Chris S. (smallbutfeisty) reviewed on + 36 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Pearl Cleage's What Looks like Crazy... explores some contemporary issues facing all American communities, but focuses on the microcosm of the African American community in a small town past its heydey. In this community, the reader will find issues of religious morality mixing with reality--the community has a high rate of teen pregnancy, drug use and abuse, violent boyfriends, and theft, but the religious community disagrees with the main characters about how best to deal with these issues.
Within this American microcosm, we find yet another--that of a family. Ava, who is HIV positive, returns to this community to visit her sister, who is a recent widow. This sister, Joyce, is a product of the activist generation; when she sees an issue that needs to be addressed, she gets her hands dirty and gets involved. Perhaps you can see who will be tousling with the religious community mentioned before.
Now, if the plot of the book doesn't yet intrigue you, let me tell you how quickly I was drawn into this book. It is an incredibly fast read. This is achieved by the beautiful voice of the author throughout the story. The characters here are so well developed, they seemed like people I know or could know. And they certainly have their faults too. The women in the book are all headstrong, like many women I know! The men, however, are absent fathers or horrid role models. But this is no man-hating book. Joyce's husband was clearly a wonderful human being who simply did not live until our story picks up. There's another man in the story who protects the main women in such a way that he might just make you rethink men if you are a man hater! But he too is not perfect.
I highly recommend you this book. Check it out. :)
Within this American microcosm, we find yet another--that of a family. Ava, who is HIV positive, returns to this community to visit her sister, who is a recent widow. This sister, Joyce, is a product of the activist generation; when she sees an issue that needs to be addressed, she gets her hands dirty and gets involved. Perhaps you can see who will be tousling with the religious community mentioned before.
Now, if the plot of the book doesn't yet intrigue you, let me tell you how quickly I was drawn into this book. It is an incredibly fast read. This is achieved by the beautiful voice of the author throughout the story. The characters here are so well developed, they seemed like people I know or could know. And they certainly have their faults too. The women in the book are all headstrong, like many women I know! The men, however, are absent fathers or horrid role models. But this is no man-hating book. Joyce's husband was clearly a wonderful human being who simply did not live until our story picks up. There's another man in the story who protects the main women in such a way that he might just make you rethink men if you are a man hater! But he too is not perfect.
I highly recommend you this book. Check it out. :)
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