What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day

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Summary: A honest 90's approach to living with HIV
Review: I was surprised that this book although centered around the central theme of living with Aids, didn't overpower the reader the subject.Pearl has brought to light the fact that most of us are still "scared" of Aids but also very ignorant to the facts surrounding the disease. It also shows that given an open mind and information that one can exist and co-exist with everyone while living with this. The thrust of the hypocricy of Christians was a good minor subject to touch upon also.I loved this book. It made one feel empathy versus sympathy for the main character. A job well done!

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Summary: Funny, crazy, sad, a book every woman should read!!
Review: This book makes you realize how easily it is to get HIV. It seems so realistic a beautiful black woman who is only human and decides to sleep around with unprotected sex!! She expresses how much she regrets this, her positive outlook on life makes you realize that HIV can bring you down by the ignorance and stigma surounded by it. Ida realizes that HIV not only affects your immune system it affects everything that surounds you. This is a good book to read don't listen to the one stars they're lying!!

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Summary: Very enjoyable, entertaining and clever
Review: While this was not the best piece of fiction I have read, I nonetheless found it very easy to read, enjoyable and witty. I enjoyed the characters, although the author could have developed them more. I loved the humor. It was a fast read. I would be interested in reading more of the author's work and will keep an eye out for a second novel.

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Summary: Showed me the unfamiliar; Appreciation of MY 'crazy' love
Review: Throughout the novel, I was amazed at what I don't know about the "real" world. Drugs, violence, AIDS are not a part of my ordinary life. Ava, Eddie, and Joyce form wonderful, solid relationships in an extremely volatile neighborhood. Those solid relationships ARE a part of my ordinary life. The combination of familiar/unfamiliar created an outstanding book for me! Love looking like crazy on an otherwise ordinary day reflects my relationship with my fiance. We are a couple who sits next to each other, not across the table, at restaurants. We hold hands and smile at each other because we truly value our love and realize how precious our love is; Ms. Cleage created that same realization between Ava/Joyce, Ava/Eddie, Joyce/Mitch, Joyce/Eddie, Ava&Joyce&Eddie/Imani despite unusual and extraordinary circumstances. It is truly one of the best books I've ever read!

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Summary: My second favorite Oprah Book Club selection
Review: One of the common statements I have read in describing this book is that it's hard to believe that a book with so many heavy themes is such a light read. It's true. Some of the ugliest scenes of the book had a tremendous impact on me yet I was able to move on without feeling like they were belittled by the light touch of the author. I frequently found myself feeling angry reading this book - angry at the prejudice faced by Ava because of her HIV status and at the violence directed at women by the men in this book, and because of the intolerance of the church. I liked that about the book though that I felt the anger but never was preached at. I also liked the short chapters. It can be discouraging starting a 45 page chapter. Her chapters never ran on for more than 3-4 pages at a time but it didn't feel choppy at all. Next to Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi this is my favorite Oprah Book Club selection. I've read 11 of the selections (and not all were enjoyable) but this one definitely was.

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Summary: Sad yet true outlook for life today
Review: Boy can she write a good book! It was hard to put down, it was like she was standing there telling you a story, you just didn't want her to finish. The story gives life today a positive twist that anyone can find happiness( or it can find you), even when you are not looking for it.

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Summary: There's more to this author than she shared in this book
Review: I felt cheated by the author. It seems to have pulled all the trite punches in order to market itself: in-your-face ethnicity (at the expense of the language); AIDS; violence; sexual abuse; spritualism --- and it never really plumbed the depths of the central character, a woman I found quite fascinating. I didn't get to know her and her sister as much as I wanted to. I felt like the author put certain things in this book to attract Oprah's book club and more sucessfully market her books. I'd like to hear more of this writer's true voice -- when she's got her eye just on the story and not on shelf space.

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Summary: This Book was right on time
Review: I feel that this book is just what American Women in general need it is like we have regained some faith in the American Men.I especially enjoyed how the main character accepted here ilness and lived life for each day,because tomorrow is not promised to any one of us and she accepted the hand she was given and made the best out of her situation,she also renewed her bond with her sister and I feel that family is all that it is about especially when you are dealt a hand as she was dealt.The book was remarkable and I passed it on to My single Daughter in North Carolina and sugessted that she read this novel and consider if she could be as strong if something like this was deallt to her and it also made me see people for shat they really are,wheather you are sick or wrell how cruel they can be and insesitive they can be even to one ofheir own.Thanks for the Reviews,very good.Looking forward to read more in the future.

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Summary: Sub-culturally sobering, yet entertainigly educational!
Review: I must admit although I did not read the book word for word, I did listen to the audio tape, nonstop. Pearl Cleage reads the story herself with such a pleasant reading voice, that you feel as though her storytelling is like she were right there in the room with you. Waiting to Exhale & Terry McMillan fans should seriously consider discovering a higher plane through Pearl Cleage's writing talents if they haven't already. She doesn't leave much for you to unpuzzle, she tells her story smoothly, fat-free, and unsweetened. What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day: made me feel like starting on my own personal anthology of the perks and perils of variated segments of my life. Thank you Pearl Cleage, you've just earned a fan for life!

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Summary: Excellent!
Review: Cleage writes intelligently, with earthiness and grace. Highly recommended! [e-mail]