While the Vietnam War and civil rights struggles tore at the
fabric of society, changes sweeping the country passed by the community where Alison
lived like the waters of the St. Francis River. As it had been since the time
of slavery, everyone in Forrest Town, Arkansas, knew their place.
When Alison finds the decaying, beaten body of a black man snagged
along the riverbank, she has an epiphany: her children will be born into a
hateful society where violence against blacks is accepted, even encouraged.
Deeply troubled, she begins a mind-opening and life-altering journey that will
make her more steadfast and convicted in her belief that all people should be
treated equal. It’s an uphill struggle against everything she has ever been
taught.
Her brother, Jake, and her fiancé, Jimmy Lee, are among
those who brutalize black youths for fun, and most of the town, including the
police and Alison’s father, turn a blind eye. She speaks out timidly when she
can, but is soundly rebuffed or ignored. Desegregation events of the day swirl
around her, sending her life into a tailspin as she grows stronger in character
and more determined to stand up for what is right.
In a community where white woman are not even allowed to
show kindness to a black child, Alison yearns to know more about the dead man
and the families being traumatized by Jimmy Lee and his bullies. She is driven
to show kindness to the victims, even if only to say she is sorry for their
grief.
Although engaged to Jimmy Lee, Alison is repulsed by his
racism, drinking and meanness. She tries to fend him off as he leaves for
college, but in a tragic scene reminiscent of the “Vagina Monologues,” he has
his way with her. And here Melissa Foster’s writing genius shines. On the one
hand, Alison and Jimmy have been intimate and planning marriage for some time. On
the other, she is growing to hate his character. The internal conflict is
stunning—a woman’s perspective that should be required reading for every
redneck in the country.
Burdened with enormous misgivings over her upcoming wedding,
Alison inadvertently meets a gentle soul named Jackson, the brother of a young
man beat up by Jimmy Lee. Jackson is home on military leave. He has experienced
a world where color doesn’t matter, where men of all races fight side-by-side
in war, but he also knows the danger of speaking to a white woman in Forrest
Town. Alison is drawn to Jackson’s kind nature like a moth to flame, and the
two come to know each other through forbidden rendezvous. Before Jackson
returns to the Army, Alison gives in to deep feeling of love for him, and her
life begins to unravel in terrifying ways.
Alison’s internal struggle mirrors the racial struggle
within the country. Her relationships with her family, her husband and her
community are both strengthened and destroyed as the true nature of people are
revealed by the conflicts of the time. I will not expose the turmoil Alison
goes through with Jimmy Lee after her marriage, or how her relationship with
her family turns out, but I will say this: if you have ever wondered what it
would be like to enter the inner conflicts of a young woman driven by her
conscience, then Have No Shame is for
you. Readers will be both saddened and uplifted by this compelling, poignant
and important five-star read … and they won’t be able to put it down until they
reach the end. Bravo, Melissa Foster!
The opinions expressed in this review are those of James L. Hatch, who is solely responsible for its content.
