Proud Rachel

by James Ellison and James W. Ellison

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812880536
• ISBN13: 9780812880533
• Release Date: August 1984
• Publisher: Stein & Day Paperback
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Thirty Plus years later.....finding good literature...

James Ellison was highly reviewed in his day and I can see why. The book was written in a way that not many writers do any longer. The tone of realism is foremost apparent in the story of two people who found love although confused and unsure it is something that I am certain every man/woman goes through, black or white. I will be honest and say I was ready for the stereotypical view of black women in this book, especially in the seventies. Old school racism was prevalent, the black community was looked down upon, and still are, with contempt from the upper/middle class white community. Mr. Ellison knew how to broach a subject as sensitive as race, but not let it overshadow the real crux of the novel. This story is about Carl Schuptrine, a unhappily married man, an sculpturer, and about to turn Forty in just a few months. Is this the reason why he suddenly reflects on his fourteen year marriage to his wife Grace? Is this the reason why he suddenly sees Rachel, a woman not only of a lower class, but black? Does he use Rachel as the catalyst to find the courage to give up all he's done to be happy for the first time? Carl is smitten with Rachel unexpectedly. He is the one that pursues her and although he feels guilt for falling in love with a woman he feels he has no business even being with, he can't seem to stay away. Rachel is a proud black woman. Although the blurb says she's promiscous, after reading the book, I didn't feel that she was. She was a young woman who had been married and hurt. When she falls in love with Carl, she is frightened and confused. She expects him to leave her like the rest of the men in her life and to treat her like dirt. When Carl doesn't, she still holds back and does things to test his resolve. She is like many black women where trust and love go hand in hand. She might seek it out, but accepting it is hard to do, especially when it comes from a white man. What happens afterwards during this is an emotional roller coaster when Carl decides to go with heart. The characters in this book are reachable until you can touch them. They are everyday people and it was like looking into "a day in the life" of Carl and his war between his heart and his mind.