Rating: 
Summary: Despite Everything, There is no place like home!!!
Review: As children, you can't wait to grow up and move away from all of the crazy relatives that have made you life miserable - addicted Brother, the Sisters with 4 kids, drunk uncle, the half witted aunt, loud mother and numerous others. Camilla's Roses tells the story of Camilla Rose. She grew up in a family somewhat similar to this one. She runs and hides from everything that has shaped her life. However, one night while enjoying a quiet, loving evening with her husband, Bryant, she discovers a lump in her breast. Camilla must know face up to her past that she has tried so hard to escape and also deal with her future. Bernice McFadden is one of my favorite authors. She has a gift for using metaphors. She brilliantly desribes the horror of addictions, infidelity, trust, hate, love, forgiveness and the importance of family. No matter how slowly I tried to read the story to savor every minute, I had to finish reading it to see the joy in its ending. Peace and Blessings!!
Rating:
Summary: Camilla's Roses proves the STRENGTH of family!
Review: Because as time moves, you may find yourself standing on the doorstep of long forgotten memories, as was the case with Camilla Rose Brown. Still nursing the wounds of growing up ghetto and harboring all of its resentment, Camilla escapes, buries her Roses in a grave dug deep and covered in lies. Camilla moves through life, perpetrating, wearing the fa?ade like a second skin and as life would have it, tragedy strikes causing a dejected Camilla to retreat into the world she'd forgotten, but it was where she once found love, unconditional and profound. Can she still find the love for her there with so much loathing and time gone by? Will Camilla find that the middle name Rose is more than just a name branded every girl child in her family through the generations? Could it be the strength behind the Rose women whom endured so much strife? I became an immediate fan of Ms. McFadden?s with her debut, ?Sugar? and was thrilled with, ?This Bitter Earth.? I admire Ms. McFadden?s ability to weave a tale using less than one hundred thousand words. I didn?t find Camilla?s Roses as compelling as ?Sugar,? and its sequel but Ms. McFadden did breathe life into these larger than life characters with the same style and grace as with all other characters she?s penned. Nevertheless Ms. McFadden has another page turner with her lyrical and reflective prose in Camilla?s Roses and we lay witness as these bold characters face heart wrenching challenges, such as addiction, abandonment and self-hatred. I anxiously await her next release, ?The Salt Box.?
Rating:
Summary: Camilla's Roses proves the STRENGTH of family!
Review: Bernice has really done it again. In Camilla's Roses, there are several messages that lie within the pages..however, the one I'd like to speak to is the FACT that no matter, FAMILY is ever so important in our lives. Bernice is a grand storyteller that I have enjoyed since she kicked the door down in the literary arena with "Sugar". If you have NEVER read anything by Bernice, you must do so soon. Bernice thanks for bringing these characters (THE ROSES) to our lives, they live on...in our memories, even after the last page in the book is turned. BRAVO on another BEST SELLER! Fan for LIFE,
SL
Rating:
Summary: SHE IS THE BEST!
Review: Bernice is a wonerful writer. Her words make the story come to life.
Thank you for writing this novel!
Rating:
Summary: YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN!
Review: Bernice L. McFadden has been a favorite of mine since "Sugar." This novel was beautifully written. I am speechless at this point and I anxiously await her next masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A phonal writer
Review: Bernice McFadden has become one of my favorite authors. She has a way of characterizing the voice of her characters. I have read all of her books and have been pleased with them all. They seem to leave an impact on you after reading her books. If you are looking for a good book to read try some of her books you will be pleased also.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner!
Review: Bernice McFadden has given us another winner with Camilla's Roses. Although this novel is more contemporary than her other novels; I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I cried with Camilla each time her drug-addicted mother broke her heart. As usual; this was an all-night read for me. Velma was such a strong character who made do with what life dealt her and continued to love her family despite. It was a story charged with emoition and human conditions in the life of an African American family that had so many losses but also had a legacy of strength and fortitude from ancestors long gone. McFadden is a master storyteller and Camilla's Roses will not disappoint.
Rating: 
Summary: A fast read
Review: CAMILLA'S ROSES by Bernice L. McFadden
September 1, 2004
CAMILLA'S ROSES by Bernice L McFadden is a story of several generations of strong Black American women, leading up to Camilla, who at the beginning of the story, discovers she has breast cancer. The opening chapter details Camilla's successful life with her husband Bryant and daughter Zola, and depicts a scene where she and Bryant discover the lump after a raunchy play session in their bedroom. She goes to her doctor whom the family has known for many years, to confirm what they already had guessed, and is asked to give her family medical history. Camilla hesitates, because she does not have a family other than Bryant and Zola. As far as she's concerned, she had risen from the ashes of the phoenix.
The novel then goes into the past, into the heart of the ghetto, starting with two sisters Velma Rose and Maggie Rose. It's a story of sibling rivalry that leads to tragedy. Through all this is the family history that leads to the story of Camilla, her roots.
CAMILLA'S ROSES was a very short novel with an important message. I wasn't sure I liked the writing style of Ms McFadden, although I enjoyed the story itself. While I felt the characters were partly caricatures of real-life people, the story itself was real. The message the reader gets by the end of the book points to the importance of family, no matter where one comes from. Camilla spent her adult life pretending she was someone else, to escape the family she was ashamed of, to run away from the family that gave her nothing but unhappiness during her childhood. It took a life threatening illness for her to think back on what her family meant to her, and find a way back home. I enjoyed CAMILLA'S ROSES mostly for the story that McFadden told through these pages, a story that spanned several generations of turbulent life in the ghettos of New York.
Rating:
Summary: Steel Roses! McFadden Delivers!!
Review: Camilla's Roses, Bernice McFadden's latest release, is told in three parts: the present day when Camilla's husband discovers a lump in her breast, a flashback to the haunting past that she would rather erase, and a return to present day to face reality and her future. Camilla's middle name is Rose and all the women on her maternal side share the same middle name honoring a one-of-a-kind rosebush that only prospers and blooms on her great-great grandmother's land in Southern Georgia despite being stolen and clipped many times over the years. Camilla suffers from an identify crisis and abandoned her family ten years ago. However, after learning about her childhood, one can understand her self-imposed exodus. Raised in a house full of cousins by her maternal grandmother (Velma Rose) and great aunt (Maggie Rose), Camilla seldom saw her heroin-addicted parents (Audrey Rose and Leroy Brown) and when she did, the results of the visits were disappointing and heartbreaking. Her childhood experiences causes her to develop an identity crisis that leads to serious skin bleaching and lying - to her friends about her family situation and to herself which proves to be most damaging. With her usual flair, McFadden cuts to the core of humanity and deals with raw pain, loss, and suffering. This book deals with a multitude of issues: breast cancer, the affects of drug addiction, abandonment, self-hate, infidelity, etc. Every character is fully developed with a rich history and strong role in the plot - making it a well told story. The subject matter is dark and harrowing, but there is a silver lining embedded between the lines -- despite the despair, like the rose bush planted so long ago, Camilla and her "Roses" are made with a strong constitution and we are left with a glimmer of hope that they will be all right. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Steel Roses! McFadden Delivers!!
Review: Camilla's Roses, Bernice McFadden's latest release, is told in three parts: the present day when Camilla's husband discovers a lump in her breast, a flashback to the haunting past that she would rather erase, and a return to present day to face reality and her future. Camilla's middle name is Rose and all the women on her maternal side share the same middle name honoring a one-of-a-kind rosebush that only prospers and blooms on her great-great grandmother's land in Southern Georgia despite being stolen and clipped many times over the years. Camilla suffers from an identify crisis and abandoned her family ten years ago. However, after learning about her childhood, one can understand her self-imposed exodus. Raised in a house full of cousins by her maternal grandmother (Velma Rose) and great aunt (Maggie Rose), Camilla seldom saw her heroin-addicted parents (Audrey Rose and Leroy Brown) and when she did, the results of the visits were disappointing and heartbreaking. Her childhood experiences causes her to develop an identity crisis that leads to serious skin bleaching and lying - to her friends about her family situation and to herself which proves to be most damaging. With her usual flair, McFadden cuts to the core of humanity and deals with raw pain, loss, and suffering. This book deals with a multitude of issues: breast cancer, the affects of drug addiction, abandonment, self-hate, infidelity, etc. Every character is fully developed with a rich history and strong role in the plot - making it a well told story. The subject matter is dark and harrowing, but there is a silver lining embedded between the lines -- despite the despair, like the rose bush planted so long ago, Camilla and her "Roses" are made with a strong constitution and we are left with a glimmer of hope that they will be all right. (...)
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