And Do Remember Me

by Marita Golden

Book Overview

"An engaging saga of unconditional friendship, love, and foregiveness...Golden's style is modern, refreshing and accurately captures a slice of African-American life." (St. Petersburg Times)

In the exciting, yet frightening days of Freedom Summer in 1963, two very different African-American women meet, each to discover in the other an elegant completion of herself. Jessie, running from her sexually abusive father and distant mother,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345382714
• ISBN13: 9780345382719
• Release Date: July 1994
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

And Do Remeber Me by Marita Golden..review by Annina

Marita Golden creates a unique telling of the struggles of the African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement by using an uncommon perspective in her utterly enjoyable writings. In And Do Remember Me Golden tells a story of a young girl living in Columbus, Mississippi, named Jessi Foster, later known as Pearl Moon, who is traumatized by her sexually abusive father. The abuse ends one day when she can no longer handle the pain, she strikes her father in the head and sends him the hospital. She runs away to her aunt's house and only returns to pick up her things. Jessi decides she should go live with her grandmother who her herself is not financially stable or even knows Jessi is coming. Jessi then runs into a man named Lincoln Sturgis who will soon change her life forever. Lincoln is working in the movement, and tells he all about how it was about time that they got the same rights as the white people. He persuades Jessi into going with him to Greenwood to stay in a house set up for the movement people and surprisingly she goes. There, she meets a woman named Macon who inspires her and is a part of her new life. During the movement and all of Jessi's, Lincolns and the others involved in the movements hard work Jessi finds herself falling in love with Lincoln, who has already had his eyes set on her. But, conflict comes along when things between Jessi and Lincoln become more intimate. Her past strikes her; she has a secret and can never tell Lincoln because she is scared she might lose him if she did. Over time, they are still together and Lincoln, who had written several plays, introduces Jessi to the acting world. She is a born actress and loves being on stage, but when the secret from her past affects her relationship again Jessi has trouble identifying fiction from reality. Macon, whom she had always admired, is a guide to her throughout the story. Macon, surviving breast cancer, has fought many struggles, as has Jessi. Another secret, between Jessi and someone she dislikes, that she hides from Lincoln becomes the final barrier that separates the two, and Jessi unwilling to share her struggle with Lincoln, makes Lincoln feel he has no choice but to leave and stay in L.A. Macon, is the only person throughout the whole story, besides family who already knew of her struggles, who she had told. Macon had been her light and the only person she felt she could be real to. Macon knew of her love of acting and was aware of her stage name, Pear Moon. Time passes and Jessi only runs into Lincoln a few more times before the death of her father. Jessi finally returns home and reunites with her brothers and sister and most importantly, her mother. Her mother reveals the reasons why she had never stopped the abuse her father had done to her and reveals facts about how her father really felt about her. Throughout the story Jessi's secret haunts her, it ruins her most powerful relationship with a man she loved, and ruins her ability to communicate with o

Excellant!!!

'And Do Remember Me' is one of the best books I've read in a long time! The characters are appealing and the story sad but triumphant. And as an extra added bonus, included toward the end of the book is the most romantic scene you ever want to read. I read the book cover to cover in less than 12 hours, it was that good.