Tayari's Blog: Fountain of Youth?
Posted by TayariJones on March 27, 2008 12:15 PM
Filed under
Bookshelf
I read over on Fred's blog that he was reading Pearl Cleage's new 
book, See It All And Done The Rest. Pearl is my favorite springtime author, so I headed over to amazon to pick it up. She and I had talked about this book while she was working on it. The protagonist is the grandmother of Zora, one of the minor characters from her noirish Baby Brother's Blues.
Chek out the cover. The model, pretty as she can be, is no granny! Are young women considered more marketable? I know that mature women are seldom used to sell beer, but what about books? Even when the market is women?
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There are 4 comments on "Fountain of Youth?". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Ladylee ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
I've been looking forward to this book. It's our next book club selection, and Pearle will also attend the meeting. OH JOY!
March 27, 2008 01:30 PM
Comment #2, by Jackie
Maybe. As a middle aged woman, I tend to shy away from those covers that look like they are targeted to twentysomethings or thirtysomethings. If I am browsing with no book in mind, book art does have a draw. Put a gray-haired woman on the cover and I will pick it up (I found a great mystery this way, about crime-solving grannies in a retirement home). Show a short, flippy skirt or some youngun and I do like Dionne: Walk on By.
March 27, 2008 03:06 PM
Comment #3, by John Palazzo
The cover of the book is yet another good example of how fixated the publishing world is on anything but artistic value and literary quality.
The publishing industry has had it's head in the sand since the beginning of time. It's a miracle anything good gets published.
March 31, 2008 12:01 PM
Comment #4, by minaj
What bothered me most about the cover art was not the youth of the model, as misguided as that was, but the complete lack of artistry and creativity of the cover. Compared the the covers of "Look Like Crazy" or "Babalon Sisters" or "Red Dress", this cover just shows laziness on the part of the publisher. It is as if they sat down and said, "Mmmm... her largest demographic seems to be Black women between the ages of 20 and 65, so let's just grab one of those and put her on the cover! That'll make it easy for her readers to find the book." PLEASE! Pearl deserves much, much better!
March 31, 2008 12:53 PM