Reviews for On the rooftop : a novel
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
For years, Vivian trained her daughters, Ruth, Esther, and Chloe, on their building's rooftop to sing as the Salvations. In 1953, her dream of a better life for them is on the cusp of coming true. Vivian and her late husband, whom she still grieves, came to San Francisco from Louisiana to escape white hoods and threats. When Vivian shares the news that a man with connections wants to manage the Salvations on a national tour, Ruth has news of her own. Later, Esther is drawn to a cause, and Chloe to a man that she perhaps shouldn't be. All this unfolds as their supportive, Black-owned neighborhood is targeted by white gentrifiers. Sexton (The Revisioners, 2019) offers another rich, complex novel that tells deeply personal stories against a national and historical backdrop. Narrating duties rotate among Vivian and each of her daughters, illuminating the stressors and conflicting values that the women must navigate as they try to find themselves within their singing family, their Black community, and their unjust country. Once again, Sexton delivers.
Library Journal
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Among the 59 men who signed the death warrant that led to the beheading of King Charles I, Gen. Edward Whalley and his son-in-law Col. William Goffe flee to 1600s New England in an attempted Act of Oblivion when the royalists regain power, pursued by the secretary of the regicide committee, in internationally best-selling Harris's first substantial departure to North America's shores (75,000-copy first printing). In the New York Times best-selling Robards's The Girl from Guernica, 17-year-old Sibil's mother and sister are killed in the German bombing of Guernica, and with two other sisters she joins her scientist father in Germany, where he works on jet propulsion engines for the Nazis and secretly helps the Resistance (50,000-copy first printing). Having spent their lives rehearsing strenuously On the Rooftop to achieve their mother's dream of stardom, sisters Ruth, Esther, and Chloe—known as the Salvations—are having dreams of their own even as their Black neighborhood 1950s San Francisco resists gentrification in this latest from National Book Award finalist Sexton (150,000-copy first printing). West's follow-up to her striking debut, Saving Ruby King, The Two Lives of Sara features a young, unwed Black mother who flees Chicago for Memphis during the tumultuous Civil Rights era, finding refuge at sweet Mama Sugar's boardinghouse and possible love with schoolteacher Jonas—all of which could be jeopardized by a secret from Mama Sugar's past (75,000-copy first printing).
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
In 1950s San Francisco, Vivian manages her daughters' musical group, the Salvations; but when they get a chance at a record deal, unexpected life situations threaten Vivian's dream of stardom. As the girls make decisions about their futures, including romance and marriage, Vivian's Black neighborhood is being gentrified, and she finds she has to deal with many changes. As the novel's perspective jumps between Vivian and her daughters Ruth, Esther, and Chloe, each character gets treated to a fully developed and satisfying arc, while the minor characters breathe life into the story of this neighborhood. Sexton's (The Revisioners) writing is expressive and lyrical, sometimes verbose and sometimes soaring, like her standout descriptions of nightclub scenes. There's a somewhat unbelievable moment when one music producer states that it's hard to find a girl group, but Sexton's third novel is, overall, a solid and realistic tale with hopeful undertones. VERDICT The themes of racism, family, and Black lives could make Sexton's latest a read-alike for the novels of Jacqueline Woodson. A good addition to any public library's fiction collection.—Sonia Reppe
Publishers Weekly
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Sexton (The Revisioners) broadly reimagines The Fiddler on the Roof in an affecting family story set in a rapidly changing historically Black San Francisco neighborhood. It’s 1953, and people from all walks of life pack the Champagne Supper Club to see the latest jazz and R&B performers. On Fridays, they cheer the Salvations, hometown favorites made up of sisters Ruth, Esther, and Chloe Jones. Now in their early 20s, the sisters’ talents have been relentlessly forged during countless rooftop rehearsals run by their mother, Vivian, a widow whose hopes for her daughters all center on their musical superstardom. Just as Vivian’s dream seems within reach, though, her daughters yearn for independence, with Chloe eyeing a solo career and Esther wanting to join the civil rights movement. Meanwhile, white developers begin disrupting Vivian’s Black Fillmore neighbors— many of whom, like Vivian, fled racial violence in the deep South—with eminent domain proceedings. In alternating viewpoints, Sexton depicts the nuances of familial relationships, including the sisters’ combination of loyalty and jealousy, as well as the complex and changeable nature of regret. The historical milieu is less sharply drawn, with celebrity cameos too often standing in for concrete details of time and place. Nevertheless, Sexton brings undeniable power to her depiction of dreams fragmented and deferred. Agent: Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management. (Sept.)
