Rating: 
Summary: Boring, Boring, Boring
Review: I've liked all the other Oprah picks, but this one was the pits. Nothing of interest happened, the characters were unappealing and I gave up on page 200.
Rating: 
Summary: Just OK
Review: This book sounded like it would be really good but I found it hard to stay with. I thought I would never finish it. It had it's moments but on the whole, it was just OK.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I too am a voracious reader. I very, very, seldom read a book a second time (too many books, too little time). I will however, make an exception for this book. Read it twice...the first time for the story; the second time for the language. I notice that none of the previous reviewers are from the south...maybe it helps to be southern to read, enjoy, and perhaps to understand this book. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Life
Review: It is hard to know how to put my thoughts into writing. I read this book twice one right after the other in the summer of 1999. I am dumbstruck by the skill and complexity Melinda Haynes was able to come up with in her debut novel. I almost want to call her and discuss the book. It is real, funny, warm, loving and heartbreaking. How can one book be all of that? I am now in a book group and am recommending this to them to read. I know that everyone sees things differently so I just hope others find the humor and love between these two races. I am still a bit confused by some issues and hope a group discussion will clear that up.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious
Review: Terribly written--it reads like a soap opera. I would never have finished it if it weren't an assignment for a book club. It was pure tedium to get through it and reads like it's written by a high-school kid. I didn't care about any of the characters and could hardly remember who they were.
Rating:
Summary: Mother of Pearl
Review: Best book I've read in a very long time! It was hard to put down and just extremely captivating.
Rating:
Summary: Just Awful
Review: By selecting this work for her Book Club, Oprah Winfrey put Melinda Haynes in the same category as contemporary masters of fiction such as Anna Quindlen and Jane Hamilton. This is a category to which Haynes, unfortunately, does not belong. The prose is thick and rambling, and it is loaded with grammatical errors and mixed metaphors. I am a serious reader, consuming books voraciously. I have always operated under the assumption that the failure to finish a book, once begun, is a sign of a weak character. Don't get caught up in this kind of guilt. I gave this book a valiant try and gave up after only nineteen pages. My life is actually better for not having finished it. I cringed as I read Haynes's horrendous similes. (My favorite example: "Like a sour fart in a tailwind." Please.) Throughout my short experience with this book, I kept thinking (a) that I could do better and (b) perhaps I could return the book and get my twenty dollars back. I am still considering both possibilities. I have lost my faith in Oprah's literary taste. I hope Haynes can do better with her second novel. If not, perhaps she should return to painting, where muddled colors and misunderstood metaphors are more likely to be considered a strength.
Rating:
Summary: YIKES!
Review: I'm a voracious reader. There are few books I can put down without finishing - but Mother of Pearl has the dubious honor of being one of them. I labored to get to page 171 and then, well, I just couldn't do it anymore. I can't imagine writing this book much less reading it - it's language is so heavy and extremely confusing. I found myself re-reading passages just to get the gist of the storyline as it (slooowly) went along. To call this novel "wordy" is like calling "Jaws" a pretty big fish. I can appreciate an author's love for words but Melinda Haynes took it several steps too far. I'd like to make note about the characters but I got so boggled, I can't even remember their names! This book is for three types of people: 1) Those who absolutely thrive on challenge no matter the cost; 2) Those who can appreciate endless banter without really understanding it and 3) those locked away in solitary confinement. Otherwise, save your money but most importantly, save your time for all the novels out there that are so much better!
Rating: 
Summary: Challenging
Review: This book was a challenge to read. Haynes distinctive way of developing her characters and her long and expressive prose made me want to stop reading and move on to something that was more leisure in style. But I kept on reading. I found the book complex and thought provoking. Not only did I care about the characters but I wanted to know them and understand them in depth - to examine how many of their sides were firing (feelings, sensing, knowing, seeing, hearing and smelling - six sided women). I kept thinking of the dream of the pig and how it revealed itself to Canaan. Ripped down the middle with no insides - like Canaan racially split, a product of the time, and operating at a head level (one sideded). Most of his sides frozen and it was only when he met Grace did he begin to integrate - to make the longest trip in the world - the 18" from his head to his heart. I finally understood as I kept reading and rereading trying desperately to follow the story and clearly understand each page that the real message for me was not to figure out what Haynes was trying to convey but to understand what the personal message was for me. Reading fiction should be a personal experience - my personal experience. There is not just one message here. Just as in my own personal life so many people, events, and things don't make sense. I often struggle to analyze and reanzlye . I become frustrated, angry and end up giving away my finite life energy to something outside of myself - something that I have no control over. There is a line from the Desiderta which says "no matter whether or not it is clear to you the Universe is unfolding as it should." So in conclusion the book's message to me was: •detach, step back and allow the flow to happen; •observe; •identify which sides are firing or misfiring as the case may be; •identify when I have been in a similar situation (s),how do I misfire? • how do I want to do it differently? • Learn, grown and move on.
Rating: 
Summary: It was okay.
Review: I too, found it difficult to read, but once I got three chapters into it, it seemed rather interesting. I thought it was an okay book and the only reason I read it was because of Oprah's book club. The best part of the book was the last 50 pages. Too bad, I had to waste all my time in between.
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