Sound Commentary - Your Wise Guide to Audiobooks and Audio Book Reviews

Plug "Urban Lit" into your browser and it will explode with librarians talking about this genre many find troublesome. In the adult prison libraries I serve, it is particularly controversial as, sadly, we are controlled by individuals outside the academic or literary sphere. Many prison administrators are outright banning these books. What's the issue?  A hardcore depiction of African-American urban street life, with attendant rough language, gratuitous sex, drug use, and violence.  Well-meaning officials argue these books are counterproductive to treatment and rehabilitation. Some are more "hard-core" than others.

This new Nikki Turner is Urban-Light. The character, Fabliola, is born to a struggling single mother who, recognizing her daughter's musical ability, sacrifices to offer the lessons and advantages she hopes will one day make her a star. Fabliola is full of focus and determination, tempered by a natural sweetness. Her self-respect has her refuse the sexual advances of the man who could make fame and fortune happen. An older man, Casino, is an ex-thug-turned-almost-legitimate businessman. When their lives intersect, Turner's novel becomes pure Danielle Steele with a hip-hop attitude.  Bahni Turpin is a fantastic narrator ably striding the multi-lingual / cultural speech of individuals who themselves must straddle and function in two worlds. I have no idea where the "urban lit" debate will lead in prison libraries, public libraries, or publishing houses. I only know that when put on my shelves, they are grabbed and gobbled by the most reluctant of readers. And sometimes those readers move on to more books.

Turner, Nikki. Ghetto Superstar. Read by Bahni Turpin. 6 CDs. 7.25 hrs. Books on Tape. 2009. 978-1-4159-6493-4. $80.00. Vinyl binder; content; author, reader notes. A

By Nancy Chaplin

Nancy Crowder-Chaplin was a Director of Religious Education for a Unitarian-Universalist church for ten years and, for the last 10 years, a Department of Correctional Education librarian at The Virginia Correctional Center for Women where she also co-ordinates a college program for incarcerated women.