Book Review by Kevin Morgan
Book Review
How To Knock a Bravebird From Her Perch
Book Review by Kevin Morgan
The novel, How To Knock a Bravebird From Her Perch by D. Bryant Simmons is one interesting book! I don’ t think it would be a spoiler to state this book is about domestic abuse. However, one could argue that it is really a coming of age book about a woman who eventually finds her true self. Now that I’ ve let that cat out of the bag, let me share the plot of this novel. The lead character in this novel is named Belinda who also goes by the nickname Pecan. That name was given to her by her boyfriend who later would become her husband. Belinda led a relatively charmed life until she turned 17. It was then when she met the handsome and confident Ricky who set his sights on her from the first time he saw her. The second significant event that changed the course of Pecan’ s ideal life was the unexpected death of her father not too long after Ricky began making his moves on her. For reasons that only make sense to a young girl who seemed to be more of a spectator of life than a participant, Pecan agreed to marry Ricky a short time after her father’ s funeral.
As a new wife and mother of a toddler girl, Pecan suddenly realized that she really didn’ t love her husband. Without much thought about details or a plan, she decided to leave with her child while her husband was away at work. Later that afternoon, her husband found her and forced both wife and child to return to their dingy apartment. That was the first time he hit her. If it wasn’ t for the bruise and blood on her lip, Pecan would not have believed that her husband and father of their child hit her. In her words,“ That’ s all I could get out before he hit me again. And again. And again. I just couldn’ t believe it. Not me. Other girls might have that happen to them but not me. My man was not doing that to me.” Unfortunately for Pecan, that pattern of physical abuse would occur repeatedly in between the birth of three more girls. Over the years, an aunt from Ricky’ s side of the family and a man named Heziah would help open Pecan’ s eyes to the type of woman she could become.
Based on my thoughts while reading this novel and checking out some of its reviews, it is clear this book forces the reader to confront their own thoughts about spousal abuse. That topic is one that all of us hold strong opinions on. Most of us will offer
10 HimPower October 2016