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yolandamcgill's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
Even Grade is an orphan and Valuable Korner may as well be, her mother being a whore and her father unknown to her. Both of them live in a small town in Mississippi and this is their story. And the story of Jackson, who was Val's friend and became her lover; and her two queer aunts who mother her; and of Grace who mothers Joleb, who loses his brother and almost loses himself; and of Canaan, who knows much with his head and learns more from his heart; and of Joody two Suns, who reads people but not herself. It’s really a story of the many faces of love, and how deep bonds of family can form in spite of differences in race or generation.
sfaircloth's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
aubtobobtolob's review against another edition
3.0
Left me wondering and searching for more books about the race issue of the 1950 era south.
Compelling, hard, and all to true.
Compelling, hard, and all to true.
lovememybooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hoserlauren's review against another edition
1.0
In the 1950's, small-town Mississippi, there were still racial divides. In the coloured part of town is Even Grade, a black man who is an orphan and only a few friends. Across the river is Valuable Korner, whose grandmother recently passed away so her mom came back to take care of her but is known to the whole town as a whore. The story revolves around these two and eventually their stories merge. Val is experiencing teenage love with her only friend Jackson and becomes pregnant right before he leaves town when his family moves. Even tries to hook up his elderly friend Canaan and falls in love with Joody who can see things that will happen in the future.
This book is part of Oprah's book club, and as such I expect a bit of a slog through the book but with reward at the end. This is probably one of the worst Oprah's books I've read. The writing is unnecessarily heavy and it takes forever to get through when it really doesn't have to. The story could have been much simpler, with less characters, and probably could have resulted in the same end result.
I feel like there was lots of alternative meanings and symbolism included in this book but the reader has to work much too hard to figure it all out. I'm a rather lazy reader. I want to be entertained by a book and don't want to think too hard on it. This book didn't give me this at all. And because I wasn't willing to do the work to figure it out, I didn't understand all of what was going on. I'm actually surprised at myself that I finished the book.
From the other reviews I've read, it looks like this is a love it or hate it book so I guess I'm on the hate it side!
This book is part of Oprah's book club, and as such I expect a bit of a slog through the book but with reward at the end. This is probably one of the worst Oprah's books I've read. The writing is unnecessarily heavy and it takes forever to get through when it really doesn't have to. The story could have been much simpler, with less characters, and probably could have resulted in the same end result.
I feel like there was lots of alternative meanings and symbolism included in this book but the reader has to work much too hard to figure it all out. I'm a rather lazy reader. I want to be entertained by a book and don't want to think too hard on it. This book didn't give me this at all. And because I wasn't willing to do the work to figure it out, I didn't understand all of what was going on. I'm actually surprised at myself that I finished the book.
From the other reviews I've read, it looks like this is a love it or hate it book so I guess I'm on the hate it side!
sammy_stenger's review against another edition
3.0
hated the beginning, liked the writing style in the middle, didn’t like the end
yaminagabe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Truly! I had strucked a gold. The plot was twisted and I'm not overwhelmingly exaggerating my opinion because Melinda Haynes was truly a genius and rare underrated authors out there. I indulged this story so much to the point that I lost which reality I should've believed in. I read the first edition, what a tear-jerking morbidding and manipulative plot. Dang! This is the drama that I was hoping to have an TV Adaptation despites it's old, but I would consider to be a gold!