Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining look at 1950's Mississippi
Review: In 1956 Petal, Mississippi, Black Even Grade and local seer Joody Two Sun become lovers. Not long after that Even meets teenage white girl Valuable Korner, whose mother is the town hooker. Though he loves the weird Joody, Even understands Valuable's need of family as he himself was abandoned by his mother almost three decades ago. Meanwhile, Valuable falls in love with her neighbor Jackson McLain. However, when Valuable becomes pregnant, Jackson flees town. Still, she dreams of taking care of her "Pearl" as she calls her unborn child. However, the young girl knows her family will provide no help. She turns to Joody and Valuable to help her through her pregnancy. MOTHER OF PEARL provides readers with a taste of small town Mississipi in the early stages of the Civil Rights movement. None of the characters seem to permanently hook the reader as much as the setting does. However, what Melinda Haynes does do is imbue her characters with human flaws and attributes that change as they do. Thouh the varying misfortunes of each of the ensemble cast overwhelms the audience at times, readers will know wht this novel is a selection of Oprah's Book Club. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A Simile Factory
Review: Like a typewriter stuck on one letter, this book is full of similes. As repetitive as a woodpecker working on an old oaken log, this book is full of similes. If you enjoy similes like a dog enjoys scratching his fleas, then you may find this book entertaining. Like a freshman English professor tired of reading excessive adjectives in assignments, I did not. I too stuck it through to the very end, wading through the tedious and verbose prose; probably more because I'm stubborn (and always finish my books) and not due to the fact that I was enjoying the read. The storyline, though sometimes confusing, was above average. It almost begs a sequel. But, like an imperfect movie that gets mediocre reviews, this book needs no continuation. As a fairly frequent reader, I've got one last question:
How did this make Oprah's book club?!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Simile Factory
Review: Like a typewriter stuck on one letter, this book is full of similes. As repetitive as a woodpecker working on an old oaken log, this book is full of similes. If you enjoy similes like a dog enjoys scratching his fleas, then you may find this book entertaining. Like a freshman English professor tired of reading excessive adjectives in assignments, I did not. I too stuck it through to the very end, wading through the tedious and verbose prose; probably more because I'm stubborn (and always finish my books) and not due to the fact that I was enjoying the read. The storyline, though sometimes confusing, was above average. It almost begs a sequel. But, like an imperfect movie that gets mediocre reviews, this book needs no continuation. As a fairly frequent reader, I've got one last question:
How did this make Oprah's book club?!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Masterpiece
Review: MOTHER OF PEARL is a novel about the truths of life and love. Set in Petal, Mississippi in the summer of 1956, Haynes opens her story with a vague description of the initial characters, but this only draws the reader in furthur to know more. The story unfolds for 28 year old Even Grade, a black man who is an orphan in need of a family. As Even finds himself falling in love with the town crazy, Joody Two Sun, 14 year old Valuable Korner is also experiencing new love in her lifelong friend Jackson McLain.
Haynes finds a way to incorporate very colorful and descriptive language into a masterpiece that comes together beautifully to create one big picture. Some think that the complexity of the language takes away from the book, but I think that it adds to the overall effect that the reader experiences when discovering this heartfelt story of two lives.
Rating:
Summary: Mother of Pearl Review
Review: Mother of Pearl is not a novel you can forget. The author brings up issues that affect society and shows that with the help of those in their lives it creates who they are in the future. Mother of Pearl is about the struggles and issues of a small Southern town, whose people face racism, hiprocrisy, and hatred. But most importantly it shows how love and friendship can help those who suffer and who were alone realize their worth. That even though there are those who talk about you because you don't wear the right clothes or are the considered the town's whore,this novel shows that if we listen to those who judge us we will never appreciate life and waste our time worrying what they might say. In the novel a fourteen year old girl, who is the daughter of the town's whore, falls in love with her childhood friend Jackson. Both of them are friends, but their families are different. Even Grade, a thiry three year old black man, falls in love with Joody Two Son, a mixed race woman who the town thinks is crazy.
Each one of these characters shows that no matter what we do it will not turn out perfect unless we make it perfect and strive for the positive side instead of the negative side. Although in the novel Even Grade loves Joody he is attracted to a beautiful black woman named Grace. This shows that although Even has the woman he loves there is still temptation towards another woman from his side that can cause unhappiness. The novel brings about many issues that people face. Mother of Pearl gives the reader hope and faith that things will turn out good.Maybe not now, but once it does we will realize that it was worth the wait.Mother of Pearl establishes a ground base of human life and that is why I give this novel four out of five stars because of its respect for human autonomy.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth it
Review: My friend recommended this book, and it was well worth reading it. I always check other reviews before starting a new book, and this time I was afraid I would not like reading this book. I am glad I was wrong.
Mother of Pearl has many characters, including Valuable Korner, daughter of the town's whore. It was set in a small town in Mississippi in the late 1950s.
Melinda Haynes has a unique way of telling the story. It is not an easy reading, by the way. You just can't skip a word she wrote. This was her first novel, and she did a great job. She used her own Southern roots and language to describe the characters and the events.
I recommend this book, but it is not one of those novels you just cannot put down, no matter what. It can get boring sometimes, but in the very next chapter you are hooked again. I really enjoyed reading it, and I plan on reading it again someday.
Rating: 
Summary: A COMMANDING READING
Review: Oprah picked it, and so do millions of others because this powerful debut novel captivates with its truth. Set in 1956 Mississippi, with a compelling narrative that reveals characters in all their frailty and glory, Mother Of Pearl synthesizes the longings and aspirations humans share. The author speaks with a compassionate voice and actor Nan Visitor performs with a commanding one, perfectly capturing the nuances of saints and sinners alike in this memorable tale of what can happen in a single year.
Rating:
Summary: A COMMANDING READING
Review: Oprah picked it, and so do millions of others because this powerful debut novel captivates with its truth. Set in 1956 Mississippi, with a compelling narrative that reveals characters in all their frailty and glory, Mother Of Pearl synthesizes the longings and aspirations humans share. The author speaks with a compassionate voice and actor Nan Visitor performs with a commanding one, perfectly capturing the nuances of saints and sinners alike in this memorable tale of what can happen in a single year.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time and Energy
Review: Oprah's books usually don't catch my attention, but since this was a hardcover at two bucks, I figured it might help while away the time this summer. This book is a complete and total MESS. I can't decide which is the most annoying and distracting: the pseudo-dreamlike images, the incredibly stupid names Haynes gives her characters, the time-worn "who's the father?" plot device, the derivitive southern gothic elements... oh I could go on and on. Usually I like to give a book the benefit of the doubt and keep reading regardless. But why I kept on til the bitter end with this one is beyond me. This book was horrible on so many levels. At two bucks, I got robbed!!
Rating:
Summary: The Reader's Guide to Poor Writing...
Review: The reviewer who used the word "pretentious" summed this one up. This book is nothing if not a long, boring, poorly edited anecdote. We have here an unrealistic portrayal of the South, circa 1956 Mississippi. No characters are fully realized, and cheap symbolism is casually thrown about with little apparent link to anything. The repetition of the phrase "You say that true.", and the broad use of the term "hasn't got a clue" (remember, this is 1956 Mississippi) cause the reader to wonder what Martha Levin (the editor)does for a living. Author Haynes needs to pick up a copy of Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" (available here at Amazon) and get this clue: OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. How I trudged through the pages of this book and completed it is beyond my understanding. Perhaps I could not believe that these words were actually published.
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