Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Mother of Pearl
Book Review: A Book You Remember
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a book that you will not forget. Mother of Pearl is an amazing novel that shows the differences in society circles in the south (racism and prejudice). The book is set in Petal, Mississippi. 14 year old white Valuable lives with her grandmother and has one true friend, Jackson. Valuable was abandoned as a baby by her town [prostitute] mother. For a while the book seperates the stories of Valuable and a young black man named Even (who was orphaned as a baby) and brings their paths together in the middle of the book through Joody. Joody is considered the town's crazy woman (voodoo witch). Valuable goes to Joody to try and find out about herself. Even falls in love with Joody. When Valuable's grandmother dies her mother comes back and makes her life miserable. Valuable falls in love with Jackson (who we find out is her half-brother, but neither Valuable or Jackson know their father is the same man). Valuable becomes pregnant and Jackson's family moves him far away. Valuable has no contact with him and can't tell him that she's pregnant. Valuable comes to love and depend on her gay aunt, Even, Joody, Grace, and Jackson's best friend. During the birth Valuable has complications and dies. Even takes the baby as his own to raise because he can't make the baby an orphan, because of his own past. Jackson learns that Valuable is dead when he returns to see her with flowers in hand only to be forced to read her tombstone. This book shows that love and friendship really do conquer all. This is an unforgetable read.Book Review: A Great Book!
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a very good book, long but good. All the characters were intertwined one way or another but you didn't know it til the moment it was revealed. Even Grace and Valuable stood their ground as equal characters in the book. Little did they know how small the world around them was until their pasts crossed and shaped their lives in the present. I really enjoyed the author's writing style.Reviewed by: Sheila
Book Review: A Simile Factory
Summary: 1 Stars
Like a typewriter stuck on one letter, this book is full of similes. As repetitive as a woodpecker working on an old oaken log, this book is full of similes. If you enjoy similes like a dog enjoys scratching his fleas, then you may find this book entertaining. Like a freshman English professor tired of reading excessive adjectives in assignments, I did not.
I too stuck it through to the very end, wading through the tedious and verbose prose; probably more because I'm stubborn (and always finish my books) and not due to the fact that I was enjoying the read.
The storyline, though sometimes confusing, was above average. It almost begs a sequel. But, like an imperfect movie that gets mediocre reviews, this book needs no continuation.
As a fairly frequent reader, I've got one last question:
How did this make Oprah's book club?!!!
Book Review: A Slice of Delicious Southern Literary Pie!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is now one of my top five favorite books. The book reads like a screenplay, you can picture each chapter as clearly as a scene from a movie. The characters are so rich in southern culture and euphemisms, for me it brought back childhood memories of people and places long since forgotten. An amazing aspect of the book was the richness of the minor characters. They are deeply rounded and just as complete as the characters from the main storyline.
After the first 3 or 4 chapters, a reader will realize how enticing this book is. It draws you in slowly and soon you are aware that you want to race back to read even a couple of pages, much like I imagine a soap opera hypnotizes a viewer.
Book Review: A new top-5 favorite for me
Summary: 5 Stars
My favorite authors include Jane Austen, Barbara Kingsolver, and Maeve Binchy, who are now joined by Melinda Haynes. I was dismayed to see this book's low rating, since this is the best new book I've read in quite some time.A few other folks have been pointing to logical gaps in the storyline. Whether these gripes are legitimate or not--and I think most aren't--is really irrelevant. This is a fresh new powerful eccentric Southern woman's voice that should not be quibbled with.
Haynes beautifully and powerfully captures the innocence of first love, cynicism's redemption by love, and much more. Her characters are wonderful, and their emotions are sometimes so pure and real they seem to shimmer above the page and threaten to materialize. The interactions between men and women in this novel are quite simply not to be missed.
The pantheon of unforgettable Southern writers has a new member.