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Summary: A Taste of Reality
Review: This book was excellent. It talks about what people tend to forget, that racism still exists especially in corporate America. I can relate to the main character having to deal with a difficult marriage and finding out that people of your own race have a problem with the color of your skin. Although I was not happy with the ending, as far as the relationship with her new man goes, I was satisfied that in the end she was the last one standing.
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Summary: a taste of reality
Review: this novel is the best ever. it deals with what we all face in reality in today's society. this novel is a must read.
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Summary: I could totally relate.
Review: I just found out about Ms. Roby and her writting. I have enjoyed all of her work thus far. I really could relate with the Anise. She struggles both career and home, which is something most women have to deal with. However, it just seems that most black women have it supersized. I would recommend this book for a great read. I read it in about 2 days. I really did not like the ending for me it could have been glazed over, instead of pow!
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Summary: Reality? NOT!
Review: A Taste...was my bookclub's selection for March and I couldn't wait to hear the thots of the others on yesterday, because I was second guessing my disappointment in the writing of an author we have followed and grown to dearly love. We represent a group of AA professional women with the average age of 42, many of us have over 20 years of employment experience. While the workplace injustices, discrimination and oppression illustrated in the book were very realistic, we wholeheartedly agree that Anise's response and approach were terribly unrealistic, misrepresenting real-life reflection, feelings and reaction exhibited by proud, educated AA women of our era. With regard to her "husband"...come on SISTAHz...can somebody say CHANGE THE LOCKS??? I don't know an AA woman worth her weight in salt who would have tolerated his arrogant behind walking in the house, unannounced with immediate access the first time after leaving, but certainly not getting yet another chance to do so. He changed his place of residency when he packed his first bag - period the END! And since we can only use 1000 words in our review, I won't even touch the fast paced, Disney story book relationship between Anise & Frank...where was the creativity and intrigue there? I wonder if our authors are attempting to cross-over and appeal to majority readers because several have seemed to lose the pure essence of their previous works which appealed to the hearts and souls of readers who LOOKED like them; unfortunately, A Taste... is a classic example.
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Summary: Not her best work, pure drudgery
Review: I have read all of Ms. Roby's books. I was so excited to see this book and I just knew it was going to be worth the wait. While this book started out fairly interesting, this quickly changed. The pace was too slow. Too many details, not enough story. I found myself skipping to future chapters to see what was going to happen and to see if it was worth my time to finish this boring book. It wasn't. Once I read the end, it was not worth the effort to find out what led up to the conclusion. Don't waste your money. Borrow the book from a friend or check it out at the library.
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Summary: If You Don't Have Anything Else to Read . . .
Review: I was so disappointed in this book. I have read everything by Kimberla Lawson Roby and this work didn't match up to her other books. The story was believable but it didn't have her usual sense of humor and expression that was found in her earlier works. If you just love reading books and you need something to read, go ahead and read it. But I finished this book feeling like she rushed the ending and that there was really no sense of completion.
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Summary: What happened?
Review: I am really disappointed. Ms. Roby has been one of my favorite authors since she first came on the scene, and I have raved about her books from day one. Taste of Reality was so depressing, and the ending was virtually nonexistent. I read it in two days because I kept hoping it would get better, although it never did. I don't regret my purchase, I just wish she would have given us more of what I have come to expect, great writing and page turning plots. I hope she rebounds on the next time around...
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Summary: Race Relations EXPOSED!
Review: Anise seems to have a picture-perfect life, a successful husband, a good career, wonderful friends and family, and material wealth. But soon her whole world begins to unravel. Her marriage is in jeopardy when she finds out that her husband is cheating with a white woman. In fact, her husband begins to resent the fact that he himself is black and tries his best to degrade fellow black people. If that were not bad enough, she finds that her company is blatantly discriminating against both women and blacks. After she is passed over twice for a promotion that she was best qualified for, she decides to fight back. She finds an unlikely ally and a possible relationship with her co-worker Frank. To add further flame to the fire, Frank happens to be white. Now she has to face her own prejudice in order to find love and deal with the scrutiny that may result from being in an interracial relationship. Kimberla Lawson Roby has done an excellent job in exposing race relations. She not only shows discrimination in the work place and amongst whites and blacks, she takes it one step further to include black-on-black discrimination be it color (light vs. dark) or economic. She also provides a healthy dose of "reality" about interracial relationship and leaves the reader to ponder about his or her own prejudices. This is an excellent, quick read that is both romantic and socially conscious. I cannot wait for the author's next novel, which I hope will be a sequel focusing on the possible relationship between Anise and Frank. Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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Summary: REALITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Review: Thank you Ms Roby for writing about an important issue, discrimination in the workplace. The strong support system that Anise had with her mother and friends certainly made her victorious over her many roadblocks. The entertaining way that you described the interrelationships was refreshing. My only negative is that the book ended too quickly. Now can we have a sequel?
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Summary: Bravo!
Review: As usual, Ms. Roby tells a riveting story I hated to put down and was anxious to get back to, with one big difference . . . this story was much better written than her previous works. No jolting point of view changes and word overuse that plagued her earlier novels. Granted, she still has an urge to explain character's motivation after their dialogue, passing up opportunity after opportunity to show this to the reader by describing their body language. But it's a tremendous improvement. Maybe she has a more attentive editor; her previous books had the feel of a rough draft. This is a nicely constructed look at racism in contemporary society, those little covert incidents as well as the ones that are in our faces, cleverly incorporating the protaganist's private life in a largely corporate story, including her romantic relationships, her friendships, and little incidents of everyday life. I didn't find the plot overstated, as some other readers have said. But no book has ever struck me as without flaws. There were some things that got to me. She overused the phrase "I couldn't believe," especially in the early part of the book where Anise was talking to her husband. I wanted to say to her, "Believe it, baby!" I also felt that the best friend was too pushy with her personal beliefs on divorce and interracial dating, especially when she had been divorced herself. But I loved Anise's close relationship with her mother, which seemed especially poignant in light that the book is dedicated to the author's own recently deceased mother. It's a valentine to mother-daughter relationships. The major point I didn't like was the handling of the romantic relationship. It moved too fast and therefore never rang true for me, you know, that too-good-to-be-true plot line. Because of that I kept waiting for a bomb to go off. I wasn't disappointed here, but I could have accepted the bomb more readily if the author hadn't rushed things but instead allowed a strong friendship to develop before dropping it. (I don't mean to sound cryptic, I just don't want to spoil the plot for those who haven't read it yet). I do recommend this book. And I look forward to Ms. Roby's continued growth as a writer.
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