- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Avon; Reprint edition (Jan 19 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061710385
- ISBN-13: 978-0061710384
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (395 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #378,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1998: What makes Pearl Cleage's novel so damned enjoyable? At first glance, after all, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day seems pretty heavy going: HIV, suicide, sudden infant death syndrome, and drunk driving all figure prominently in the lives of narrator Ava Johnson and her older sister Joyce. It isn't long before crack addiction, domestic violence, and unwed motherhood have joined the list--so, where's the pleasure? The answer lies in the sharp and funny attitude Cleage brings to her depiction of one African American community in the troubled '90s. Ava Johnson, for example, might be HIV-positive, but she's refreshingly forthright about it: "Most of us got it from the boys. Which is, when you think about it, a pretty good argument for cutting men loose, but if I could work up a strong physical reaction to women, I would already be having sex with them. I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying I can't be a witness. Too many titties in one place to suit me."
Ada has spent the last 10 years living in Atlanta. When she discovers she's infected, she sells her hairdressing business and heads back to her childhood home of Idlewild, Michigan, to spend the summer with her recently widowed sister before moving on to San Francisco. Once there, however, she finds herself embroiled in big-city problems--drugs, violence, teen pregnancy, and an abandoned crack-addicted baby, to name just a few--in a small-town setting. Ava also meets Eddie Jefferson, a man with a past who just might change her mind about the imprudence of falling in love.
In less assured hands, such a catalog of disasters would make for maudlin, melodramatic reading indeed. But Cleage, an accomplished playwright, has a way both with characters and with language that lifts this tale above its movie-of-the-week tendencies. In Ava she has created a character who not only effortlessly carries the weight of the story but also provides entertaining commentary on African American life as she goes. Discussing the insular nature of the black community in Atlanta, she recalls, "I'd walk into a reception room and there'd be a room full of brothers, power-brokering their asses off, and I'd realize I'd seen them all naked. I'd watch them striding around, talking to each other in those phony-ass voices men use when they want to make it clear they got juice, and it was so depressing, all I'd want to do was go home and get drunk." Later, she describes the preacher's wife's hair as "pressed and hot-curled within an inch of its life.... Hardly anybody asks for that kind of hard press anymore. Sister seems to have missed the moment when we decided it was okay for the hair to move."
As the trials and tribulations pile on, the experiences of Cleage's characters prove to be universal: death, love, second chances. Ava's acerbic, smart-mouthed narrative keeps the story buoyant; by the time this endearingly imperfect heroine and her cohorts have negotiated the rocky road to a happy ending, readers will be sorry to see her go, even as they wish her well. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From Library Journal
In her first novel, Cleage, a playwright and essayist, focuses on an HIV-positive woman who seeks solace and refuge for the summer in her hometown with her widowed sister.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
i'm sitting at the bar in the airport, minding my own business, trying to get psyched up for my flight, and I made the mistake of listening to one of those TV talk shows. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
i'm sitting at the bar in the airport, minding my own business, trying to get psyched up for my flight, and I made the mistake of listening to one of those TV talk shows. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sister No Matter What the price........,
By "classy1992" (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Looks Like Crazy (T (Paperback)
Ava and Joyce this a pair that I won't forget. This book has many twist and turns because one the sisters had to endure alot of issues such as losing their parents at an early age, AIDS, losing a spouse, and falling in love again renewing their spirts together from a community that was supposed to be the black Mecca turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the both of them. By the end of the book you will be saying go girl in one breathe and in another saying God DON'T LIKE UGLY so be careful what you wish on others (...)
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Look In The Mirror,
By A Customer
This review is from: What Looks Like Crazy (T (Paperback)
I couldn't help noticing that one reviewer commented "What unnevered me about some of the reviews is the bad grammar . . ." and went on to say "the amount of people who wrote in . . ." Grammatically correct verbiage is, "the number of people". Amount infers weight; number infers an actual count.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Looks Like Crazy.... A MUST read,
By A Customer
This review is from: What Looks Like Crazy (T (Paperback)
Ava Johnson was the typical everyday woman until a trip to the doctors changed her life; she was diagnosed with AIDS. As a result of all of the stress that comes with living in a big city (Atlanta) and living with AIDS, Ava decides to make a pit stop at her sister's home, while on her way to move to San Francisco. However, once in Idlewood, Michigan, at her sister, Joyce's, everything changes. This book tells about the summer from Ava's point of view. At first, it seems like a pretty harsh book, with AIDS, teen pregnancy, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. However, the way Cleage ties all of these realities together makes the book even more eventful. Her use of first person allows you, as the reader, to feel as though the book is talking directly to you. Overall, the book is a great example of real life turned into a fiction novel that is a must read for everyone.
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