"Kin" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

Two motherless Black babies are born in the small, fictional town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana, in the 1940s, friends “since (they) smiled with their milk teeth.” Their bond extends for years making for a riveting story, the central narrative in “Kin,” another bestseller by Tayari Jones, whose previous novel “American Marriage” garnered rave reviews.

“Kin” is certain to be welcomed for its strong, lovely voice, descriptive words, colloquial phrases, and heartfelt plot. Two endearing characters, Vernice and Annie, narrate the book in alternating chapters. They face personal challenges and grow to adulthood in a “whites only” era when prejudice and segregation are the rule, rather than the exception. As infants, necessity demands the girls be raised by family.

Vernice is cared for by her Aunt Irene, and Annie, by her grandmother.

Vernice never knew her parents because her father shot her mother, then turned the gun on himself. Womenfolk in Honeysuckle wonder if the trauma affected the child because Vernice doesn’t speak until she’s 2 ½. When she does, her “…first word was ‘mother,’ spoken aloud and with texture.”

Annie’s mother, Hattie Lee, abandoned her, a woman described as “sadness in a skirt” with a “taste for booze,”—leaving her newborn in Granny’s care, a woman tired out by childbirth after having six children of her own. Annie might have felt love from her grandmother, but she never felt truly nurtured.

As Vernice and Annie share childhood and the uncertainty of puberty, their friendship remains strong, though it’s tested when a sudden break occurs, one not quickly repaired. Vernice is shocked and saddened when Annie, age 18, unexpectedly leaves town with a young Black man headed to Memphis.

Though Vernice knows Annie pines for her mother, she can’t understand why Annie left without a goodbye, off to find Hattie Lee, an emotional quest that continues for years. The “mothering” deficit, along with having her trust shattered by a love affair, makes Annie’s life trying, though she does discover happiness for a brief time.

Vernice fares better than her friend. College is a dream fulfilled for Vernice, thanks to her aunt, who provides for her education at Spelman College, a respected school for Black women in Atlanta. It’s there that Vernice becomes friends with Joette, her roommate, a young woman from an affluent family, who’s confident and rebellious. Their complex relationship becomes central to the story.

More about “Kin” could be revealed but to do so would hamper the true wonder of discovering a novel this awe-inspiring. Themes of friendship, love, and loyalty permeate in a story that’s both intensely personal and world-wise.

Chalk up another stunning offering from Tayari Jones, an author who writes eloquently, yet simply, leaving readers hanging on her every word.

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