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Summary: There is light at the end of the tunnel....
Review: After reading this wonderful, moving book, I was amazed that author Pearl Cleage was able to write so optimistically about such tragic topics: AIDS, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction & crime, society's apathy towards the "wasting" of America's youth. These problems have been faced by people living in "big cities" for years, but now they are spreading to smaller "hometowns" across America. Ms. Cleage's book "What looks like CRAZY..." chronicles the story of two sisters: Ava, who couldn't get away from her hometown fast enough - seeking the fast life in Atlanta, and Joyce, who chose to remain in her sleepy little hometown of Idlewild in Northern Michigan - trying her hardest to make a difference against increasing odds. The reality of life in the fast-lane soon catches up with Ava, and she heads back to her sister and her hometown to heal her spirits and make some major decisions about the rest of her life. However, upon arrival back home in Idlewild, Ava soon realizes that it is no longer a sleepy town. Many of the problems associated with urban living have found their way home to Idlewild. How Joyce helps resolve some of Idlewild's problems, and how Ava resolves her own problems, makes for a warm, often funny, poignant story. I've found that so many of the books on Oprah's reading list are depressing and dark - yes they do deal with "real-life" and people overcoming terrible obstacles - but you come away from reading the books feeling like someone just punched you in the stomach. Ms. Cleage's refreshing book is a story of LIFE & OPTIMISM: "what looks like CRAZY on an ordinary day looks a lot like LOVE if you catch it in the moonlight." How true that is. This book is a MUST read for everyone!
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Summary: Sister No Matter What the price........
Review: Ava and Joyce this a pair that I won't forget. This book has many twist and turns because one the sisters had to endure alot of issues such as losing their parents at an early age, AIDS, losing a spouse, and falling in love again renewing their spirts together from a community that was supposed to be the black Mecca turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the both of them. By the end of the book you will be saying go girl in one breathe and in another saying God DON'T LIKE UGLY so be careful what you wish on others (...)
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Summary: Not so crazy after all
Review: Ava Johnson has been diagnosed with HIV and she wants to move to the more open-minded San Francisco. Before heading to San Francisco, she makes a stop-over in her childhood town, where her widowed big sister lives and works as a social-worker. Ava wants to hang out with her sister and relax, but she soon discovers that the big city problems have moved to the small towns as well. She becomes involved in her sister's social work with teenage mothers, crack addicts etc. The story is written like a sort of diary, and we follow Ava during a few summer months where all sorts of things happen. The subjects being brought up in this book are not happy, and it is hard to imagine that this can be a happy book, but it is. It is also funny, well written, moving, dramatic, touching and very good. The characters are easy to love or hate and you feel like you want to know more about the persons when the books ends.
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Summary: A Look In The Mirror
Review: I couldn't help noticing that one reviewer commented "What unnevered me about some of the reviews is the bad grammar . . ." and went on to say "the amount of people who wrote in . . ." Grammatically correct verbiage is, "the number of people". Amount infers weight; number infers an actual count.
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Summary: What Looks Like Crazy is Insanely Good
Review: I have to say, that I was a bit weary of reading this book at first. It was in Oprah's book club, and I didn't want some book that had a cult following with just middle aged women. I am young and wanted a book that I could not only enjoy, but also relate to. And this book surely helped me to do both. I loved this book, but I love Cleage even more. The way she writes is so similar to the way my girlfriends and I think/talk. The read was so easy...almost too easy! I had to put it down because I didn't want to finish it!I definitely recommend this book to all.
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Summary: Out of all of Oprah's picks
Review: I like this one the best. I know the blurb doesn't sound like much ... An African-American woman diagnosed with HIV goes home to visit big sister. Boy, do I have to tell you ... ignore the blurb and just dive into the book. This is one of the best reads I've read this year. It's not depressing at all ... it's the fighting spirit book that just keeps you upbeat. I remember telling my husband about this book and now, he's interested in reading it someday (after my mom reads it!). Ava Johnson comes home to Michigan after living in Atlanta for 10 years or so ~~ this was just going to be a short stop on the way to San Francisco where she is determined to find a new life. Only, that plan falls to the wayside. Ava's older sister, Joyce is a warm-hearted woman struggling to find ways to educate young African-American girls about birth control, fight against her church's narrow-minded pastor and his wife who are out to stop anything that is not "Christian-like". And along the way, they rescue a crack baby, Imani and Ava falls in love with Eddie, an old friend of Joyce and her husband. This is such a rivetting read. One that I highly recommend to everyone. It is written with brutal truth and humor ... and you find yourself rooting for Ava and her family as they set out to conquer the small corner of their world. It's wonderfully written to keep your interest snared ... and I am looking forward to read more of this author's work. This is not your typical depressing Oprah pick ... it's one of the best, uplifting book I've read in a long time!! 2-11-02
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Summary: Lush and sensual - simply beautiful!
Review: I loved this book from the moment I started reading it. The story is about Ava, an African American woman who moves from Atlanta back to her hometown of Idlewild, Michigan after finding out that she is HIV positive. Her visit to Idlewild is supposed to be just a stopover on her trip to San Francisco, where she expects to find a female lover (for the first time) and acceptance of her HIV status. Instead, she finds comfort in the warm, snuggly love of her big sister Joyce. She finds hope and purpose in the work that Joyce is doing to save the youth in Idlewild from the spiraling existence of drugs, pregnancy, welfare, and violence. But best of all, she finds true love. Pearl Cleage writes in a very efficient, yet effective style, conveying in a few words what lesser writers struggle to convey in whole paragraphs. Her ability to create an atmosphere of comfort, lush sensuality, or stark horror is remarkable. She writes with wit and honesty, even when describing the pain so often found in life. She perfectly captures the essence of her characters and the roller-coaster of emotion that they experience in the story. I truly cared about these people, so that in the end I cried tears of sadness, outrage, and happiness, all in the space of an hour! I can't wait to tell my friends about this gift of a book.
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Summary: I liked it
Review: Initially I found this book hard to get into, but I eventually became engrossed in Ava's evolvement. Yes Eddie is somewhat unreal, like another reviewer has commented on but I still found their love story refreshing, beautiful and positive. I had a lot of issues with the seemingly ineffective, backward sheriff department and social services. I thought a better surprise ending would have been Ava getting shot by the Reverend's wife which I thought the story was leading into. All in all a good read with a unique perspective.
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Summary: Just like in real life, the sad mixes with the joyous.
Review: Pearl Cleage's What Looks like Crazy... explores some contemporary issues facing all American communities, but focuses on the microcosm of the African American community in a small town past its heydey. In this community, the reader will find issues of religious morality mixing with reality--the community has a high rate of teen pregnancy, drug use and abuse, violent boyfriends, and theft, but the religious community disagrees with the main characters about how best to deal with these issues.
Within this American microcosm, we find yet another--that of a family. Ava, who is HIV positive, returns to this community to visit her sister, who is a recent widow. This sister, Joyce, is a product of the activist generation; when she sees an issue that needs to be addressed, she gets her hands dirty and gets involved. Perhaps you can see who will be tousling with the religious community mentioned before.
Now, if the plot of the book doesn't yet intrigue you, let me tell you how quickly I was drawn into this book. It is an incredibly fast read. This is achieved by the beautiful voice of the author throughout the story. The characters here are so well developed, they seemed like people I know or could know. And they certainly have their faults too. The women in the book are all headstrong, like many women I know! The men, however, are absent fathers or horrid role models. But this is no man-hating book. Joyce's husband was clearly a wonderful human being who simply did not live until our story picks up. There's another man in the story who protects the main women in such a way that he might just make you rethink men if you are a man hater! But he too is not perfect.
I highly recommend you this book. Check it out. :)
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Summary: Dare to Live and Dream
Review: This book was excellent, it makes you look at life so differently. Ava's life could have been any of ours, life dealt her a bad hand and it hurt. Having a loving understanding sister in your corner is a plus. Then she mets a man and unsure of what to do or how to act she runs at first, then they become friends. It all happened in truth and honsety, which is why I say dare to live and dream. I think the man in this book is one we all dream for. I was glad to also she that Joyce was dealing with something that is hurting our young ladies, drugs, pregnancy, abusive men, aand hypocrites.
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