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Rating: 
Summary: a waste of time!
Review: i must say, when i set out to read this book i was looking for a quick book of short stories. This book has two majorly poor qualities: the majority of it is not understandalbe and the other parts are boring.
Rating: 
Summary: A favorite!
Review: I think the book Gorilla My Love had no moral value in it what so ever. I read this book for my class, and now here I am stuck wrting a 5 paragraph essay about along with countless other pointless things. Now if you had never written this book, it would have never happened, and I would be enjoying my day. The least yoy could have done is made the story good, but no, now I'm just getting beat over the head with it.
Rating:
Summary: Rating Of tHe book
Review: I think the book Gorilla My Love had no moral value in it what so ever. I read this book for my class, and now here I am stuck wrting a 5 paragraph essay about along with countless other pointless things. Now if you had never written this book, it would have never happened, and I would be enjoying my day. The least yoy could have done is made the story good, but no, now I'm just getting beat over the head with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Gorrila, My Love
Review: In 8th grade this year, we were assigned to read the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. When reading this book, we were asked to choose another book to read independently. I chose Gorilla My Love, by Toni Bambara. I found that Gorilla My Love and To Kill A Mockingbird share a lot of the same themes, in particular, racism. In this collection of short stories, Bambara writes every story through the eyes of a poor black girl, growing up during a difficult time and in a rough urban neighborhood. Through every story, we are able to understand how an African American girl feels, during different times of her life. In both of these two books, racism is a large issue. However, it is told from two very different perspectives. To Kill A Mockingbird is told by a young white girl, and Gorilla My Love is narrated by a young black girl. Both the characters in these two books are very aware of racism, however, the narrator in Gorilla My Love, takes the issue more personally. Bambara relates to the issue much more than a character like Scout. A White person can easily say "racism is wrong," but they could never understand how a Black person feels, for they have to live with the feeling that someone hates them, everyday if their lives. Every story in Gorilla My Love, is a clip of the narrators point of view on the subject. In the story "My Man Bovanne", Bambara mocks the Black community by portraying a mother as "a b**** in heat" while she dances. However, in the story, "The Hammerhead", Bambara takes the issue of racism very seriously, when her brother is sent to a mental hospital for playing basketball on a court that the white officers claimed as theirs. Bambara makes the reader aware of how a Black person would handle a situation. Reading these two books at the same time was very beneficial. Reading about the issue of racism and hearing it from two very different points of view, helps me better understand it. Hearing how both sides of the situation helps me create an educated opinion of my own. I really enjoyed reading these two stories.
Rating:
Summary: "Here we are . . . the Johnson girls."
Review: The posted reviews make clear that students are being asked to read this book at too young an age. I teach the book to my college students, and they too struggle with the stories, which are sometimes puzzling. At a first go-through, the reader is in the position of the two Northerners in "Mississippi Ham Rider," who go down South to interview a famous blues singer and get tested by locals who won't make the task of locating the singer easy. In fact, the book teaches you how to read it as you move through it. Rarely has a collection of stories been more tightly unified and balanced. The stories vary point of view, and do not reflect the perspective of one person, although some characters come back in various stories. Perhaps the hardest one in the book is the title story ("Gorilla, My Love"). Here the author uses a difficult stream-of-consciousness style to convey the mental condition of Hazel, a young girl heartbroken to learn that her uncle ("Hunca Bubba") is not going to marry her like he promised he would. Hazel innocently believed that that when you say something, you stick by it. The point of view initially obscures the problem Hazel has, but finally reveals it: she hasn't grown up yet. Bambara introduces difficult flows of thought and unclear words into the story to confuse the reader and make her feel like Hazel does. Thus the reader identifies with the character just by reading the story. (By the way, the film Hazel sees named "Gorilla, My Love" is about the crucifixion of Jesus, and it has no gorilla in it--which is exactly the point: you often don't get what you expect out of life, but must take what it gives and work with it.) The strongest stories here are "My Man Bovanne," "Gorilla, My Love," "Raymond's Run," "The Hammer Man," "The Lesson" (my personal favorite), and the final story, "The Johnson Girls," which pulls the themes of the book together when Gail stands up and says that as a group, all the women can come up with "a sure-fire program" to help one of them win back the man she wants. That's the author's ultimate message: in isolation we lose out, but together there is nothing we can't accomplish. Of course, Bambara is right.
Rating:
Summary: "Here we are . . . the Johnson girls."
Review: The posted reviews make clear that students are being asked to read this book at too young an age. I teach the book to my college students, and they too struggle with the stories, which are sometimes puzzling. At a first go-through, the reader is in the position of the two Northerners in "Mississippi Ham Rider," who go down South to interview a famous blues singer and get tested by locals who won't make the task of locating the singer easy. In fact, the book teaches you how to read it as you move through it. Rarely has a collection of stories been more tightly unified and balanced. The stories vary point of view, and do not reflect the perspective of one person, although some characters come back in various stories. Perhaps the hardest one in the book is the title story ("Gorilla, My Love"). Here the author uses a difficult stream-of-consciousness style to convey the mental condition of Hazel, a young girl heartbroken to learn that her uncle ("Hunca Bubba") is not going to marry her like he promised he would. Hazel innocently believed that that when you say something, you stick by it. The point of view initially obscures the problem Hazel has, but finally reveals it: she hasn't grown up yet. Bambara introduces difficult flows of thought and unclear words into the story to confuse the reader and make her feel like Hazel does. Thus the reader identifies with the character just by reading the story. (By the way, the film Hazel sees named "Gorilla, My Love" is about the crucifixion of Jesus, and it has no gorilla in it--which is exactly the point: you often don't get what you expect out of life, but must take what it gives and work with it.) The strongest stories here are "My Man Bovanne," "Gorilla, My Love," "Raymond's Run," "The Hammer Man," "The Lesson" (my personal favorite), and the final story, "The Johnson Girls," which pulls the themes of the book together when Gail stands up and says that as a group, all the women can come up with "a sure-fire program" to help one of them win back the man she wants. That's the author's ultimate message: in isolation we lose out, but together there is nothing we can't accomplish. Of course, Bambara is right.
Rating:
Summary: A favorite!
Review: There are beautiful stories in this highly recommended book. The title story and "My Man Bovanne" are two favorites. Poignant, funny, sad, inspiring, these stories are destined to be American classics. Buy this book!
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