Rating: 
Summary: Inside Thoughts
Review: I loved the way Pearl Cleage created the characters in this book. She captured each and every aspect and personality qualitites of the characters in such a way that I have never seen another author do. The story itself wasn't as entertaining to me as I'd hoped it would be, but in the process of reading it I learned a lot about the different kinds of relationships between certain people. Take Gerry and Joyce for example. Gerry is supposed to be this highly adored, somewhat of a saint in the community, someone with high morals, but when she's confronted by Joyce, her way of holding herself to the community crashes to the floor. She becomes two-faced towards Joyce because Joyce contradicted Gerry's way of thinking. Another example would be how Ava and Eddie's relationship helped them both grow. Ava had a lot to deal with all at once. Her life changed dramticaly and when she found Eddie and fell in love with him, she found comfort and strength in herself that she thought she would never acomplish. It helped her understand the world better and herself as well.
This book was great for a learning expirence. I learned about the world through the pages eys as well as the author. I would definatly say now that people are not always what they seem to be and actually mean it.
This book was also emotionally gripping. When Frank broke the babies legs, I found myself hurrying to read that part of the book as fast as I can just to get through the images I had in my head. I kept thinking to myself, "How could someone do that?" or "What a jerk!" but then I would relize it's just a story. It's not really happening.
I think the only thing I found wrong with the book in my opinion was the language Cleage used to get her points across about her characters. Im not a real big fan of swear words to be honest and I believed Cleage could have wrote the book and gotten her point across effectivly without them.
All together this book was worth my time reading . I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to a friend.
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Summary: This could happen to anybody
Review: I just finished reading "What looks like crazy..." which I had just gotten my hands on some hours ago! It is the kind of book you read in one go, so indulge yourself one evening, slow down & read it from cover to cover. I didn't give this book a 5 star rating because that would mean I rate it as one of the best books I've ever read, which isn't true. But it's one of those books that are uplifting, although realistic, well written, although not the best literature you can imagine, & all in all, it's a story that is taken out of everyday life (even the happy ending!). If you haven't read a good, fast paced novel for a while, try this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Story
Review: This was my book club's pick for November. If you are interested in a nice love story with a message about society...this is the one for you. It brings out another side of the HIV/AIDS story as well as provides a focus on what really matters in life.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Author
Review: I loved this book and hated when it ended. I can't wait to read the sequel -- I Wish I Had A Red Dress! You go Pearl Gleage!
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Summary: Don't be scared off
Review: HIV, teen pregnancy, suicide, drug abuse, violence: exactly what you want to spend your nice, relaxing evening reading about, right? Well, don't worry, although it sounds thoroughly depressing, this is actually a totally uplifing book, due mostly to the strength of the witty main character, Ava. Although some of the other characters were a bit sketchy (yes, I believe people can change- but was it really believable for Eddie to have changed that much?), this was a quick, enjoyable book, and I highly recommend it, especially to those who love those feel-good Oprah-type stories.
Rating:
Summary: Touched my heart
Review: I didn't expect this book to tug at my 'heartstrings' the way it did. In fact I thought it might be depressing considering it's sober subject matter. However, it was a heartwarming, eyeopening read, and at the same time quite sensitive. I sent it to a close friend so that she might share the literary wealth with me. It would also be a great book for anyone who has, or knows someone who has, HIV or ANY life threatening disorder.
Rating:
Summary: Best book in years
Review: As a mother of a small child I get very little time for reading. I was looking for a good vacation book for this summer as my mother in law was available for some baby sitting. The book never made it to vacation. I devoured it in two nights after the baby was in bed. I loved the characters. I've always been frustrated by holier than thow people who claim christianity and this dealt well with that. Being a nurse, I also thought it dealt very well with the struggles of a postitive HIV positive woman. But best of all it was just a good story. I gave it to a friend for a plane trip she was taking and it too didn't make the trip - got devoured prior!
Rating:
Summary: Life may not be a bed of roses... but...
Review: Imagine a novel narrated by a woman diagnosed with HIV in her prime. Imagine that while this diagnosis changes everything, the woman overcomes her own demons to protect the lives of her friends and family surrounding her. Imagine a happy ending. Impossible? Not with this novel!Pearl Cleage's first novel, What Looks Like Crazy, is a testament to the strong character of women in this day and age. A highly successful African-American businesswoman in Atlanta realizes her life must change when diagnosed with HIV. After writing letters to her sex partners over the past ten years, she decides to visit her sister in Michigan before moving across the country. Instead of a restful three-month visit, Ava becomes ensconced in her sister Joyce's existence. A much needed women's group is developed to teach the teens basic information such as safe sex, self defense and child care despite opposition from the traditional church administration. A crack-addicted newborn joins Ava and Joyce's family. And Ava becomes dangerously close to an old friend, Eddie, that may keep her in Michigan longer than anticipated. A heartwarming tale' I can't wait to read Cleage's latest novel!
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Summary: A novel about community love
Review: I really enjoyed this book and have recommended it to many of my students. What's most important about Cleage's story is that she writes about Black community love--the need for coming together for our salvation. This book is wonderful novel to read along side bell hooks's "Salvation: Black People and Love." Both deal with a subject that is all to often overlooked when talking about is needed in the Black community today. I look forward to reading other works by Cleage.
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Summary: A woman finds love despite her world falling apart
Review: Ava leaves Atlanta, Hotlanta, the land of opportunity for black folk in America. She has lived the fast Buppie life and now the chickens have come home to roost. Ava discovers she is HIV positive and suddenly her world comes to halt.
She reluctantly returns home to her hometown of Idlewood, Michigan to be with her sister Joyce and in the process find her roots and learns to love the town she fleetingly escaped as about eighteen years ago.
She soon finds the things that she hated, small town, nosey neighbors become a part of her life. When it is discovered she is an AIDS carrier, she becomes the object of concern, ridicule and targets for some folks. But there is Eddie, who she has known all her life. He too, has come back to live in Idlewood after a bout in Vietnam and a wild life that earned him the moniker, "Crazy Eddie". Now he is the reserved dreadlocked, medidating carpenter and Renaissance man.
Eddie's slow easy going personality and laid back attitude gives Ava the strength to accept her illness and eventually to love again. She has opposition in the form of the pastor and his wife who oppose her sister's Joyce's efforts to mentor young women but while Ava's past is out in the open those holier-than-thou folks who have been hiding in the dark is soon brought to the light.
This is an endearing story that just happened to be an Oprah pick. A different contemporary love story.
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