For more information, call 952-831-2555 or go to www.givens.org.
Arleta Little is executive director of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
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