La Vinia Delois Jennings's Toni Morrison and the Idea of Africa is an exciting text which strikes at the heart of some of the most fundamental debates in African American studies today. Jennings is primarily concerned with the role that traditional African religious symbols play in Morrison's work, encouraging scholars to view canonized texts (including Song of Solomon, Sula and The Bluest Eye) through a West African theological framework as opposed to a default Western, Christian lens.

As the cover blurb notes, Jennings's work is based on detailed research into religious philosophy in West African cultures. Her argument is bolstered by well-structured and detailed character case studies which align major figures from Morrison's key texts with central ideas and figures in West African theologies. Particularly compelling is her third chapter, on the relation between female characters in Sula, Beloved and Paradise and West African “witches.”

Although an academic text that focusses on Toni Morrison may initially appeal to scholars of literature, Jennings's offering is very much interdisciplinary. Her analysis (to her credit) is strong and perhaps more detailed in its attention to theology, philosophy and history than to literary studies. The considerable strength of this work is Jennings's willingness to wade into the retention/assimilation debate in African American studies – the author essentially offers Morrison's literature as evidence of African retention. More specifically, Jennings maintains that the survival of African religious symbolism (“brought to the Americas by enslaved West Africans”) is traceable in Morrison's “landscapes, interior spaces and on the bodies of her characters” (back cover). Jennings succeeds in renewing the historical and cultural arguments made by “retentionist” Sterling Stuckey (Slave Culture, Nationalist Theory and the Foundation of Black Africa, 1987) for the contemporary reader of black literature.

For those seeking a development upon the exploratory offerings of Vashti Crutcher Lewis and Therese E. Higgins in the field of “Africanness” and Morrison, Jennings's book will prove invaluable. However, for scholars unfamiliar with African and West Indian history, Jennings's apparent positing of “the Caribbean” as akin to “West Africa” in its cultural relation to the United States may be slightly difficult to negotiate at points. (Jennings discusses Caribbean cosmology and folklore as much as she does African religions and runs the risk of inadvertently “othering” any non-American black culture as a site for “Africanness” and “blackness” regardless of geography.) This said, for anyone interested in the relation of black American culture to West African religion or for those interested in Morrison's work in general, Jennings's book is unquestionably a bold, compelling and invaluable contribution to the field. This study undoubtedly confirms her position as an authoritative and engaging Morrison scholar as well as a significant voice in African American cultural debate in general.