Blues from Down Deep

Rating:
Summary: intriguing relationship drama that uses a twist on Roots
Review: Almost forty, Regina Pearson has always felt like an outsider in her home on Oahu, but now also feels all alone since her father recently died. She knows nothing about her extended family except that her parents left the Southeast United States without a look back four decades ago. Her mother died when she was two and over the subsequent years her father refused to talk about their life in the states.

Regina finds an envelope postmarked from the year before she was born from a Maude Witherspoon of New Bern, North Carolina with no letter inside. She makes inquiries and soon makes contact with her Aunt Maude van der Kaa, who invites her to visit the family. Regina goes stateside hoping to bond with her relatives, but instead finds individuals filled with animosity and distrust of everyone else. Only retired Army Colonel Justin Duval, whom she met over hotel business, makes her believe her fairy tale that a family can be full of love and trust.

BLUE FROM DOWN DEEP is an intriguing relationship drama that uses a twist on Roots to enable the audience to observe dysfunctional families hiding behind lies and deceit. The story line could have turned melodramatic and soap operaish, but Gwynne Forster avoids that pratfall by making much of the cast multidimensional and several simply nasty and filled with their own self worth. Thus the audience recives a strong look at an extended Southeastern African American family predominately through the eyes of the "Hawaiian" newcomer.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Another Gwynne Forster classic!
Review: Gwynne Forster weaves a story like no other author. Blessed with the gift of narration, Ms. Forster involves the reader in the novel's setting, the characters and their emotions, and the other dynamics of the book. Blues from Down Deep is a "must read" for those who've enjoyed Ms. Forster's previous works. Continued success.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I have read this book and it was ok, but for the book to be about regina and justin it focus more on maude and her sex life with johann than with regina, it was just lacking something. i didn't know regina and justin had been together until regina mention it but it was vidid info with maude. so her book was ok but i had to fight to keep reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I'm on page 278 and I can't wait to get to the end of this long, drawn out book. I've read several of Ms. Forster's books but none has been as disappointing as this one. I don't care if the central characters, Regina and Justin, get together or not. If it hadn't been for Pop and Maude I would have put this book down a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: Family Blues
Review: Regina has never known what it is to have a real family and has been just as unlucky in her attempts to have a meaningful intimate relationship with a man. As she is going through her father's estate, she discovers a link that may lead her to some long lost relatives. Still grieving her father's death, Regina decides that she will find her relatives and leave the beautiful Hawaiian Islands to develop the relationship with her family that she has always dreamt about. When she moves to the mainland, North Carolina to be exact, Regina quickly discovers how little she understands her African American culture because she spent her life around native Hawaiians and learns that African Americans are not as they are often portrayed on television. She also learns that having a family is not as rosy as she had imagined and that blood ties alone do not make people close. Will she get past her disappointment that her long lost family isn't perfect and make the best of her family circumstances?

Regina meets Justin Duval, a retired military man turned interior and furniture designer and is forced to work with him in her new job at a soon to be opened hotel in spite of the obvious tension. As the two get to know each other Justin can't believe how consumed Regina is with the idea of having a close knit family as he would just assume trade most of his relatives in. Through each other, both Justin and Regina begin to reevaluate their family relationships. Will the two find love as well?

Gwynne Forster has written a heart warming story of love, loss, and forgiveness. The story moves slowly, as well it should, because with each page Forster's writing draws you deeper into the story and indeed into the hearts and minds of the characters. This is a story that most anyone can relate to on some level and is sure to be an enjoyable read. She has developed the perfect recipe for a great book combining a mound of family drama, with a generous sprinkling of romance. In spite of the family drama that surfaces in the book, the story is realistic and the issues are never too over the top. I highly recommend Ms. Forster's latest mainstream literary offering for anyone looking for a book that will leave you begging for more.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: You're gonna love it!
Review: This author really defined her characters in a wonderfully entertaining format. I found it hard to put the book down. This book reads like a TV movie script and should be perfect for Lifetime TV to portray a more accurate picture of Black American life in this millenia.Well Done Ms. Forster!

Rating:
Summary: CUTE BUT NOT WHAT I EXPECTED
Review: This book dragged and dragged, and it's pretty predictable! It's a cute book and had it not been for the grandfather and Aunt Maude I probably would have put it down....As a matter of fact this book was disappointing! It left you hanging I'm still really not sure if Justin and Regina had sex, if Harold is gay, or what role Cephus played!??? Read it only if there is nothing else in your house!!!!!!!