A feeling of anticipation danced through me, as I opened the UPS package delivery of ReShonda Tate Billingsley’s soon to be release book “Mama’s Boy.” I am a fan of Billingsley’s from way back. I immediately read the back cover detailing a quick synopsis to see what delightful circumstances her characters Gloria, Elton, Kay, Phillip and Jamal; we know what touches one family members carries as a ripple effect touching others. Gloria, a Black mother, is living with a mother’s worse fear, your only child, a son (Jamal), is accused of the fatal shooting of a white police officer. Not in just any city but in Jasper, Texas. The location and the climate between law enforcement; between Black and Whites is strained. With this Billingsley’s skillfully connects reality to this work of fiction. …show more content…
But, as in what I find great about Billingsley’s characters and their backstories, the layers go deeper than just one issue. Each character has something in their background that goes beyond even Jamal’s critical situation. These are what I like to call my What the Heck moments in Billingsley’s plot. She skillfully and unexpected and ‘what the heck’ takes the reader even further in the turmoil of her characters’ lives. Talk about demons to deal with, and these demons are not so far from what some of those in your own circle of family and or community are dealing with in secrets. But we know secrets never lay dormant for long, as those in “Mama Boy” soon find out, when it rain it storms. This book is filled with mini storms all meeting to make one big