Whew, that was a lot to get out. After Reading The Blackbirds,
I had to literally sit still for a moment and think. This book took me on a
journey through love, loss, death, independence, friendship, and the discovery
of self. The story itself was so profound that I don’t feel I have the right
words to explain it let alone enough words to do it justice, but here we go.
Indigo Abdulrahaman is a beautiful, yet complicated woman.
She knows what she wants and who she wants. She’s not afraid to go after it either. And I tell you what, if you think you’re going to disrespect her by
going after “who” she wants, you've got another thing coming…or you’ll at least
end up at Vickie Secrets buying another set of thongs.
Kawanzaa Browne is one of the women in The Blackbirds whom I
identified with the most. While the last time we seen her she was a little
girl, hiding behind her mother’s legs just as she met her father for the “first
time”, she has grown into a beautiful young woman. The heartbreak she felt
behind what her ex-fiancé had done hit too close to home. But when a woman’s
fed up, she meets a man who is one in five million and one who is twice the man
her ex-man could ever even imagine being.
Ericka Stockwell was thirteen years old the last time we saw
her. Now she’s in her mid-thirties and in remission from cancer. Like all of
us, Ericka is sick of cancer and has decided to live everyday like it’s her
last. The antagonistic relationship between her and her mother is something
that I can’t even put into words. Mrs. Stockwell needs to have a come to
Y-H-W-H talk or it’s quite possible that crossing the wrong person is going to
send her to meet Jesus way before her “Christian” soul is ready. But in the
midst of all of Ericka’s trauma, she finds light, love, and surprisingly, her
destiny.
Speaking of destiny, the last time we saw Destiny Jones she
had gone on a revenge spree that left a trail of broken, battered, and bleeding
bodies in her wake. The one thing we learned about Destiny is she isn’t the one
you want to cross and think you’re going to just get away with it. Even still,
the court of public opinion can be brutal and even though people knew what had
happened to her, Destiny is still seen as the villain. So the villain is who
she became…at least in one scene.
This is where Mr. Dickey took me on a journey of self-discovery. Throughout
the book, Destiny’s chapters resonated with me more than any of the women. Yes,
he managed to show me a little bit of myself in all of the women throughout the
book; however, Destiny’s chapters had my emotions popping like fish grease. I
cried. I laughed. And then I cried while laughing. Why? Because she’s Destiny
Jones, bih, and she ain’t scared of you, mamafunkers!
I could go on and on and on and on about this book, but I
think I may have already said too much. One thing I must note, I want to say
thank you, Eric Jerome Dickey, for telling and showing Black women that we are
beautiful—flaws and all— in every color, shape, and size. Mr. Dickey showed us
the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright disgraceful side of Black women.
Black women aren’t merely investigated under some kind of biased microscope in
this book. We’re celebrated in this book. The balance was so perfect that I
cannot find anything I don’t like about The Blackbirds. Ericka’s very last
chapter left me a snotty-nosed crying mess. I wasn’t ready! All-in-all, I give
this book five pages (think five-stars). Nikki-Michelle recommends this book.
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