THINGS I SHOULD HAVE TOLD MY DAUGHTER Lies, Lessons & Love Affairs

There’s an urgency to Pearl Cleage’s narration—as if her life depends on every word she shares from her journals of the 1970s and ‘80s. Speaking rhythmically, passionately, she says exactly what’s on her mind and soulfully talks to listeners as if they’re good friends. She’s colorful with her language and candid in tone when detailing experiences such as her pregnancy, her work with the first black mayor of Atlanta, her mother’s battle with cancer, and her desire to be with specific lovers. In the whirlwind of topics, she thematically returns to the idea of being free. Poetically employing repetition, Cleage emphasizes the joys and frustrations of life and of coming into her own womanhood. T.E.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2014]