Sent for You Yesterday

Sent for You Yesterday follows Albert Wilkes' return to Homewood, a Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh's East End, after seven years as a fugitive. The narrative moves through multiple time periods in Homewood's history, centering on the 1940s and 1970s. The story is told through an intricate web of voices and memories from different characters in the community. Brother Tate, Lucy Tate, Carl French, and Albert Wilkes emerge as central figures whose lives intersect across decades in the neighborhood. The novel forms part of Wideman's Homewood Books, though it stands as an independent work. Set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh's urban landscape, it chronicles the relationships, struggles, and resilience of multiple generations of Homewood residents. This complex narrative explores themes of memory, identity, and community in African American life. Through its layered storytelling, the book examines how the past continues to shape both individual lives and collective experience.

Readers describe this novel as challenging but rewarding, requiring focus to follow its non-linear narrative structure and shifting perspectives. Many note it takes multiple readings to grasp the full depth of the story. What readers liked: - Rich portrayal of Pittsburgh's Homewood community - Complex character development and relationships - Poetic language and musicality - Integration of history and family stories What readers disliked: - Confusing timeline jumps - Difficult to track multiple narrators - Some passages require re-reading to understand - Dense, stream-of-consciousness writing style Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (157 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (11 ratings) Sample reader comments: "The writing draws you in like jazz music" - Goodreads reviewer "Had to read it twice to understand the connections" - Amazon reviewer "Beautiful but bewildering on first read" - LibraryThing user "Captures the neighborhood's soul" - Goodreads reviewer

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⭐ Winner of the 1984 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, making Wideman the first author to win this prestigious prize twice 🏠 Homewood, the novel's setting, was where Wideman himself grew up, and his intimate knowledge of the neighborhood infuses the narrative with authentic detail and emotional depth 📚 The book is part of what became known as the "Homewood Trilogy," alongside "Damballah" and "Hiding Place," though each work can be read independently 🎓 John Edgar Wideman was a Rhodes Scholar and the second African American to receive this honor, later becoming a distinguished professor at Brown University 🎭 The character of Albert Wilkes was partially inspired by real events in Pittsburgh's history, blending historical fact with fiction to create a compelling narrative about community memory