Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

We read Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson for my IRL book club. 

Benny and Bryron are estranged siblings and when their mother dies, their brought together. At the reading of the will, they listen to a voice message she has left for them, a message that tells a complicated story of their legacy. It's clear that their mother meant for this to bring the brother and sister together, but will it have the opposite effect?

My book club liked it. I thought there were some issues that were a tiny bit farfetched and I'm pretty sure I won't remember much of the plot in another two months, but I learned a lot in this book and thought it was worth a read. 

Lines of note:

Lynette just didn't get it. If you were invited to the White House, you simply went, no matter who was sitting in the Oval Office. Here was another opportunity to advocate for things that mattered. To speak out against cuts in research funding, to push for broader access to quality science education. Here was another chance for a black man to be at the table with the decision makers, instead of flinching from abuse. Instead of standing outside yet another closed door. (page 30)

My husband and I had an interesting conversation about this. I think, generally, I agree that you should go to the White House if you're invited. However, when the current elected official in the White House is a madman who doesn't care about scientific truths or doing what's best for anyone other than himself, it's harder to justify. 

This was the worst trick that nature could play on you, really, to make you a father, to fill your chest with that kind of fear for a child. (page 56)

Fascinating. I feel like I don't read a lot of books about father/child relationships (maybe aside from The Road). 

But Byron had never shared his parents' emotional attachment to the recipe. Tradition, his ma used to say. But whose tradition, exactly? Black cake was essentially a plum pudding handed down to the Caribbeans by colonizers from a cold country. Why claim the recipe of the exploiters as your own? (page 95)

Bryon knows what's up. 

You can look at a person and truly have no idea what they are holding inside. (page 163)

Right? Whenever people are being absolute jerks, I just remember this. 

Things I looked up:

higgler woman (page 50) -  Higglering is a Jamaican term that denotes the informal economic activity of small-scale street vending dating back to the days of slavery.

callaloo (page 168) - a plant used in popular dishes in many Caribbean countries

Hat mentions (why hats?):

curls tucked under a hat (page 131)

Where was her hat? (page 157)

How many times did I count the words "black cake"? 44

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Have you ever had Jamaican black cake? Did you know the word higgler?