Toning the Sweep

Rating:
Summary: Toning the Sweep Review
Review: Angela Johnson's novel, Toning the Sweep, is a story about a family coming together after being apart for so long. Emily is a fourteen-year-old girl, who has just found out her grandmother, Ola, is dying of cancer. Emily gets a video camera and starts taping Ola and everyone around her. She discovers the real story of her grandfather's death, the reason mama is still upset about it, and how Ola is saying goodbye to the desert before she dies. This book gives a look into a family that makes sacrifices for each other and are there for each other. I gave this book four stars because it shows the real hearts of the people. If you read this book and do not see the real heart and soul of young, spirited Emily and her loving family, then you did not really read this book. * * * *

Rating:
Summary: The Effect of Racism on One Small Girl
Review: Angela Johnson's Toning the Sweep is the epic tale of a young fourteen-year-old girl's family who is introduced to the family ritual of "toning the sweep" -- when a hammer is used to strike a plow as a sign of demonstrating their respect for the deceased. This book primarily takes place during the 1980's, but also in the early 1960's when there was segregation. Upon the grandmother's, Ola's, diagnosis with cancer, the storyline begins to go downhill. Although this novel made a good opening, it finished a little slow. Had the book possibly been focused on several other events outside of the family, it might have provided a more exciting plot and kept the reader more entertained.

Rating:
Summary: A book for younger readers
Review: I am a student in high school. For a reading assignment some students read Toning The Sweep by Angela Johnson. Just the title alone caught my interest and I was drawn to read the book. As I read the book, I noticed that the context seem to be babbling on about nothing, stressing a point that did not need much explaining . The plot of the book was very intriguing but seemed to be more of a 8th, 9th grade level of reading. I liked the story and the events that occurred. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was younger. I would definitely recommend this book to middle school kids.

Rating:
Summary: Toning the Sweep Review
Review: I felt that the book was O.K. I only felt that it was O.K. because I like books with a lot of action and also like books that you do not have to read sections over again to make sure that you know what happens. But I still liked the book a little because I felt that the characters were done very well mainly meaning the relationships and how that they were all brought together in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Toning the Sweep Review
Review: I first picked Toning the Sweep because it was a shorter book than the other books offered for my tenth grade English class. The book became more interesting and informative when Emily started to talk about her feelings. I thought the book was good at some points but not at others. For example, when Emily was making a video for her grandmother, I thought that was boring. But when she talked about her feelings for her grandmother, the book began to have more information about her background and family history. If I had to rate Toning the Sweep from one to five, I would give it a 3 because the book was half decent at parts.

Rating:
Summary: Toning of Sweep
Review: I thought that this book had a lot of meaning to people who know's how it feels to lose someone your close to. I thought that this book was very interesting, it was a book that made me understand what people do for there families, and what lengths they would go to. This book would be good for people of all ages. Toning of Sweep is a good book you get into it on the first chapter. It goes through a girls life and what she deals with in her family matters, living so far away from her grandmother and who'd she'd do anything for. You read all that this girl goes through and see her grow up. You find out her feelings and how she deals with death, and how she feels about her family. It's a really good book, it's a book that you get into and will love. You feel like you know the characters and know the family, and friends. If i had a chance to read this book again, i'd definitly take the chance.

Rating:
Summary: Dumb book , Dont waste you time
Review: I thought that Toning the Sweep was a good book if you are able to deal with boring chapters were nothing intresting or important happens. It is just about this girl named emily and her mother, they go to california to visit ola and then they find out she is dying of cancer. Then emily decides to video tape her life. Then they decide that ola should go back to ohio and live with emily and her mom so they can take care of her becasue she is old and has cancer. Ola has an old convertable buick that was her husbands who was lynched in alabama were she used to live but when her husband was killed she drove to california and stayed there. In the end i thought the book was boreing and i would not suggest it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Intricately Crafted
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. I liked how it didn't tell you right off the bat things about the characters; you had to piece it together. This made it interesting to read through the chapter again; you noticed new things about the characters that you thought were of no signifigance before. The background characters even have their well thought out back-story, although it is hard to pick up on at first. Another interesting thing about the book is the way the first person narrative is done. The character who is narrating sometimes jumps around in what she is thinking about, but it is part of her character and shows her young spirit quite well, I think. It is also a pretty short read, so you could probably read it in one night if you wanted to. It's an interesting book to read if you like to think about stuff.

Rating:
Summary: book review
Review: I was assigned this book, for my 10th grade English class. It is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Emily dealing with the fact her grandmother is dying of cancer. I felt that this was an odd book. It is 20 chapters, and it seemed to only come together in the sixteenth. Throughout the rest of the book, the writing is in a random manner. The action shifts from character to character and place to place. The chapters don't seem to flow into one another smoothly. This made it hard to follow. Another thing I disliked is the emotions of the characters are painted very broadly. If they're sad, they are sad. If they're happy, they are happy. There is no depth to the emotion. Then once the book hits chapter sixteen, the writing style shifts drastically. The characters' emotions come together, and the readers find themselves feeling the pain of the characters. All in all, it is a moving book. I just feel the book would best interpreted by an older audience, which has experienced some of what the characters have gone through.

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it.
Review: I was required to read this book for a college level class and completely enjoyed reading it. Johnson weaves so many different themes together and does a good job at it. Although, it seemed to be too short at times and I wish more detail could have been added to it, it was one of the best books I've read.