Book Review: "The Salt Eaters" by Toni Cade Bambara

Books about depression never go unnoticed in the world of the literary novel. Books with undertones of depression including works such as: “Absalom, Absalom!” By William Faulkner, “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and even parts of various Stephen King novels have managed to grasp the hearts and minds of literary critics for over hundreds of years starting with “The Anatomy of Melancholy” by John Burton. To be able to mix the heightened realms of the psychological novel that depicts depression with something as monumental as a historical event in the 20th century means that the author has succeeded in creating a heavily realistic and relative backdrop for their book. In the novel “The Salt Eaters” by Toni Cade Bambara, we get various instances of the political narrative blended with the ideas and researchers related to the depression of the main character - this creates a more experimental tone and sets the novel apart from many other of its counterparts in the same era.

Set in a fictional town within the state of Georgia, this book opens in the 1970s, some years after the Civil Rights’ Movement in the USA and our main character, a veteran of that movement, is suffering extreme amounts of depression. An alienation from the newer versions of the movement, she has come to feel like she is useless and has no purpose, and so before the events of the novel open up, she has slit her wrists and tried to gas herself to death. When the novel opens, she is being ‘healed’ by a woman called Minnie Ransom. Our main character, who is named Velma, has a failing marriage that is slowly deteriorating. Her husband, Obie was an activist as well, also becoming strained with the new factions of the movement.

When Minnie calls on a woman called ‘Old Wife’ there is a moral resistance by Velma against this more apt healer. Old Wife is described as a woman who puts people back on the straight and narrow of their lives, healing them to the best versions of themselves. There is much talk about folkloric ideas of the African American sub-cultures and, as super interesting as they are, they also fit perfectly into the next pieces of the story. The long dialogues, the strange descriptions and the psychological nature of the novel has made this very clearly more than just a novel. It is a slice of history - though it is fiction, it is still something historical.

One of the themes I really enjoyed (as you all already know) was the theme of folklore. There is a great amount of concentration on the folklore of the sub-cultures, but there is also a great amount of almost implicit dialogue about them. This dialogue is normally between the Old Wife and Minnie - one of which is refusing to accept that an idea from the folklore world may be applicable in this situation. An amazing book about the healing process, long and gruelling and yet, even more difficult when the character involved was so involved with what was the greatest, most incredible period of activism of the 20th century.

In conclusion, I would like to tell everyone to make sure that they read this book at least once in their life. It is a brilliantly formed novel which involved every aspect of the experience of the healing process, and everyone who is involved with it as well. I am honestly still in awe about the whole thing, there is a clear blend between what has already happened and what is about to happen which leaves you hoping, holding your breath and crossing your fingers that one day, things will get better.