ROLL THE STONE AWAY by Ann Swafford Hite
When I first picked up a copy of Ann Swafford Hite’s new book I thought it was going to be a novel. It is not. It is a memoir. Its title is ROLL THE STONE AWAY and its subtitle is “A Family’s Legacy of Racism and Abuse.”
This memoir tells of people and places that have made a dramatic impact on the life and thoughts of Hite. It is her view of things that happened to people in her family generations before she was born. You can tell she spent much time and energy in exploring her history and is now ready to lay it out for all to see.
Hite takes her readers back to life in the South in the late 1800’s and then comes forward. Aslee Hawkins was Ann Hite’s Great-grandmother. Her life, and specifically her death, cast a pall over the family’s history and reputation. Some information about her great-grandmother was told to Hite by her grandmother Inas Hawkins. And a bit of more information came through Hite’s mother Jeanette.
With each revelation Hite discovered or heard, her view of her family shifted and changed. She was perplexed by the lack of openness about her great-grandmother’s death years after the circumstances surrounding the event had allegedly occurred. There was also a lack of information about her mother’s early years. Hite felt her mother had emotional as well as mental problems but finding someone within the family to discuss this with proved impossible.
Hite is a searcher of truth, but she is also a protector. At times the reader wonders why there was not a direct confrontation to gain information. Ann Hite, along with her family, seems at times willing to look the other way or to let sleeping dogs lie. She states outcomes she believes about her family but in many instances the facts to back them up are not there.
Hite states her book is about “A Family’s History of Racism and Abuse” but the instances of racism are typical instances of how life in the South was during the periods Hite covers. Yes it was wrong but were the actions of Hite’s family any worse or maybe even better than the racist views that were dominant at this tim? Hite appears to think they were worse but readers may disagree.
Then there is the issue of abuse. Hite discusses her mother’s mental problems, but is not very specific in her identification of them. Then, since she is a fair person, she gives instances of compassion and caring on her mother’s part. The same is true with her feelings about her grandmother Inas. She had a complex relationship with her, but along with some of the bad were indications of love and affection towards her grandchild.
Ann Swafford Hite is a very good writer. Her previous novels indicate this. But this is a memoir, a history of her family which she wants to preserve and protect. She wants to preserve the knowledge of the wrongs she perceived as occurring in her family history, but she also wants to be fair and protect some of the people she reflects upon.
A memoir is one of the most personal writings an author can do. Ann Swafford Hite felt compelled to tell the story of her family. The books is told in her voice, screaming for truth but stifled by her sense of protection. It is a paradox but one revealed in a truly admirable effort.
ROLL THE STONE AWAY is published by Mercer University Press. It contains 282 pages and sells for $18.00.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
