No Crystal Stair

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Ann Elizabeth and Rob are a young newly married couple tryin too make it doing the racial times of the 40's, and 50's. Rob's dream is to be a pilot, but prejudice always get's in the way. The couple had to face so many trials, in there marriage. I was so hurt when Rob cheated on Ann, I wanted to cry with her. This book give you a look at a young married couple, and their family trying to overcome turblent times.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ!!!!
Review: I am a native Atlantan, born about ten years after the main character in the book, Ann Elizabeth Carter, so I was growing up here in Atlanta when she did. I am white, but even as a child I was bothered by the signs "Colored" and "White" over the drinking fountains and rest rooms and other similar "signs of the times." On the other hand, I was aware that there was a "black elite" because my father was one of the physicians who sometimes did surgery in the black hosital and who was friends with the physician who owned the hospital. With my parents I once was invited for a brief visit to see his new home. My children were in school when the first blacks entered the white schools. It is very interesting to me to read the perspective of the "black elite" regarding these times -- from the beginning to the present. A great deal can be learned from reading this story.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ!!!!
Review: I just finished reading, "No Crystal Stair" by Eva Rutland. This was a FANTASTIC novel. I highly reccomend it to anyone who enjoy historical, afrocentric, romance stories. It wasn't heavy on romance, so to speak. It talked about family, and the true love that's found there. This story covered several generations (1920's through the 1990's), and I give this novel my highest rating.

Rating:
Summary: Glad I Picked It Up
Review: IMPRESSIONS:
This book is a wonderful story that touches your heart and shows you the true beauty of the human spirit. The characters are wonderful and lovable and they literally come alive for you; one cannot help but care for and about them. A wonderful tale of family, love, death, life, war, racism, and every other aspect that you can imagine. It will appeal to all different ages and types.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
The race aspect of the book is very interesting and eye-opening. Due to the fact that it starts in the 1920s and spans until present day (or around there) it can really appeal to everyone and can also be very educational. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a book which will make them laugh, cry, and most of all, love.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story
Review: No Crystal Stair is a great book. Her storyhas acptured the upper class African American southern priviledged community prior to segration. I liked the historical journey from the 20s through the 90s. This was great and I look forward to reaidng other books by Mrs. Rutland! Thanks for beinga vocie we need to hear today.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story
Review: No Crystal Stair is a great book. Her storyhas acptured the upper class African American southern priviledged community prior to segration. I liked the historical journey from the 20s through the 90s. This was great and I look forward to reaidng other books by Mrs. Rutland! Thanks for beinga vocie we need to hear today.

Rating:
Summary: Sheds Light on early 1900s Black Elite
Review: No Crystal Stair was the second book read by [e-mail] -- an online African American book club.

All of the characters in No Crystal Stair were well-developed, quite believeable people. Even Julia Belle, the mother of the main character, who would have been considered a snob by most, was very believeable and really was "down for the cause."

You'll delight in seeing the young Ann Elizabeth, the main character, blossom into a grown woman. You'll admire her brother Randy and his too-dark-for-his-mother's-taste, girlfriend Sadie. Dr. Carter, Ann Elizabeth's father, and her husband, Rob, were also very likeable characters.

This book opened my eyes to the reality of the early 1900s Black Elite. In a class and society all their own, the Carter family still had to deal with the struggles of being black in America. Their wealth did not render them immune to unfair treatment here. The reader will venture through the 1940's pre and post-war period up to the 1970s Black Power Movement.

No Crystal Stair is a very well-written, good read! Pick it up to read today!

Rating:
Summary: Truly a story worth sharing...Thank you, Ms. Rutland!
Review: So much of our history is either robbed from us or never brought to light. NO CRYSTAL STAIR provides readers, through the saga of Ann Elizabeth Carter and Army Air Corps pilot Robert Metcalf, a brief glimpse into the world of the black privileged class as well as the determined, black working poor. Without apology or excuse, Ms. Rutland allows her readers to plunge themselves into over sixty years of love, passion, sadness, and laughter in the families represented in this book. Readers get to see that yes, there was high society in the African American race, and like with any "moneyed" group, they had their problems, but when the chips were down, they pulled together with the larger group for equality and justice for all. The story takes us through the World War where brave young black men stood proud and soared high among the clouds. It also lands us squarely into the age of consciousness where black folk redefined themselves through their movements and their leaders. But through it all, we see the unity that exists among a people that are both different and the same. After reading the final page, I could not help but to smile and reflect on the fact that yes, life has not been "no crystal stair," but, like Langston says,"We're still climbin.'" Thank you for sharing this story, Ms. Rutland.

Rating:
Summary: electric
Review: This book is phenomenal... A must have for every bookshelf. This author is intriging, electric and fascinating. You will learn so much history and explore life in such a unique way. This is a page turner... REad it and pass it on.

Rating:
Summary: electric
Review: This book is phenomenal... A must have for every bookshelf. This author is intriging, electric and fascinating. You will learn so much history and explore life in such a unique way. This is a page turner... REad it and pass it on.