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Jun 11, 2017DBRL_KrisA rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Having read Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" within the last year, my immediate impulse was to start comparing the two books. While there are similarities - they both deal with multiple generations of families; they both take place in Detroit and deal with the gradual deterioration of the city - there are definite differences. The most obvious surface difference is that the family in "Middlesex" is Greek, while the family in "The Turner House" is African American. Flournoy's book deals mostly with one generation of the Turner family - the children of Francis and Viola Turner. And, of course, the story of Cal in Eugenides' book is unlike just about any other story out there. While there are thirteen children in the Turner family, the author focuses most of her attention on the oldest, Cha-Cha, and the youngest, Lelah. Most of the other brothers and sisters make appearances in the book, some more than others, but if the story is about the Turner family, I feel there should have been more attention paid to all the members of that family. On the surface, the "Turner house" in the title refers to the house on Yarrow Street where all the kids grew up. But toward the end of the book, Flournoy makes a comment about what a "Turner house party" entails, and it made me realize that her definition of "Turner house" also encompasses any place where the Turner family are gathered. While the book doesn't completely resolve the issue of what to do with the Yarrow Street house, it's made clear that, wherever and whenever members of the Turner family gather (most likely in Cha-Cha's house), that place is also the "Turner House".