Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White
by Claudia Burney
Publisher: Cook, David C.
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 9780781445504
416pp
From Publishers Weekly
The voice of beautiful Zora Nella Hampton Johnson-her name echoing the author of her favorite novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God-will take you up and carry you along until she utters her very last syllable. Anger, laughter and delight come from Zora’s sharp, sassy tongue as if she is talking out loud. Burney’s gift for voice is not limited to her heroine, though it takes her longer to get the other main character, Nicky Parker, the handsome but poor son of a racist pastor, to shine as distinctly as Zora. At this novel’s heart are love and race-what happens when a self-described BAP (black American princess), the daughter of a famous megachurch leader, falls in love with a young white man. Zora and Nicky’s dialogue about race is unflinching, with attitude, honesty and occasional humor. Burney pushes her prose to the edge of the edgiest in the “Christian fiction” genre, and then barrels right over. She doesn’t sugar-coat, especially when it comes to sex, yet she manages to create a love story that’s both erotic and chaste. Faith in Jesus comes to life on the page through Zora and Nicky’s intense, if imperfect, soul searching. Though parts are a bit melodramatic, Burney gives readers a page-turner for all audiences, Christian and beyond.
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This book was a page-turner, as I felt as if I were being taken back in time. Although the novel is contemporary, I felt a lot of the racial stereotypes portrayed went back into historical times. A lot of the talk about race, made me think about things I’ve been hearing about Blacks and Whites since I was a child. For example, the Black jockey statue that was seen in Nicky’s yard, I’d wondered if the younger generation, like people in their twenties, would have ever seen a black jockey before? I’ve seen them, of course, knew about them, but I can honestly say that I haven’t seen one in a long time.
If you want a read that touches upon just about every racial stereotype from slavery times to current times, then this book is for you. The romance is sensual and chaste at the same time, and Burney did an excellent job of showing how these two young people are so deeply attracted to each other.
The novel was moving and gripping and I read it in one day.