Getting Mother's Body

“Suzan-Lori Parks is a terrific writer whose characters don’t so much talk to us as sing, full-throated, of their joys and miseries.”
—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls

“A cheerful tack across deep Faulknerian waters.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“The kind of story that sneaks up on you and makes you care about the characters and what happens to them.”
—USA Today


“Even minor characters are vivid and unforgettable. . . . [The] chorus of voices . . . tells the interwoven story of Willa Mae and her daughter with such flair and harmony that I was compelled to keep reading.”
—The Washington Post

“Of course Suzan-Lori Parks can write a mean patch of dialogue . . . but the real treat here is watching Parks experiment with setting. . . . [She is] a master of pitch and mood.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“With material steeped in the dark side of American history and a rare gift for the vernacular, [Parks is] the sort of provocateur one might get by crossing William Faulkner with Richard Pryor. . . . Parks’s dialogue rings ribald and jazzy.”
—Vogue

A splendid and joyous American novel.”
—Elle

“There’s jazz and spunk in the writing here, tremendous humor that ultimately yields to tenderness.”
—Book magazine