Virgin Soul - by Judy Juanita (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Geniece Hightower, amidst the Vietnam War, enters college, loses her virginity, juggles academics and work - and joins the Black Panther Party. When Huey Newton is jailed in 1967 and the Panthers explode nationwide, he appoints her editor of the newspaper. As the world shifts seismically, she develops a new identity and struggles to finish college.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>Written in first-person point of view, <em>Virgin Sou</em>l is the semi-autobiographical tale of a young woman's struggle for identity and purpose during one of the most politically and racially charged eras of American history. <em>Virgin Soul</em> focuses on the college years of Geniece Hightower, "Niecy" to the aunts and uncles who raised her. At first meet, Geniece sounds like a typical young woman off to college, meeting her first boyfriend, losing her virginity, building new friendships, questioning her ideals, and juggling her busy schedule with a part-time job. A smart young African American on the cusp of revolution at Oakland City College in 1964, Geniece meets many activists and intellectuals. She begins as a reporter for the school newspaper and narrates her story with a trained journalist's ear for dialogue and gritty details. As she reports for the college newspaper on the black power movement, her own activism is sparked and eventually leads her to make a life-changing decision.</p><p>The novel has four sections: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. As Geniece pursues her education diligently, she receives a different sort of education. The soundtrack of the sixties, the funky lingo of the sixties, protests, guns and the call for armed struggle against oppression, black friends, black lovers, black writings - all form part of a brave new world once she crosses the bridge from high school to college, from junior college to SF State, from Oakland and Berkeley to San Francisco. She describes it: "Dissidents. The streets of Berkeley were the pull for people bucking the system. Nonconformists. [SF]State was pulling people like me. I was not an in-between. I was a junior facing a cast of thousands wanting to be right where I was, a part of something big, essential, swimming in the big ocean."</p><p>By her junior year she has placed herself at the center of the social maelstrom taking place across the country and in the San Francisco Bay Area, by becoming a militant, and a member of the Black Panthers. When Huey Newton is jailed in October 1967 and the Panthers explode nationwide, Geniece follows her ideals and enters the organization's world of protests, community programs, fundraising, FBI agents, police repression and fatal shootouts-- all the while struggling to complete her formal education.</p><p><em>Virgin Soul</em> details the many ways in which her life is forever changed by this whirlwind of activism, drugs, romantic alliances, and friendship/comradeship. Geniece finds her identity as a woman, as an African American, and as an adult while the world around her, everything she holds dear, is in a state of flux. Through her eyes, Geniece's narrative registers the impact of the Vietnam War, Haight Ashbury hippies, the Black Panthers, and a nation at war internally and externally. With the intimacy of a memoir, this tale follows a young woman as she grows from a sexually and politically naive student into an independent woman.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>"Funny and wise . . . a captivating tale about self-love told through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine." --<strong><em>Essence</em></strong></p><p>"Witty and deeply engaging . . . about ideas and the passions generated by revolution and romantic love." --<strong><em>Los Angeles Times</em></strong></p><p>"Electrifying . . . <em>Virgin Soul</em> yields an engaging coming-of-age story, one that recalls a turbulent era in captivating prose."<strong> --<em>San Jose Mercury News</em></strong></p><p>"Juanita's prose immediately immerses the reader in the time and place of its lead character....The unique perspective she offers on a volatile period of American history gives the narrative immediacy and authenticity." --<strong><em>Publishers Weekly</em></strong></p><p>"[With] rhythmic language and nervy dialog . . . this wild ride through the rise of the militant Black Panther Party highlights differing viewpoints within the civil rights movement of the Vietnam era. Fans of Bernice McFadden will enjoy discovering this new author." --<strong><em>Library Journal</em></strong></p><p>"An intriguing look at coming-of-age in the 1960s." --<strong><em>Booklist</em></strong></p><p><em>"Virgin Soul</em> is first class awesome, every page a crackling hungry flame. This novel about a young studious woman immersed in the black revolutionary experience of 60's Berkeley has a freshness and bright ardor that is rare in this lazy climate of American fiction."--<strong>Joy Williams</strong>, author of<strong><em> State of Grace</em></strong></p><p>"Hard to believe it's been almost fifty years since the formation of the Black Panthers. [<em>Virgin Soul</em>] captures that time's particular combination of violence and possibility, and the urgency of young people who invested everything in the possibility of change, even as grand rhetoric was undercut by very human failings." --<strong>Jean Thompson</strong>, author of <strong><em>The Humanity Project</em></strong> and <strong><em>The Year We Left Home</em></strong></p><p>"<em>Virgin Soul</em> is Judy Juanita's exciting debut, a coming-of-age novel set in a time of peace, love and revolution....Though a work of historical fiction, <em>Virgin Soul</em> is an intimate work, heart-breaking and compulsively readable<strong>.</strong>" --<strong>Evan Wright, </strong>author of<strong> <em>Generation Kill</em> </strong></p><p>"Judy Juanita gives readers a very real look at that exciting and turbulent time through the eyes of her strong, questing protagonist. There are pages when the prose lifts into lyricism, so it should be no surprise that the author's writing has for years encompassed poetry as well as reporting."<strong> P.J. Grath, Books in Northport</strong> </p><p>"Set against the rollicking backdrop of San Francisco in the '60s, <em>Virgin Soul</em> tells the story of a young woman becoming involved with the Black Panthers as she sets out to discover herself amid one of the most politically charged times in American history. Recommended for: Those who want to fight the power, while understanding that education might be the most important weapon." <strong>Buzzfeed's 16 Books To Read If You Love San Francisco</strong></p><p> </p><br>
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