Black Shack Alley left me feeling a certain numb sadness that I can’t quite describe. It felt like I was watching José slowly lose himself and his joy/passion as he followed the path of education and achieved these milestones, and it was quite sad to watch this progress. I could feel my mood dropping throughout this book, as José left people and what he knew behind to start anew.

I think Zobel had a beautiful way of describing feelings that made it easy to understand not just the event but how it impacted him and his life’s path. José’s lack of understanding of his world as a child was conveyed effectively in the writing: they felt as though experiences were being shared through a child’s eyes, though the reader is still able to see beyond his descriptions to the realities of what the events meant.

One line in particular stood out to me: “One of those hands had clutched my little hand one day to take me to school — I could still feel it.” It combined the sadness of losing M’man Tine with the understanding of the support she provided him along the way, and how her sacrifices led him to where he is today. I don’t feel like there’s a word that can describe the way it made me feel, but it was almost a heartaching beauty and sadness.

Much of José’s experiences through this book were shared through the lens of his relationships and what they meant to him. It always felt like he was very grateful for the people in his life who created a sense of belonging and cared so deeply for him in every new place he went. Sacrifice in relationships was an important theme in this novel. M’man Tine sacrificing so much for José, working to ensure that he would have a better life, protecting him from harm, doing whatever she could to help him to be more free, or M’man Delia sacrificing to ensure that he had the money to attend school.

José sacrificed much of himself and his relationships in pursuit of education. While his successes were indeed a win, it didn’t necessarily always feel that way. It seemed to me that his successes felt more like a relief that his family’s sacrifices weren’t in vain and it was more of the fact that they would be happy that gave him his joy. I admired the care that all of the people in his life showed for each other: his friends supported him and he supported them in whatever ways they could. These relationships were built from a genuine love and care for each others’ happiness and success, and it’s not necessarily something that I feel is often portrayed in literature outside of romantic love.

Who do you have in your life that’s supported your success, and do you think we show enough recognition for what people in our lives mean to us?