Book Review: Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson
In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions…an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine her more than once. Fighting Kudzu is the lyrical saga that traces Noble’s life as she emerges into adulthood and discovers herself.
The plot synopsis given on the back cover, and given above, of Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson comes nowhere near the actual depth and complexity of the story of Noble Thorvold. As it mentions, it does start out when Noble is five years old and continues through many years of her life. And once you get past the imaginary football team that she plays with everyday, you quickly discover that this story is not for the faint of heart.
Fighting Kudzu (Strategic Book Publishing, 2009)
The book opens with Noble in the middle of a game with her favorite Miami Dolphins, complete with Larry Csonka, full back and the shining star of the entire NFL, according to Noble. And it is not just any game, she is the first professional female football player and she has had a key role in the Dolphins getting to the Super Bowl and they are playing the Minnesota Vikings during the summer of 1973. Or, at least, she is until her mother calls her for something. But life is good. She is going to start school the next fall. She has an older brother and an older sister. The three siblings don’t always get along but they care about each other. Noble and her brother and sister also have two parents that adore them and each other.
However, life starts taking some very unexpected twists and turns for the three siblings. Not long after Noble starts school, confusion and pain begin to become more commonplace in their home than not. And as the timeline progresses, each of the siblings must find their own way to cope with the tragedies that continue to occur. And every time something happens, the pain and confusion get worse and the reader feels it right along with Noble. There was more than one instance that tears came to my eyes because the writer was able to accurately convey Noble’s thoughts and feelings so well that my heart broke for her.
Noble is five when the story begins, so the subject of Noble’s sexuality doesn’t come in until later in the book. The subject presents very naturally and believably when it arrives. Ideas of romance and sex become part of Noble’s life after her discovery of her homosexuality but the book doesn’t turn around and only focus on this one aspect. What stands out, at this point in the story, is that being a lesbian doesn’t then dominate everything that happens for the rest of the book. Yes, it affects her life in many different ways, but the difficult issues that continue to arise don’t stop just because she discovered this aspect of herself, unfortunately for Noble.
It is very easy to sympathize with Noble from the beginning. Her thoughts and actions are age-appropriate and easy to understand from the first page. As she gets older, the feelings, thoughts, and actions quickly become more complex due to some very difficult situations but the reader will not be lost; the time transitions and structure make the book’s flow of time easy to follow so that there is no confusion and the reader can simply continue to be immersed in the story.
This book is extremely well written. It keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and draws them into the story, into Noble’s world, and maintains that hold throughout the book. The characters have depth and their actions have clear motivations behind them. Noble’s feelings and thoughts are clearly conveyed so well that it the readers will often find themselves smiling or crying along with the characters. There are many heart-wrenching scenes that will make tears come to many readers’ eyes.
I very highly recommend this book, especially for those people who enjoy a good ‘tear-jerker’, and even a lot of people that don’t. This book is so well written that time escapes the reader and one is eager to know what comes next-even when it might not be pretty. The only people that I would not refer this book to, is persons who have a trigger about persons or characters with alcoholism, especially if it involves a parent. I look forward to reading the sequel, as I am eager to find out what happens next in Noble’s life.
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Rae Glenn loves reading so much that it has become a physical need. Supporting the LGBT youth has become as important to her as breathing. It is only natural for these to come together. You can find her @LovelyRedMuffin.
Author Interview: Mystic Thompson
Author Shannon LC Cate was nice enough to share with us an interview she had with Mystic Thompson, about her novel “Fighting Kudzu”. Let’s read what Mystic had to say about it!
Fighting Kudzu (Strategic Book Publishing, 2009)
FIGHTING KUDZU by MYSTIC THOMPSON.
In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions…an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine her more than once. Fighting Kudzu is the lyrical saga that traces Noble’s life as she emerges into adulthood and discovers herself. Author Bio: Author Mystic Thompson, a veteran educator, is a principal with Eckerd Youth Alternatives at Camp E-Ku-Sumee, a residential school in a wilderness setting. Fighting Kudzu is her first novel.
Shannon: What is your writing history? Have you published other types of writing in other places, or is Fighting Kudzu a new endeavor?
Mystic: Fighting Kudzu is my first and only published work. I have a degree in Journalism, but never worked in the field. I have written my entire life for my own pleasure. I write poetry, short stories, and of course I journal regularly. Additionally, I have written a number of curricula in the area of outdoor education. Essentially, I consider Fighting Kudzu to be the beginning of what I hope is a new career as a young adult novelist.
S: Your book reads very much like an autobiography. Are there ways in which Noble’s story touches on your own?
M: Noble’s story is very much based on my own experiences. I chose not to write it as a memoir or autobiography because it is still a work of fiction. I changed things, embellished, enhanced in the interest of creating dynamic characters and an engaging story. Like Noble, I grew up in Suburban Atlanta, I had an alcoholic mother who loved me and was very wise, I had an adulterous father who failed in acknowledging his parental responsibilities in a lot of instances, and I am a lesbian. In those ways, Noble’s story very much touches on my own.
S: Speaking of Noble, OMG, I love that name. How did you come up with that? And can I steal it if I ever have another daughter? (Admittedly, this is unlikely.)
M: I knew that I wanted the character to have a unique name that would become a big part of her identity. I went through several name choices before finally settling on Noble. I was writing a monologue spoken by Mamateen in which she was talking about the importance of being a noble person. While writing that monologue, I realized that Noble should be the character’s name. In the monologue, rather than have her talking about the word, Mamateen came to be talking about Noble’s name and about the responsibility of living up to it. So, that’s the process through which I named her. And, of course, I would be honored if you name your next daughter after my character!!
S: These days you are a PE teacher. Do you bring a part of your writer self to your teaching? Do you bring a part of your teacher self to writing?
M: Through my teaching, I am fortunate enough to get to experience the world and life through the eyes of teenagers. I definitely bring that experience into my writing. Since these are my target readers, I feel like my teaching gives me a unique insight into how they think, what’s important to them, what they enjoy, etc.
As a PE teacher, my students are often surprised by my literary knowledge. They seem to find it unexpected. Because I love literature and I am interested in what they are reading, I often have discussions with them about these things. Their knowledge that I’m a writer gives them a bit more understanding of who I am as an individual, and it makes me more relatable to them. It truly enhances my ability to be an effective teacher.
S: What are your hopes for Fighting Kudzu and what is on your agenda next, whether it’s another writing project, or something else?
M: My hope for Fighting Kudzu is that it would get enough exposure to have an impact on kids that might be struggling through similar issues. I’m also working with a screenwriter currently, and I’m hoping that the book will be optioned and adapted into a screenplay. I am probably biased, but I think it would make a beautiful movie. I am also writing a sequel that is currently called Downhill Running.
In addition to these writing projects, I am also starting a non-profit organization called Give A Dime. It is based on a scene in the book that emphasizes the importance of kindness, and the impact one small gesture of kindness might have on someone. The Foundation will celebrate and promote kindness, while also raising funds and awareness for LGBT Youth. We are just in the initial stages of creating the non-profit, but I hope to devote a lot of my time to that in the near future.
Mystic Thompson
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About the author:
Mystic Thompson is a veteran educator who has taught Physical Education, Social Studies, and Reading at the middle school level. Additionally, she has been both an Assistant Principal and Principal at the high school level. She currently teaches in a charter high school in the Greater Los Angeles area, where she is also a member of the Board of Trustees. Fighting Kudzu is her first novel. She has begun work on a sequel that is currently entitled Downhill Running.
Check out her twitter.
You can buy Fighting Kudzu on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.
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Shannon LC Cate
About the interviewer:
Shannon LC Cate has been writing about family, parenting, politics and religion since 2000. Her work has appeared on Babble.com, BlogHer.com, Literary Mama.com, VillageQ.com, in Adoptive Families Magazine, Gay Chicago Magazine and elsewhere. Her debut novel, Jack, is an Editor’s Top Pick from Musa Publishing.
Shannon, her partner, and their two young daughters divide their time between Chicago and Urbana, Illinois. You can find her online at ShannonLCCate.com or on Twitter @LilySea.
On Queer Characters of Color
Black Lives Matter Series: Day 3 – Previous Posts: Black Lives Matter, But Where Are We? – I Was Made To Believe There Was Something Wrong With Me – Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series
by Aleah
Things have grown and changed drastically in the literary world over the years, leading authors to write characters with more racial and sexual freedom. As a straight African-American young woman in support of Gay Rights, I love to see YA novels featuring intertwined sexual and racial diversity. Sadly, while the publication of LGBTQ books is constantly on the rise, those featuring teens of color are few.
(When I say “of color”, I mean people from various cultures and racial backgrounds.)
The lack of queer African-American characters in particular is partially due to sexual stigma in the black community, but that’s just one piece of the puzzle. It’s pretty much the only thing I hear about when I ask other people what they think the problem is. So, I’ll talk about some of the effects of this stigma and others on YA lit, and some things I think we can do to help fix the problem.
Marginalization & Relatability
As a general rule, novelists want people to read and buy their work. If they decide to write a gay, black, protagonist they likely go in knowing that will define their book, whether they specifically want it to or not. That’s the book with the gay, black, main character, they’ll think. Or alternately, the gay, black, supporting character.
Because of this, some people will not want to read these books because they feel the characters aren’t ‘relatable’ to them. As if the book is somehow not for them because the characters aren’t necessarily like them.
This seems pretty ridiculous to me. A girl in one of my writing classes said it best: “Everyone isn’t straight and white in real life, so why should they be in our books?”
One of the best things about reading is being able to slip into other people’s worlds. To see through the eyes of someone who isn’t you. Yet, we still find ways to relate to characters who are unlike us in many ways. Because we are people, and that’s what we do. Being black, just like being gay, is one of those things that just is. It isn’t an undesirable personality trait or annoying character flaw. It’s just as relatable or un-relatable as anything else, and certainly shouldn’t stop people from reading about them.
To Talk or Not to Talk
There are plenty of people who have views or ideas they don’t share with everyone. Many people simply don’t like to make waves. What books are you reading? What books are your friends reading? Whose tastes are lacking diversity in one way or another? Plenty of people don’t like to ask themselves these questions, let alone their friends.
People can frequently jump to feeling defensive or offended when asked, when it’s easily fixable.
For example: Somewhere along the line, certain people figured that being told they’ve made a racist comment is the same as being told they’re a racist person. This is not true, especially if the speaker can and is willing to admit the wrongness of their actions and apologize.
Sometimes it takes putting yourself and your views under a microscope to see what the problem is, and how to fix it. While it might not be the most comfortable experience, learning to recognize racism, intentional or unintentional, will definitely be worth it in the long term.
The People Who Don’t See the Problem
There will always be the people who say things like:
“What’s wrong with the way things are now?”
“There didn’t even used to be books about gay people or people of color.”
Or even, “Why does it matter?”
As if every detail of a character has to be vitally important to the story to matter. In our society, white is the default. If a character’s race/appearance/skin tone isn’t properly described, readers will assume that character is white. That is a fact. It’s the same with sexual orientation–straight unless otherwise stated. To create a truly diverse literary landscape, these things have to be fleshed-out, important to the plot or not.
I realized a long time ago that there are people who don’t care about this, and will never care. I don’t let it discourage me from speaking out, and you shouldn’t either. Diversity is important, and things are only going to really begin to change after we’ve opened up a conversation.
As you go about diversifying your reading list, think on this: You shouldn’t only think about reading these books for their diversity; you should read them because… they’re good books. These days, not all stories featuring people of color are about race, just as not all books about queer characters are coming-out stories. Just like other books, there are good ones and… less good ones. Look for books that aren’t riddled with stereotypes, though they’ll be a bit more difficult to find. Talk up the good, discard the bad, and most importantly: keep reading.
Looking for more?
Finding the diversity you desire may be a difficult task, but someone’s gotta do it.
Besides the fabulous Gay YA,
There are excellent sites like Diversity in YA: They focus on all kinds of diversity: race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
They’ve even got a post about stuff you can do right now to help things along.
Here’s a post by Lori Lee over on Book Riot about Diversity in fantasy novels.
As a self-professed fantasy geek who has always wanted to be an elf, I think this is particularly nice to see. *coughs* Moving on.
And finally, a list on Queer Book Club with books from 2013 featuring queer people of color
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Aleah is a lover of words, daydreaming, and drinking tea. When not writing, she can be found people-watching, sifting through her large music collection, and pondering situations that could require the use of Shakespearean insults.
Black Lives Matter But Where Are We?
Black Lives Matter Series: Day 2 – Previous Posts: I Was Made To Believe There Was Something Wrong With Me – Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series
by Aliya
As a black girl, when I was younger I rarely saw myself. Whether it was in books, on TV, or in movies, I noticed that girls like me were always the sidekick, the supporting character, or the antagonist. I felt like they were all the same character just in a different story line, that they were two-dimensional characters that were loud but never really had much to say. Whenever I did stumble upon a book or show that had a black main character that I could relate to, I clung to it with all my life. I loved the idea of being a part of something.
As a queer girl, when I was younger I never saw queer characters in the media so I didn’t know they could exist. For a long time, I had never heard of the LGBT+ community except for vague rumors that would be whispered around school and the negative connotation my parents had given it. It wasn’t until one day when I was twelve that I became really interested in learning more about it after reading Ask the Passengers by A.S. King, a coming to age story about a girl in a small town who was trying to figure out who she was and happened to have a secret girlfriend. I have always enjoyed reading a book about teenage romance but it wasn’t until I read Ask the Passengers that I had read a book about a romance that was anything other than heterosexual. Reading about a relationship between two girls pulled my heart strings in a different way than any of the other books I had ever read before and made me want to read more. Queer YA books have helped me find out more about myself and, honestly, still are now.
As a queer black girl, I am very happy to see that the amount of black and queer characters that have shown up in YA books over the past years but I have noticed that it is still very rare to find a character that is both queer and black. I have always wondered why there are so few black queer characters in YA LGBT+ books because black queer people do exist in real life but somehow we are invisible. I want to be able to read the stories of characters that are queer and that have also experienced life in a way I can relate to, with a background similar to mine. I want to read about a character who is queer and also has to deal with the things that many other people of color face. I think it’s important to put queer black characters in YA books because in some ways a queer black person’s experience can be totally different from a white queer person’s and our stories deserved to be told too.
We are constantly being told to choose between our Black identity and our queer identity because people never see us as both. It seems as if we can’t be one without having the other invalidated. Creating more characters in YA books that proudly identify as both black and queer would make reading a more diverse representation of how the world really is and show others that we are not invisible, show us that we are not invisible. Black lives matter and it’s important that we see ourselves and that others see us too. The lack of Black representation in YA is a problem that needs to be addressed and needs to change. Black Lives Matter needs to be more than just a trending hashtag for a week, more than just a weak string of words that will break apart when it’s cut with a pair of safety scissors. If Black lives matter, then where are we and where are our stories?
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I’m Aliya, a queer identifying black girl living in south Texas. I can usually be found at the nearest bookstore, listening to music or on my blog where I usually am posting about social justice or just anything I like. My plan is to become an illustrator and possibly a writer for YA and children’s books in the future.
I Was Made to Believe There’s Something Wrong With Me: Why #BlackLivesMatter in YA Lit
Black Lives Matter Series: Day 1 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series
by Nakiya
I’ve been reading LGBTQ YA fiction for almost five years and I’ve never read a book focused on a black LGBTQ woman.
When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite books was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. In middle school two of my favorite series were The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin and Animorphs by K. A. Applegate, both of which had a central black female character. I grew up in a town that was ninety percent white and I was desperate for stories like mine, so if a book had a black girl as a main character I wanted to read it.
I started deliberately reading LGBTQ focused books shortly after I realized that the feelings I had for the girl I ate lunch with weren’t simply feelings of friendship. Initially I was reading basically anything I could get my hands on, from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, to Far from Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters, to The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. Last summer I hit a breaking point, frustrated with white narrative after white narrative. I read Ash by Malinda Lo, Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez, and Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole. Each of those books had a woman of color protagonist.
None of them were black.
Through extensive searching recently I’ve found a grand total of four novels about black queer women. The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson is the only one of the four available at my local library. I found it and the books Orphea Proud by Sharon Dennis Wyeth and M+O 4evr by Tonya Hegamin on a list about racial diversity in LGBTQ books compiled by Malinda Lo. The last book is Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, who wrote a blog post for Diversity in YA.
Sadly, this didn’t surprise to me. White stories sell. There’s this pervasive idea in society that white stories are relatable but stories about people of color are about race. It’s similar to the ideas that stories about men are relatable but stories about women are about gender, or that stories with straight characters are relatable but LGBTQ characters change the focus of a story.
The current state of young adult fiction says that as a queer black woman, my story isn’t important.
And I’m privileged, in all honesty, because it’s worse for trans women. All of the black women in the four books I found are cis. Black trans women are disproportionately victims of violence and police brutality. In fact, the majority of LGBTQ murder victims are black trans women. Many of them don’t get justice for the crimes against them. Society says their lives aren’t important.
Why is fiction restating that?
Diversity is important because it lets us know we’re not alone. So why is LGBTQ fiction lacking diversity? Why should I be expected to relate to white gay men when in reality the issues I struggle with in relation to my queerness also intersects with my gender and race? Why don’t I have a true range of novels to choose from when I want to read about girls like me? Why don’t black trans girls have any?
It’s not about having a character that’s exactly like me. I don’t truly expect anyone to come out with a book about a hella queer and hella ace and hella aro black daughter of Nigerian immigrants who also deals with mental illness and trauma. But asking for a book in which a queer girl is also black and has to deal with the intersection of misogynoir (antiblack misogyny) and heteronormativity shouldn’t be too much. It’s about having stories in which I can understand their lives and that give non-black or non-female or non-queer individuals a chance to understand mine.
Representation is important because it gives us hope that people like us can make it through horrific circumstances. But until all of us have the chance to glimpse that hope, there’s a huge problem.
I wanted to write a happy and hopeful piece, but the last few weeks have sapped me of most of my optimism in regards to life in the United States as a black person. This is the reality that millions of us are facing right now, a reality that almost all of us were made aware of as young children. It’s louder at this moment of time and more visible for everyone, but we’ve known.
We’ve known that it’s not safe to exist here, that we have to work harder to succeed here, that racism is inescapable unless we live under our covers. Even though America has moved forward as far as race relations go, things are still pretty terrible.
We chant that black lives matter because we’ve grown up in a society that insists otherwise.
We cry that black lives matter because our existence and importance is constantly ignored and downplayed.
We scream that black lives matter because if we don’t, no one else will.
Black lives matter. Black queer women matter. Black trans women matter.
And we deserve better.
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Nakiya is a black, queer, greyromantic and asexual college student who currently lives in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s avoiding grad school preparation she can be found on Tumblr at lemonyandbeatrice where she blogs about diversity in media, asexuality, trauma, and mental illness. Oh, and lots of Marvel.