Mother of Pearl

Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: I am an Oprah book club aficionado. Love most of them, but once in a while she picks a clunker. This is one of them. I couldn't get into it, didn't enjoy the characters, nothing happened, and it was still confusing. I don't understand how it got such good reviews in the trades. It is impossible to wade through and, ultimately, not worth the effort. IMHO.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe I'm a doofus but I loved this book.
Review: Although I found this book confusing in some spots, I enjoyed the story and spent many nights awake late because I just couldn't put it down. I think Melinda Haynes deserves a round of applause on such a great first effort. I will definetly read other books written by her.

Rating:
Summary: I hated to see it end!
Review: I found Mother of Pearl to be a wonderful book, a masterpiece by a first-time author. The beautiful, rich language was reminiscent of Cold Mountain. The story is intricate and the characters are real. The author is also an artist, and she has indeed painted scenes that I will remember for a long time to come.

Rating:
Summary: No story and too many obscene statements
Review: The author does not have a story and it is filled with obscene things. The more I read the book the more disgusted I became. I finally put it down and I do not know why Ophra selected this book.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Worst books I read this year
Review: Where to begin? I have horrible visions of Pearl actually growing up to be Steve Martin's character in the jerk. Talk about a walking Target. There were way too many characters that had nothing to do with the story. And even the ones that did could have been left out. There were way too many metaphors saturating the pages that I often forgot what the author was trying to say. Character's syntax doesn't match and there seemed to be an unneccessary hate campaign toward Jackson. I doubt I will ever read anything else from this author and I wish I could get a refund.

Rating:
Summary: Love Oprah picks, but lost on this one
Review: Im sorry, but I usually love Oprah picks, but I have given up chasing the characters and figuring out who is who. Im on to the next pick. I am dissapointed. I usually am very excited about a new books out with Oprah's approval. Go on to Tara's Road. I loved that one.

Rating:
Summary: A summer wasted!
Review: I thought that there was something wrong with me that I did not enjoy this book untill I saw some of the other reviews. In the end it seemed that even the author just wanted to get it over with too. I might recomend this book to someone in solitary confinement with a lot of time to spend on this book. It was very confusing and long. I am just happy that it is over

Rating:
Summary: The story line was heading somewhere but.......
Review: I really tried to like this book. It started off as an intersting story although it was very wordy and hard to follow. The number one problem with this book is that the author leads you to think you are heading to a climax but then bypasses the climax in just about every instance,leaving the reader to find out what happens through the conversations of the other characters. There are too many characters without any character development I saw many influences of other novels such as Flowers in the Attic and Boys Life, but without the story telling ability of those respective authors. This book made me feel like I wasted my time.

Rating:
Summary: A chore to read
Review: This was a difficult and sometimes confusing book to read. Nothing really grabbed me and made me want to keep reading. I forced myself to finish the book and was surprised when I discovered the story was better than I thought it would be. I'm not sure I would recommend it to others.

Rating:
Summary: Oprah's usual historical race pick, dark and uninspiring
Review: To be honest, after reading the first 100 pages I skimmed through the rest to get a feel of the story. Sometimes I wonder why Oprah picks (and recommends) these dark novels, that leave you more depressed then thoughtful. I really wouldn't recommend the book to many, unless depressing story lines really enthrall them.