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Color Me Jazzmyne

Marian L. Thomas
L.B. Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9780615270678
Reviewed by Jeneke Lesak for RebeccasReads (10/09)

“Color Me Jazzmyne” is an unconventional, yet fascinating first novel by Marian L. Thomas.  At the frighteningly young age of thirteen, Naya Mona (later to be known as the famous jazz singer Jazzmyne) is raped by her own father and eventually gives birth to her son who is taken from her, his whereabouts unknown for many years.  At seventeen, she escapes the intolerable household of her father to live in the city where her voice is discovered by the wrong people.  She meets struggle after struggle; people take advantage of her talent nearly wrecking her spirit, people she thought to be friends use her to get ahead in their own lives.  But she does not break spirit, in spite of her many hardships.   Later in life, as the story opens up, Jazzmyne meets her adult son for the first time since his birth.  Many surprising facts are revealed about her past and her son’s past.
           
Jazzmyne likens her existence to a box of crayons.  Each color expresses a different emotion, strength or weakness that makes up the essence of Jazzmyne.  Although an interesting interpretation to describe her personality, at times I find the metaphor of color to be somewhat distracting from the actual story.  There are too many “and another color was added to my box…” type phrases, when Thomas’ writing elsewhere is so much more reflective and interesting:

“I remember walking back into that place filled with the essence of pure rage and seeing that man still slouched in that corner pushed up against some little thing of a woman and thinking how quickly a broken heart can change you.  Now don’t get me wrong, reality is still a factor.  What I mean, is that you don’t just stop loving someone when you’ve given them the best part of you—your heartbeat.  It’s just that love, heartbeats and all, is easily overshadowed when rage is involved.  You see, rage is beyond the capacity of anger.  If anger is a piece of cold pie, rage is heating the pie up so it tastes like something.  And as I stood in front of him, I heard the ‘ding’ of the microwave.  The pie was done.” 

But this is the purpose of the novel, to find out what color is Jazzmyne, which I still do not know or maybe do not understand her completely.  Perhaps honesty is her color.  In a world of hiding behind fame and from a past of deception from those who were supposed to be the closest, she wants only to be honest and real, especially concerning her son. 

Thomas definitely cuts to the core of serious subject matter: rape and incest and the cutthroat world of the music business.  The shocking reality of it all mixed with Jazzmyne’s relaxed and melodious voice makes “Color Me Jazzmyne” a true reading pleasure.  The book is written in a kind of free flow, stream of consciousness style that one can hear her melody singing through the pages.

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