All The Blood Is Red top
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All
The Blood Is Red tells the story of four very
different black women in 90s |
All The Blood Is Red was published by Angela Royal Publishing in September 1996. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1997, alongside Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterton.
Reviews of All The Blood Is Red
All
The Blood Is Red is pacy, absorbing and full of
dramatic twists. It
crackles with sexual energy and aggression and at its core is a
sense of
history and race. Three young black women share a house in
London, each in her
own way re-inventing herself to conquer, or merely to face the
world. Nicola,
the gorgeous actress whose beauty creates a profound effect on
the people she
attempts - not always successfully - to control; Alexandrea, the
journalist,
clever and insecure; Jeanette, the psychology student: stroppy,
wild, and full
of a lust for life.
These women are portrayed both as individuals and constructs
of other peoples
lust, vanity, prejudices and sexual jealousies, as the narrative
follows their
power struggles with the world and with themselves. As black
people and
particularly as black women, their acts, and especially their
sexual
relationships, carry a significance that goes beyond them.
Underpinning these three characters is a reminder of the past - a
fourth woman
whose haunting narrative weaves a mysterious spell through the
book.
Jamaicas presence is a reminder that these women carry
their multi-national
history - personal, political, sexual - with them at all times.
The novel
illustrates the results of racial and sexual power struggles in
90s London,
but perhaps could go even further to demonstrate how we got to
the particular
disjunction that is contemporary female politics.
The relationships between Nicola and her famous white
boyfriend shows the
creases and flaws in a mixed race relationship. Alex confronts
the white-
dominated world of television by being true to herself but always
with nascent
terror inside and alcoholism close at hand - drink is one of the
few
salvations. While Jeanettes exuberant sexuality is
ultimately used as a
weapon against her.
Rosss characters are rich and their stories compelling, but
rather than
reveal who they are through their actions or their words, the
author shows us
around their minds with a patter of psychobabble.
The narrative is infused with powerful sensuality. Sex is both an
expression
of the characters ferocious freedom and a stick to punish
them with. It is a
powerful current: a visceral, messy, overpowering force
throughout the novel.
The backdrop to the three womens lives is the voice of
Mavis, a Jamaican
woman whose story of poverty and prostitution establishes the
theme of sexual
slavery and denial. In the end, the brothers close ranks to
acquit a black man
accused of rape, the sisters team up to expose a black man for
sexual
harassment, and somehow Ross manages to pull triumph out of the
emotional and
political turmoil. Only Mavis fails to pull a positive message
out of her
experience.
All The
Blood Is Red is a promising novel, though
ultimately its themes and
its fractured narrative do not add up to a whole. That said,
Ross next novel
will be eagerly awaited.
Clare Longrigg.
This review was published on the Orange Prize/Guardian web
site in April 1997.
***********************************************
With wit and perception, Ross delves into the psyche of each
of her
characters, from the confused Nicola, to the troubled Alexandrea
and the
rapist with his twisted rationale. All The Blood Is Red
constitutes a
sensitive and skillful treatment of some controversial and deeply
emotive
issues
Madeleine Bailey
Pride Magazine, 1996.
***************************************************
Reader Comments:
I loved these young womens reality. I recognised
them. They are all of us,
from everywhere, who have felt, are feeling, who have yet to feel
and who will
never feel the awesome enlightenment of pain.
- Joan Frankson, New York
Spellbinding, is what I have to say about it. Ive
devoured it, gulping it
down. I am amazed that one so young has such a grasp of the
female
condition. The language is lyrical, the metaphors
perfect.
- Margaret Lescene, USA
Move over, Terry McMillan. This is a book made more
potent by its
authenticity...you will soon find yourself taking sides, giving
advice,
turning pages in anticipation of the next heartbreak, success,
scandal...
- Kirk Axle, New York
Oh yes. Everything: from patois to prostitution, from
ecstacy to terror.
Black women, unite!
- Julia Goldberg, London
To Purchase All The Blood Is Red:
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Leone Ross 1999
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