The Turner House

Background

Though Flournoy's father's family is originally from Detroit, she had not lived in the city, so did considerable research to be able to depict the different 20th century periods of life in Detroit depicted in the novel.

Plot

The novel tells the story of a Detroit family with 13 children as it responds to the economic woes of the city, in both the 1920s, and during the 1980s. The house that sees the changes in the family, also becomes a character in the family's saga.

Style

Flournoy gives considerable tribute to Zora Neale Hurston as an insipiration for her work, and reviewers made comparison of the novel to works like Hurston's Mules and Men.

Reception

The novel received strong positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Flournoy’s writing is precise and sharp, and despite several loose ends [...] the novel draws readers to the Turner family almost magnetically." The Nation reviewer Hannah K. Gold focused on how the novel successfully explores the dispossessed African American family, and praises the novel writing that it is "a story transformed by intragenerational retelling rather than passed down. It’s quick and dirty mythmaking." Writing at The New York Times, Matthew Thomas called The Turner House a "assured and memorable novel."

Buzzfeed reported that The Turner House enjoyed strong sales in addition to positive critical reception: "According to Bookscan, which tracks around 70% of U.S. book sales, her book has sold over 15,000 copies in paperback and hardcover as of April [2016]; anything over 10,000 is generally considered high for literary fiction."

Awards