Hey, y'all.  Sorry this is coming in so late.

"A primitive race, transported into an Anglo Saxon environment and held in subjugection to that fundamentally alien influence, was bound to undergo the soul stirring experiences which always find their expression in great art"

- Albert Barnes

At first, I was confused by the style that stating a story by different views because I always mixed the charaters together. But before Billy decided to "getting mother's body", I managed to figure out the relationships between characters. The way she wrote this story actually makes the image of each character more clear because we can both know how one person in the novel thinks and how others in the novel think about that person. And here's my questions (I haven't finish reading this novel): Why does Billy Beede dislike her mother that much that she even isn't willing to call her mom? Why does Parks mention the people that Billy encountered on the way that she came to "marry" Snipes, especially the women named Myrna Carter who seemed to lose hope about love?

I distaste reading novels but this one, ‘Getting Mother’s Body’, is a different piece altogether. I must admit it is a page-turner and engrossing. Suzan-Lori Parks’ writing style is incredible, chatty, emphatic, well-turned and articulate. A few questions for her, what corrupted Billy Beede’s decision to abort? Why does she portray Dill Smiles’ homosexuality in the ‘60s yet it wasn’t legal?

What I found most interesting about "Waist High in the World" was Mair's insistence at the beginning throughout the book that it isn't meant to be "feel-good" (and it certainly isn't), yet how she sort of has the "feel-good" attitude. She's making the best of what she has. Maybe that's less feel-good and more survival. She explains the real challenges she faces, but she also explains how she has adapted to deal with these challenges to continue living. I guess I just appreciate the honesty of the book.