''Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'' is a 1982

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Virginia Hamilton Virginia Esther Hamilton (March 12, 1936 – February 19, 2002) was an American children's books author. She wrote 41 books, including '' M. C. Higgins, the Great'' (1974), for which she won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literat ...

. The novel deals with the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

single motherhood A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include death, divorce, break-up, abandonment, bec ...

, childhood illness, and

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

. The novel, like many of Hamilton's works, is set in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Background

Hamilton wrote the novel in two locations — in

during winter and spring, and on an island in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Hamilton included the metabolic disorder

porphyria Porphyria ( or ) is a group of disorders in which substances called porphyrins build up in the body, adversely affecting the skin or nervous system. The types that affect the nervous system are also known as Porphyria#Acute porphyrias, acute p ...

in the novel because a close friend suffered from it; the author noted that she had wanted to work the disorder into a novel for two decades before using it in ''Sweet Whispers''. Hamilton's opening paragraph format was inspired in part by Truman Capote's short story " Children on their Birthdays."

Plot

Theresa "Tree" Pratt is a wise-beyond-her-years teenager in Ohio, caring for her developmentally disabled older brother, Dab, while their mother is often away working. Dab regularly suffers from a strange illness that leaves him incapacitated. One day, Tree sees a well-dressed man while she is leaving school and is immediately attracted to him. The next time she seems him, he is standing in the middle of a table in a closet in the family's apartment, holding an oval mirror. Tree realizes this is a ghost, Brother Rush. Through Brother Rush's mirror, Tree can see scenes from her family's past — including her mother's abuse of her brother. Once Tree's mother, M'Vy, arrives home, Tree confronts her about both Brother Rush's presence and the family's past, as Dab's illness worsens.

Characters

* Theresa "Tree" Pratt is the protagonist of the novel, Tree cares for her brother Dab while their mother, M'Vy is out, ostensibly working as a domestic worker * Dabney "Dab" Pratt is Tree's brother, who is developmentally disabled and suffering from a mysterious illness that renders him constantly fatigued and disoriented * M'Vy is Tree and Dab's mother who works as a practical nurse and is often away from the family's apartment * Brother Rush is Tree's uncle who regularly appears through a table in the family's apartment, and shows Tree visions of her family's past * Miss Pricherd is the family's friend and housekeeper *Silversmith, M'Vy's lover

Themes

''Sweet Whispers'' contains

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

elements — the ghost character of Brother Rush appears in an otherwise realistic setting. M'Vy tells Tree that she can see ghosts because of the family's African heritage. Hamilton explores questions of identity, the supernatural, the need to belong within a family, and encounters with death through a Black American point of view. The character of M'Vy showcases a complicated motherhood, as she is often away from the apartment (and engaged in abuse of Dab when he was younger.) "Hamilton has not created a traditional, stereotypic, idealized mother," wrote one critic. Hamilton included the ghost of Brother Rush as a literary device to represent the idea that people carry their pasts with them.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'', in reviewing ''Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'', called it "One of Hamilton's deeply felt family stories" and wrote "like other Hamilton novels this has its rough edges, but they are outweighed here by the blazing scenes, the intensity of Tree's feelings, the glimpses of Dab through her eyes, and the rounded characterization of Vy." Author Katherine Paterson, reviewing the novel in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', noted "the last time a first paragraph chilled my spine like this one, I was 16 years old, hunched over a copy of ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

''." In the '' Interracial Books for Children Bulletin'', Geraldine Wilson wrote that the novel "is like a thoughtfully designed African American quilt. It is finely stitched, tightly constructed and rooted in cultural authenticity." ''Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'' has also been reviewed by the ''

English Journal ''English Journal'' (previously ''The English Journal'') is the official publication of the Secondary Education section of the American National Council of Teachers of English. The peer-reviewed journal has been published since 1912 and features ...

'', and the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

''.

Awards

''Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'' won the 1983 Coretta Scott King Author Award and the 1983

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The ''Boston Globe''–''Horn'' Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonficti ...

. The novel was a finalist for the 1983

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writer ...

and was also a

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (1956–2023), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Ne ...

Honor winner.

References

External links

Virginia Hamilton papers
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, which features material on ''Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush 1982 children's books 1982 American novels American children's novels Coretta Scott King Award–winning works Paranormal novels Ghost novels Literature by African-American women Philomel Books books Novels set in Ohio Novels set in the Caribbean Novels about poverty Novels about disability African-American novels Children's books set in Ohio Children's books set in the Caribbean Children's books about ghosts Children's books about disability Newbery Honor–winning works Child abuse in fiction Works about single parent families African-American children's novels