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Summary: very good
Review: being that i am from atlanta as this author is, i am very proud of this book. this was a very good book and i cant wait for more books by her.
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Summary: Ordinary is not always Crazy
Review: I can't believe i missed this book when it first came out. i'm glad i read the book it was excellent.Plear Cleage "What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day" is a wonderful book. I felt all the characters, once I picked this book up I was not putting it down until I was done reading. Meeting the folks in Idlewild Michigan was a trip all by it self when reading this books pack your bags because you are going on an adventure. Cleage put so much love into her characters especially Ava i was os happy for her like they say there is alway someone out there waiting to love you! So if you have not read "What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day" make sure you do it took me a while but I got to it and I loved.
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Summary: Enjoyed this book
Review: I picked this book (audiotape) up, knowing nothing about it, and so enjoyed it that I thought I should mention it. I guess, being an Oprah book, it doesn't really need it. Nevertheless, I was quite pleased, and especially with the audiotape. Authors reading their own work are usually disappointing; not so the case here. Pearl Cleage performs it well (as well she should.)
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Summary: Not At All A Downer On The Subject Of AIDS.
Review: Pearl Cleage is right on the money with her perception of the attitudes and routines of people in Atlanta and of those in Southern Michigan. I am originally from Michigan and once lived in Atlanta for over four years, so a strong sense of familiarity flooded over me as I read further into this book. It's a wonderful novel about real life and the strength of human spirit even through the worst of times. There is plenty inside at which to laugh and cry hysterically. Pearl Cleage makes each character unique and especially makes her audience care deeply for Ava and her sister as they fight for those things worth fighting for. I can particularly appreciate the fact that the story did not dwell on the unfortunate and painful effects of the AIDS virus. Instead of being a book about a person who is dying from AIDS, "What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day" is about a person who is starting her life over and living with AIDS, and the stigma that surrounds it, as best she can. All while bringing a little help and happiness into the other not-so-perfect lives of those who truly care about her along the way. I will read it again and again. E.K.
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Summary: Crazy Is Ordinary
Review: I don't like to read a book when it is the "in" book to read. So, 3 years after being shrined by O, I got around to reading this book. Crazy is ordinary in my world. The main point of this book is about choices. The choices we make in handling things within our control and the many, many, many things that are out of our control. Ava, the main character, is strong, whimsical and weak all at the same time. I admired her for being strong in thought, but humble in action. She could have been more "in your face," especially in dealing with Gerry, but she just sort of slid under the radar and let the events of life play out (thankfully in her favor). As a first novel, I found the book easy to read, refreshing, real to the Black experience, and relative as to issues of sex, love, family, friendship and religion. The only thing that kept me from rating it a 5 is that the characters and plot could have been more developed. You always felt that more could have been told than you were left to fill in the blanks or imagine. This was a very good book though.
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Summary: Read Toward Faith
Review: What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day is an excellent story about a woman, Ava Johnson, visiting her sister Joyce for the summer. What makes this story so interesting is the every day life of Ava, who has the AIDS virus. This book is a great portrayal of the love between sisters, fighting to make this world a better place. I guarantee it will bring joy to the heart of anyone who reads it. Also, this story shows tremendous faith how Ava could live with a good attitude toward life. This adult book is has very short chapters making it less complicated and easy to understand. I recommend this to anyone who is willing to fall into a good book. Be prepared to be amazed.
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Summary: a great selection
Review: Remembering back What Looks like..... was a great choice for Oprah's Bookclub. I can remember reading it as that month's selection. While I an continually disappointed with Oprah's book choices . What Looks like Crazy... was a very good selection. There's a phrase from this book that I will forever remember . "If any body ask you tell them I love me so ... what ever (his or her) name might be. As I remember it was a 4 /4.5* or quite possibly 5* read.
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Summary: When do you stop living?
Review: Ava Johnson left Idlewild, Michigan, in search of whatever people leave home in search of. She just knew that what she was looking for was not in this small town 40 miles north of Detroit. Not liking Detroit, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia and was enjoying a lucrative Hair Salon business. Things were going good for Ava, she had yet to meet the love of her life but had finally decided she was tired of dry runs, and had been celibate for a year. Then life reared it's ugly head; Ava tested positive for HIV. Having absolutely no idea of whom, when or where, she informed ALL of her former lovers. When an irate wife stormed Ava's salon wanting to know why she wrote her husband and demanding she take back what she wrote, Ava knew it was time to close shop and move on. She went home to her sister, Joyce, the one person who loved her unconditionally. Her plans were to spend a couple of months at home and then move to Calfornia to await the inevitable after all, she already knew her fate. Ava had been in Idlewild less than a week before she was knee deep in all of the goings on AND exposed to an emotion that had eluded her all her life. She couldn't believe she had left all those years ago, in search of something that was right in her backyard. No, she thought, couldn't be, especially not now, this is just too crazy. Cleage used this wonderful vehicle to share with us a tragic situation handled in a very passionate and realistic way to say that there is a lot of living left whatever the situation, if we would just live it. And more importantly, to show Ava that what looks like crazy... could just possibly be love. Reviewed by aNN
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Summary: Expression of Heritage
Review: This novel deals with the experiences of an African American woman with HIV. The main character, Ava, expresses her heritage in several different situations. One of which is when she is describing her trip back to Michigan. Ava talks about how white men get uneasy when they have to sit next to her on the plane. Not only are they uncomfortable because she keeps her hair short but also because she is black. It used to make her feel awkward, but now she sees their discomfort as a necessary part of enlightenment. Ava's reflection of her life in Atlanta gives another example of the Africian American experience. Many people's stereotype of blacks is that they are of low social and economic status. However, Ava sees Atlanta as the place to be if you are "young and black and had any sense." It's obvious that her social circle in Atlanta was affluent as she describes cocktail receptions, well-dressed friends, and business awards. The African American perspective of book is also evident in the important role that the church plays. Ava and her sister start a group for young teenage mothers, and they want to hold the meeting in their church. The preacher won't let the group meet there because he feels that some of the programs , like sex education do not seem proper for unmarried girls. This is a huge problem because the church is the only place place for Ava and her sister to gather all of these girls together. Traditionally, as is shown in this book, the Baptist church is a very imporant part of Africian American communities.
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Summary: Eye opener, realistic and just plain ole' good!
Review: This book taught me something about myself. I started reading this book a while back, but wouldn't finish it. I couldn't figure out why I just didn't like this book. Now, I realize that I have a problem with HIV or people who have HIV. Call it homophobic or what you will. Now, I realized I am just scared of the disease. I am informed about how people get it, and the measures it takes to protect ones self from getting it, but there is a deep fear within myself of this disease. I finally decided to finish this book and was so sorry I hadn't read it from beginning to end without the interruption. This is a very realistic book with down-to-earth characters that I could relate to. "What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day" is about Ava Johnson, a 30ish single heterosexual black woman who finds she is HIV positive. She is a beautician with her own business, living in the "black mecca" of Atlanta, Georgia and has everything going for her until now. She decides to sell her business, leave Atlanta and return to her childhood home of Idlewild, Michigan, a place that has once attempted to be the black paradise of the midwest. Upon returning to Idlewild Ava soon realizes coming home is never what you expect. All Ava wants is peace and quite, but shortly after she arrives, her loving sister Joyce (self-proclaimed social worker of the century)brings home a what could possibly be a crack addicted baby. Which means peace and quite is out the door. But Ava finds much more in Idlewide than she bargained for. She eventually found peace, love, and happiness but this threesome doesn't come without self-examination, pain, lots of love, quite a bit of adventure and a hugh push from her sister. This book doesn't let you down, you laugh, you cry, you get damn mad. But in the end you are glad you have read Cleage's first novel.
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