Being Plumville

In this dramatic novel, Friersos (The Sight: City of Sin) explores the pleasures and perils of interracial romance in 1968. In the nondescript Southern town of Plumville, Ga., Coralee Simmons, the daughter of black housekeeper Patty, and Benjamin Drummond, the son of Patty’s white employer, were childhood friends before Ben’s racist mother insisted that they be kept apart lest their friendship turn into love. Fifteen years later, quarterback Benjamin can’t pass his college English class, and Coralee is assigned to tutor him. Old feelings resurface just as tensions between races peak. The relationship has sweet tones, but Benjamin’s lack of growth is difficult to ignore, especially when contrasted with the abuse Coralee faces. Benjamin only comes to think about the issues of race because of his relationship, and doesn’t look beyond it. He allows his peers to use slurs with minimal chastisement and only gets truly upset when people turn on Coralee. A few scenes of sexual violence may be realistic, but they diminish the story’s romantic aspects. Despite this, the novel will be educational for anyone interested in the difficulties of making an interracial relationship work in the late 1960s South. (BookLife)