Five Smooth Stones

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Summary: Best book I've ever read
Review: This is truley the best book I have ever read. As a teenager my opinion is probably not that important but I have an active love of literature and have never read anything which moved me more than this book. Aside from the excellent portrayal of what occured during the Civil Rights movement the story of David and Sara captured my imagination and gave me a sense of hope about love. I would definitely reccommend that everyone read this book!

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've EVER read!
Review: I have read literally hundreds of books of all types and I have not read one book that has come close to Five Smooth Stones (well, maybe That Man Cartwright). You can't possibly experience this book and remain unchanged. I read it for the first time about 15 years ago and have reread it over and over since. My husband found a nice hardback and gave it to me as a gift. It was my favorite present. Li'l Joe lives in my actions and thoughts as does David. Parents out there should INSIST your children (at least teens though) read this book as it will teach them things you may not be able to teach them.

Rating:
Summary: FIve Smooth Stones
Review: I first started reading this book 25 years ago. I had found it at a used book sale and was captivated from the first page. I got so upset as the book neared the end, I put it aside and never finished it, but the story has remained with me since. Upon telling a friend my regret of never having completed this book, she bought me a new copy and although I would not have thought it possible, it is even better than I remembered. This is a story that touches every generation, young and old, black or white!

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Summary: Reparations opponents...read this...
Review: Last night I finished reading this tremendous novel. I recently found it on my mother's bookshelf, and began reading it prior to her passing...I finished after she passed away. Reading this book has helped me to understand better what motivated her--and subsequently, the values upon which I was raised. I found particularly intruiging (but I do not at this time fully understand why) the fact that this novel was published in 1966...and Dr. King was murdered in 1968. This is a powerful work and is a 'must read', especially for black youth. It is also a 'must read' for opponents of reparations to black americans for slavery in america. Through this work, perhaps these opponents can come to some understanding of the legacy that slavery leaves, and still lingers on black americans. Probably, this is too much too hope for. THANK YOU ANN FAIRBAIN!

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Summary: Is anyone listening?
Review: I have just read more than 50 reviews posted for Five Smooth Stones. Was there one person who had NOT read the book more than once? Did anyone NOT recommend it be made into a movie? How many "review writers" in fact did contact Oprah, Harry Belafonte, or any of the other Black Americans capable of bringing this story to the Big Screen? I have been haunted by the story since I first read the book two years ago. I too can visualize the story being a movie or an afterschool special. The ending made me turn back to page 1 and begin again. There are very few books I can ever say that about! The perspective of the years covered by the book lends itself to mandatory reading for students interested in anti-bias education. Five Smooth Stones is an example of how a book can touch a life and create change.

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Summary: Four white, one black...
Review: Five Smooth Stones was the very first modern novel I read, having found it on a shelf in my mother's bedroom. I believe I was about thirteen years old at the time. I was hooked on reading from that moment on. I remember the book cover simply showing five beautiful smooth stones next to each other, four were white, one was black. I'm surprised this story was never converted to a movie... the story is that well told. If you can get your hands on a copy, do so.

Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorite books
Review: Can you give a rating of 5+ stars? This book deserves it! It took forever to find a second hand copy of it in paperback, but once read, I forked over the $$ for the 'library' version because I knew I'd come back to it over and over again. You will too...this story is so well told, so carefully visualized that you really feel you're living in young David's world. This also is the only book I ever read that literally made me cry. Compelling, haunting - you won't be able to put it down.

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Summary: A True American Classic
Review: I first read this book 25 years ago, had never forgotten it, and re-read it again in February 2001 when I came across a copy at a rummage sale. The book jacket had been scotch-taped together several times, attesting to the owner's love of the book and its many readings. Author Ann Fairbairn got into the soul of Southern black people and all they suffered, and portrayed it without flinching, without exaggeration. She also gave us David and Sara and their truly committed and complicated love. Her writing style is flawless, and this is a classic of American literature.

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Summary: This is a must for All Book Clubs!!!
Review: I first read this book 17 years ago when I was only 16 because my mother felt that my 6 brothers and sisters and I needed to read this book before adulthood so we could get a sense of the world and hopefully the tolerance needed to live in it. When I first read it I cried almost the entire time, feeling physically ill at some of the injustice and violence that was so common place at the time of the civil rights movement. Now as a mother and adult I just rediscovered this book when my book club decided to give up on Oprah and go with a list of our all time favorite books. This was mine and I'm so glad to have been able to share this with my club. Even 17 years later I still cried and feel that this is a book that everyone should read at one time in their life. All you book clubs out there - Add This One!! You will definitly not regret it!!

Rating:
Summary: A Definite Classic
Review: I read this book years ago when I was in my twenties. I thought that it was the most cohesive book I had ever read about Civil Rights. What a wonderful story! And factual...I found out a few years ago that Ann Fairbairn had died in Monterey California. What a loss! I have also read her book "That Man Cartwright" Another winner if you can find it. Thanks to Amazon I was able to get a copy. I have read it many times. Not as many as "Five Smooth Stones". Both books are very enlightening. Her biography of George Lewis, "Call Him George" was extremely well written and a great story. I will always keep these books and read them over and over, just to remind me of what people are capable of (both bad and good).