An "unleashed love song" to her late grandmother, Nickole Brown's
collection brings her brassy, bawdy, tough-as-new-rope grandmother to
life. With hair teased to Jesus, mile-long false eyelashes, and a white
Cadillac Eldorado with atomic-red leather seats, Fanny is not your
typical granny rocking in a chair. Instead, think of a character that
looks a lot like Eva Gabor in Green Acres, but darkened with a shadow of
Flannery O'Connor. A cross-genre collection that reads like a novel,
this book is both a collection of oral history and a lyrical and moving
biography that wrestles with the complexities of the South, including
poverty, racism, and domestic violence.
Nickole Brown's unleashed love song to her grandmother is raucous and
heart-rending, reflective and slap-yo-damn-knee hilarious, a heady meld
of lyrical line and life lesson. Brown is blessed to be blood-linked to
such a shrewd and singular soul, and the poet's mix of monologue, myth,
and unbridled mayhem paints a picture of a proper Southern lady who is
just--well, unforgettable. --Patricia Smith
In Fanny Says, Nickole Brown distills the whole of America into one
woman: bawdy, loving, racist, battered, healed, and gorgeous with
determination. Our country has no history that does not touch the South.
Our divisions are our unions. Here, Brown unleashes a voice returned to
teach us a lesson. Reader, fair warning: you can't hide from Fanny. You
will be changed by this book. --Rebecca Gayle Howell
