The Healing by Jonathan Odell

"In the beginning God birthed these watchful stars and a quickening moon,
In the beginning God laid open this earth like a mother's womb,
In the beginning God gave his breath to the baby's borning cry.
In the beginning God gave his breath to the old one's last gasping sigh.
In the beginning is the home we are coming from,
In the beginning is the home we are going to."
                            -Polly Shine, from the novel

I certainly enjoy a good historical fiction, particularly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Healing is an excellent one from pre-Civil War era and beyond, since it is a story within a story. It begins in 1933 Mississippi with Gran Gran, a former slave, being given responsibility for Violet a newly-orphaned young girl. Violet is intentionally mute, perhaps from the shock of losing her mother. In the process of caring for Violet, Gran Gran begins to tell the girl her own story---of 1847 slavery on the plantation and the coming of Polly Shine.

Polly Shine was a slave with the gift of healing. The master of the plantation paid a large sum of money for her because of his problems keeping his slaves healthy and working. Polly is met by skepticism and rumors and some resentment but later becomes a heroine to her people as they begin to see her working her "magic." Called "Mother Polly" she treats each person, not just the physical problem. I compared her methods to the holistic medicine of today. Polly was able to make a personal connection to her patients and thus treat them much more successfully than even the educated white doctors. She explained to young Granada, chosen by Polly as her apprentice much to the girl's chagrin, and who later is called Gran Gran, "The magic weren't in the food. It was in the seeing."

I tend to enjoy books while I am reading them, only to forget so much about the plots and characters within weeks. (That is one reason I keep this blog!) I will not soon forget Polly Shine! She is such a bigger-than-life character, charismatic and spiritual and wise. She expressed so many profound thoughts, it was very difficult choosing a quote to begin this post. Parts of the one I selected were often repeated and very significant to the story.

One of the surprising things to me is how this author, a white male, is able to tell a story so adeptly from the points of view of two black women. In his "A Note to the Reader" he shares that his first book was reviewed by someone who described him as an African-American author, which he took as a compliment. Be sure to read the Note to find out about the inspiration for this book.

--------------------------

I gave the book a rating of 5. I found it a bit confusing at the beginning but a true page turner by the middle. When the group met to discuss the novel, the average was 4.3. Some members who gave 3's or 4's did so because they felt that some parts of the story were not fleshed out enough, for example the Gran Gran-Violet portion; they just wanted to know more about what happened to the characters from the earlier time in the intervening 75 years. How about a sequel, Mr. Odell?