Average customer rating:
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Sextravaganza
Claude Prosper Jolyot De Crebillon Fils
Manufacturer: Fredonia Books (NL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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Literary
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ASIN: 1410101096 |
Book Description
Sextravaganza shows Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon fils at his ablest. It begins where most novels end - in the bedroom (of a fashionable lady of 18th Century France) at night. And it ends there the following morning. Its dramatis personae are two - as in the Garden of Eden. A man and a woman. The difference is that French women need no snake to tempt them. And Frenchmen no apple. Men and women had traveled far since the days of Adam and Eve. Sextravaganza is as simple, and as risque, as all that. But around this simple setting what a masterpiece of the subtle and the sophisticated does Crebillon paint! It is a most extraordinary picture of the battle between the sexes. On one side the male strategy of attack: the aphrodisiac quality of erotic conversation, the incandescent power of casual caresses, and the psychological moments of action. On the other side the female tactics of defense: the evasive changes of subject, the reprimands of mock indignation, the agitations of approaching defeat. Finally, the tumultuous surrender. Thus, in the course of one night, a man and a woman, each of whom is in love with somebody else, gradually warm up to each other until they forget past pleasures in present passions. Satire, irony, word play and scandal abound.
Customer Reviews:
Book review.......2007-05-14
Great follow-up. I wish the authors would continue this series. I want to know what happens next....!
Book Description
Skye joins Scumble River's social club and ends up at a party at the home of socialites Barbie and Ken Addison. But not long after, Skye gets caught in a murder mystery when she finds the perfect couple, perfectly dead...
Customer Reviews:
Who Murdered Barbie & Ken - Who Cares?.......2005-07-01
This is the fifth Scumble River Mystery: Murder of a small town honey, Murder of a sweet old lady, Murder of a sleeping beauty, Murder of a snake in the grass. There is also a short story in the anthology book, Drop Dead Blonde, but is the first I'm reviewing.
The short story was what I read first and it was just barely interesting enough to get me to buy this series, which have turned out to be interesting but frustrating and this book is the worst, and seems to contain all the problems I noticed in the other books.
Skye Denison is a school psychologist, who was fired from her first job in New Orleans and dumped by her fiancee, she couldn't get a job anywhere, so was forced to come back home to Scumble River, Illinois which she had insulted in her high school valedictorian speech a dozen years before.
Skye and her boyfriend Simon have joined Scumble River's Social Club where Sky finds herself being invited to such events as Instant Gourmet food night at the home of Ken and Barbie Addison. Reluctantly, Skye purchases some of the food, just so she can get out of there.
Things are even worse when she stops by in a snow storm to pick up the food only to find Ken, strangled on the floor and Barbie strangled and hidden in the freezer. Why would someone want to kill Ken, who's a doctor or Barbie?
With everyone, including Wally the police chief asking her to help solve the crime, Skye puts on her detective cap and searches for the killer of what looks like a perfect couple, and uncovers some truly nasty secrets being hidden by the Scumble River residents.
Highlights:
Skye's family, from her parents to her hairdresser brother Vince, aunts, uncles and cousins are a close-knit family, who are like a lot of families, arguing but still loving each other.
Wally, I love the police chief. He doesn't mind Skye getting involved in the investigations, as long as she lets him know what she's doing. He had been a rookie cop when Sky, a fifteen year old had developed a crush on him, which he had handled perfectly without taking advantage or embarrassing her.
Lowlights:
Skye. I don't know how she can get on with her daily life since she obviously has no backbone. She constantly complains about how she wants to stand on her own, she's in her thirties, but lets her mother clean her house, her father & godfather buy her a car and generally take care of all of her problems. She always complaining, but doesn't do anything to stop them. And she picked the wrong boyfriend.
Simon - her boyfriend, coroner and owner of the funeral home. He's ok, but most women, with a backbone would not have gone out with him after the way he treated her on their first two meetings. (Read Murder Of A Small Town Honey). Skye tends to start acting like a fourteen year old when she's around any man.
Bunny - Simon's mother. This woman walked out on Simon and her husband over thirty years ago to become a dancer, she had come home a couple of times, claiming she would give it up, the last time was twenty years ago when not only did she leave, but stole all the savings from the bank on her way out. Simon doesn't want to have anything to do with this woman, but Skye is determined they are going to get together. This woman is a vulgar pig, which is trying to pass itself off as being eccentric. Fortunately, she just showed up in this book, so you can have four books to read before she appears. Her character was one of the reasons I was hesitant about getting the series, as she is in the short story.
Skye is another example of characters in books who claim they have to do something because it would hurt another person's feelings or not be polite. TOO BAD. Bunny shows up one night claiming to be Simon's mother and Skye just lets her move in, without even asking for any ID.
The mysteries are interesting and if you can stand the frustration of wanting to smack the heroine upside the head, this is an ok series to read while waiting for something better.
Skye has a house guest.......2005-01-11
Skye Denison and her boyfriend Simon join a social club and begin participating in activities with other couples in the club. Skye even finds herself at the home of the glamour couple, Ken and Barbie Addison, attending an Instant Gourmet party. When Skye goes to the Addison home to collect the food she purchased at the party, she finds that someone has murdered Ken and Barbie. Another unpleasant surprise occurs when Simon's mother, Bunny, shows up unexpectedly and decides to stay with Skye. Since Bunny has a bad relationship with Simon, this puts Skye in an awkward position. Skye manages to do her job as a school psychologist, date Simon, deal with his mother, and investigate the murders all at the same time. There are no end of suspects because Ken Addison was a much reviled person who cheated in his personal and professional lives. Skye persists in her investigation until she and Simon are almost added to the list of murder victims. This is another delightful book in the Scumble River series and should be pleasing to Denise Swanson's fans.
Who killed socialites Barbie & Ken and why?.......2004-05-20
Skye Denison is a school psychologist in Scumble River. Her boyfriend Simon, the coroner and funeral home owner, has joined the local social club, Grand Union of the Mighty Bulls, and he has talked her into joining the GUMB ladies' auxiliary. That's how she met Barbie Addison.
Skye attended a Instant Gourmet party at Barbie's and ended up buying a week's worth of Instant Gourmet food. Skye's dad gives her a ride to Barbie's to pick up her food. Her Bel Air doesn't do well in really bad weather. They find Barbie and Ken (her husband) dead.
Police Chief Walter Boyd asked Skye and Simon to help him investigate their murders. Skye has assisted in the past, but usually against everyone's wishes. This is a new twist for Wally to ask for her help. He knows he needs people who are in GUMB to help find out information.
To complicate matters more, Simon's mother Bunny arrived at Skye's house one night in a snowstorm with no where else to stay. Skye thought Simon's mother was dead so she is quite surprised to meet her. At least that's what Simon had told her! Skye's Uncle Charlie who runs a local motel, referred Bunny to Skye's for the night. One night turns into many! Bunny isn't the easiest person to live with either. Simon was not too happy to see his mother.
Skye and Simon find themselves in many interesting situations as they assist Wally in the investigation.
I love the characters and their interactions in this series. Denise has constructed such a great cast of characters. Plus Scumble River is the typical small town (if any are typical). Everyone knows everyone's business and there are plenty of scandals.
I highly recommend this book and the whole series! It's great! It is a wonderful cozy mystery series.
Getting Silly.......2004-04-23
It's never a good thing when an author bases their main character so much on themselves that it interferes with forming the character individually in the reader's mind. In this case of this series, it's obvious that's just what this author has done, just by reading the little bio blurb in the back cover. At least try for a little deviation from yourself, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally.
Skye has become increasingly annoying as the series progresses. There's no justifiable reason whatsoever for her sticking her nose into these cases, and even less reason for a police chief to not only allow her to do it, but give her access to confidential information in order to faciliate her "assistance." It gets even more ludicrous when her mother, the town police dispatcher, gives her permission to go into the store room to poke through evidence while the chief is out of the office. Shouldn't that be grounds for termination?
If Skye's romance with Simon is supposed to be sexy, the author is doing a poor job of portraying that. These are two grown adults, neither is attached, the whole town knows they're dating, and yet they feel they have to sneak around? That no one has figured out they're sleeping together? What is this, junior high school? There's nothing at all appealing about this couple.
Add in the silliness of Bunny, Frannie and Justin at the end, and this was almost a painful book to finish. If the author wants to continue this series, then she needs to have her characters grow up and stop acting like a bunch of teenagers trying to form their own "in-crowd."
Mattel Murders.......2004-04-06
This is a fun little lite cozy murder mystery, offering insights such as this father-daughter advice from 30-something School Psychologist Skye Denison's dad: You only need 2 tools, WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use the WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use the duct tape. Anything more complicated than that, call me.
And here's a fun flashback from Skye's Funeral Director Beau's Mom, Bunny: In the 60s, we took acid to make the world weirder. Now the world is weirder than we can handle, and we take Prozac to make it normal.
The plot and pace are perky. The style's breezy. If you live in small town, or used to, you KNOW some of these characters!
/TundraVision, out of a farmland village of about 900 souls in the Illinois heartland.
Customer Reviews:
Some interesting stories........2007-03-28
This digest-size science fiction pulp magazine has some terrific stories by L. Sprague de Camp, John Varley, Keith Laumer, Jack C. Haldeman II, Martin Gardner, Stanley Schmidt, and Asimov himself. Varley's "The Barbie Murders" is a classic.
Average customer rating:
- Good, but more variety would be nice
- Not his best, but very good anyway
- When is this book coming back into print?
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The Barbie Murders
John Varley
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Varley, John
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Short Stories
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Similar Items:
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Steel Beach
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Demon
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The Ophiuchi Hotline
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The Golden Globe
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Wizard
ASIN: 0425045803 |
Customer Reviews:
Good, but more variety would be nice.......2000-03-11
The stories in this collection are very enjoyable, and if you've read The Ophiuchi Hotline, some of them provide excellent background for that novel's characters and events, especially a great story featuring Parameter-Solstice. I would have liked more variety between the stories, though. They're all set in Varley's "occupied Earth" universe, and while they have do have interesting plots, they contain the same themes in the background: sexual ambiguity, body manipulation, etc. I'd like to see Varley move away from this general setting and try something different.
I agree that this book should be put back in print, along with Ophiuchi Hotline, Persistence of Vision, and a mass-market edition of Millennium. It's hard to understand why Varley's best work is either out of print or in expensive trade editions, while his worst work (Steel Beach, Titan) is still available.
Not his best, but very good anyway.......1999-04-28
I find Varley's short stories are generally better than his novels. The stories in The Barbie Murders are not quite his best (look for "The Persistance of Vision" -- also out of print) but still worth the time. Favorites: title story, Equinoctals, Picnic on Nearside.
When is this book coming back into print?.......1999-03-25
When in God's name is this collection coming back into print? No wonder sf readers often have no sense of history when good, relatively recent stuff like this is unavailable. For shame.
Average customer rating:
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The Barbie Murders
John Varley
Manufacturer: Berkley Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MNGBOE |
Book Description
Marilyn Monroe's favorite was Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie, and she'd eat it wearing nothing but Chanel No. 5 and a raincoat. Andy Warhol always savored the Lemon Icebox Pie, stealing bites while he watched and sketched other diners through cutout holes in a newspaper he held upsidedown in front of his face. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis came for the frozen hot chocolate and brought JohnJohn and Caroline, who now brings her children.
Where did all these luminaries and many more devour these sinful treats? At Serendipity 3, New York's legendary dessert restaurant and boutique. The restaurant's history is as rich as its desserts, and this book, commemorating its fiftieth anniversary, lets you indulge in both.
Founded in 1953, before the concept of theme restaurants even existed, Serendipity was one of the first restaurants in the country to turn dining into a theatrical experience, to create an ambiance as fun as the food that was served. Located near Bloomingdale's in one of New York's toniest East Side neighborhoods, Serendipity fills two floors of a historic townhouse. Decked out with original Tiffany lamps, black-and-white floors, fabulous Victorian oversized posters, and idiosyncratic adornments such as a huge clock and metal horse, the restaurant takes you down the rabbit hole into a fairytale world.
The desserts, represented by seventy-five recipes in this book, make everyone feel like a kid again. Many evoke the comfort of grandmother's kitchen, but many also have a creative, irreverent kick to them. Since many are based on heirloom recipes from one of the founders' families, all the recipes are easily achieved at home and can make fun projects for the whole family.
Among the recipes included:
Cheesecake Vesuvius
Strawberry Fields Sundae
Chocolate Chip Pizza
Chocolate Blackout Cake
Lemon Rain Drops
Frozen Tutti Frutti
Customer Reviews:
WOW!.......2007-09-21
This is an awesome cookbook! Having recently traveled to NY and getting to experience Serendipity first hand (where my hubby said the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate was worth the trip alone) I returned home and decided to get the cookbook. I was not disappointed in the slightest! I made the carrot cake and cheesecake recipes for my friend's birthday, and all the guests raved. Everyone said it was the best they had ever had, and my "non sweet eating" friends went back for seconds! I can't wait to try the rest of the recipes!
Desserts galore!.......2007-07-03
Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm addicted to desserts.
I'd never heart of the Serendipity 3, but I was bored and was browsing and saw this book. I bought it out of sheer curiosity. Oh man. I made one of these every week, and they are to die for. Recommended for anyone who loves desserts!
One for your collection... One for the collector..........2006-11-08
I'm an avid cook book collector. I tend to look for the ones that stand out from the rest... the ones that have a bit more in them then just recipies. This is definitley one of those books. If I could, I'd give it 10 stars.
The book is filled with wonderful little recipes that everyone should have. They aren't spectacular. They aren't professional grade. They aren't the kind of recipe that it will take 2 weeks to locate the ingredients and another 6 hours to create the dessert. But that is exactly what seredipity is all about. If you know anything about the actual store/shop/restaurant...they never were into the harder-then-heck kind of recipes. They took simple things, and gave them a style all their own. And all of New York...and eventually the rest of the world...loved it!
The recipes are definitley "yummy." Every single one. The pictures are to die for. Every single one. :) I brought this book to work and had a 1/2 a dozen people ask me when i was making "this" or when I was making "that"...then they'd point to a picture and drool. :)
....but as I began with, this book has more than just recipies in it. It has seredipity's history....written by one of the owners himself. A very interesting read. And it's not just a 1/2 of a page long. It's lengthy. The book is worth it's price just for this read. On almost every page there is a 'snippit' or 'story' from Serendipities history. Feel good stories. Hollywood-siting stories. Stories that will make you want to go to the actual location if you have never been there.
Did you know that Robin Williams brough a little girl who was dying of a life-threatening disease to Serendipity...treated her to lunch....and kept her laughing for hours on end? This book tells you things like that. Did you know that the owners wouldn't even give the recipe of Frozzzen Hot Chocolate to the First Lady? The book tells you that story too.
And,yes .....the book does include the infamous 'Frozzzen Hot Chocolate' recipe that they have become famous for. No, it doesn't tell you exactly what kind of chocolate they use (they'd go out of business if they gave it up!)....but it gives you a start. Use your own chocoalte kind-of recipe. It also includes variations of the hot-chocoalte recipe. Very fun.
If you are a cook cook collector this book is a must for your shelf. Put it right next to your entertaining books from Williams-Sonoma. :) If you have a friend that is a collector and you are trying to find a book that will stand out from all of the other ones that they own......Stop looking...THIS IS IT! I promise! :)
Fun book, good collection of recipes, but nothing astonishing.......2006-10-10
When I grew up in New York, Serendipity was a special occasion destination. I only went there a couple of times, but -- like everyone else -- I fell in love with the "frozen hot chocolate," the funky ambiance, and the eclectic gift shop. (They had pet rocks for sale before it became a fad. For all I know, the fad _started_ at the restaurant.) So I was primed to enjoy Serendipity's cookbook.
You don't have to know anything about the place, though, because the book will bring you up to speed. Serendipity, billed as restaurant and general store, opened in 1954 and, while it serves entrees too, it's most famous for its desserts. That's all you find here -- along with charming text about the restaurant's history, plus anecdoates about and testimonials from all sorts of famous patrons (such as James Lipton, Alec Baldwin, Ron Howard, Yoko Ono). In a lot of cookbooks, the name-dropping can be annoying or precious, but here the stories are really fun. (For example, a fan asked the man standing next to her, "Oooh, is that Meg Ryan?" The unrecognized Dennis Quaid said yes, it was.)
Ultimately, though, this is a cookbook with over 100 cakes and desserts, all beautifully photographed. To my mild surprise, these are all very good recipes... but they aren't amazing. Sure, there's the famous frozen hot chocolate (which is depressingly simple; the secret ingredient is instant hot chocolate mix!). But for the most part, this is a set of perfectly adequate recipes for carrot cake, chocolate blackout cake, bourbon-pecan balls, pecan pie. The pecan pie, for example, has predictable ingredients -- just eggs, sugar, corn syrup, pecans, pie crust -- not even molasses or a drop of booze as a variation. I found a few unusual items, such as a rose wedding cake (made with real edible roses), and humble pie (which I don't think I've seen elsewhere).
Somehow, with all that funkiness and history, I expected more... though I'm not sure what, because a pecan pie is a pecan pie. Perhaps I should take this as a lesson in what good presentation can accomplish.
Even if it has little that's magical, though, Sweet Serendipity is a fine collection of dessert recipes. They have clear instructions, they're all in the "things people will love" category, and the pictures are great. This would be a *perfect* gift for a young cook for whom an "every dessert in the world" would be overkill, or for yourself, if you want a dose of holiday-dessert inspiration that you can read in the living room as well as in the kitchen.
AMAZING!.......2006-07-11
I am an avid dessert person--I judge restaurants cookbooks etc. all based on the desserts, and this one definitely 'takes the cake' the recipes are easy--the food outstanding. Highly recommend!
Book Description
A crash course on canine cancer, for all dog lovers. Covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment options, side effects, diet, supplements and home care. Medical animal writer Kaplan shares journey with her own lymphoma survivor, Bullet. A must read for those who have a dog with cancer.
Customer Reviews:
A must for every dog owner's book shelf.......2007-10-01
A friend loaned me her copy of this book when my sister's dog was diagnosed with cancer. Now that I've read it, I'm buying my own copy to have as a ready reference. This book will not tell you how to treat your own dog; it will help you devise a plan which is appropriate for your own dog and your own personal situation. The author reviews all of the things you need to consider, and shares her own decision making process by telling Bullet's story. It's a good story, one you'll want to finish. Even if your dog is healthy, buy this book, read it now, and you'll be prepared if your dog, or a friend's dog is diagnosed with cancer.
Help your Dog Fight Cancer.......2007-09-26
This is the most informative book I've ever read on the subject. Also a very moving story which I will read over and over again!
The info on veterinarians, oncologists and web-sites is incredable!
A MUST buy, also for those whose dogs do NOT have cancer.
Great help.......2007-08-13
It was an easy read but unfortunately one cannot utilize every single suggestion the author offers up. However we did use a lot...like changing Cody's (sweetest Golden Retreiver in the history of Golden Retreiver's) diet to something more organic..gave him yogurt which he loved..chicken..and filtered water. But after the first chemo treatment caused such unusual discomfort and stress in him, we decided to forgo any further treatments and let him go naturally. He did very well for about 8 weeks after the chemo stopped but when we found one morning he could not get up..then we knew it was time. He could still eat voraciously and drink like there was no tomorrow and as aware as ever...but he couldn't get up. It was a sad goodbye....very very sad. Sorry..anytime I have a chance to talk or write about Cody, I go off. It is very helpful to me. But the book helped us notice things we may not have noticed if we hadn't read it....so for me altho the end result was sadly unfortunate...I believe the book contained a lot of good ideas. Ok..I'll stop now
The first canine cancer book you should read........2007-07-27
Ms. Kaplan, who was a professional veterinary writer to begin with, wrote this book for the rest of us when, after her beloved Bullet was diagnosed with lymphoma, she discovered that there was no basic "how to" book for dog owners facing the same challenge.
The result is a book that is both a handy reference, containing a wealth of information--about canine cancer, the various treatments, ideas for special diets, and so on--and a "support manual" that you can (and will) turn to over and over again as you and your dog fight the disease.
I read other cancer books, as well as a wealth of information online (about "people" cancer as well, since much of the chemotherapy is the same), but this was clearly the most valuable book.
Ms. Kaplan closes with the story of Bullet's passing (years after his battle began), and I found a great deal of support in reading that while trying to come to terms with my own experiences.
The book also contains sidebars by various veterinarians and includes tips on how to spot early signs of cancer. I wish the book was much more visible: It should be on the suggested reading list for every new dog owner.
Hope it helps you and your pal's fight..........2007-03-06
We bought this book when we found out our Bogart had cancer. It is full of information and gives you hope. And when you learn your dog has cancer that is the first thing you need to cling to because without it, your dog is lost. This book was our cancer Bible during Bogart's fight and we returned to it often to help us get to the next day. Bogart is gone now, gone over the Rainbow Bridge, beaten by the awful cancer but if your beloved pooch has cancer I urge you to get this book. It was the most helpful of the numerous we purchased when we got the devastating news.
Average customer rating:
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The Colorful Home: An Inspirational Sourcebook of Decorative Schemes
Sally Walton
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Decorating
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
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General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
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Decorating
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
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General
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ASIN: 0754803716 |
Book Description
An invaluable sourcebook of ideas to help you transform your home with color. Includes 15 fully-illustrated, step-by-step projects, ranging from elegant Napkin Rings to a stylish Japanese Wall Screen.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous Book!.......2001-06-11
This book is great! It has tons of ideas and color schemes for any home. It has craft projects for making your own curtains, napkin rings,painting techniques and many more ideas. The book is aranged by color schemes. Step by step intructions and full color illustrations make this book worth every penny!
Average customer rating:
- An excellent book for first time decorators.
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House comfortable: the art and science of comfortable living
K. McMillan
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
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General
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| Home & Garden
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Decorating
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
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Decoration & Ornament
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
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General
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General
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General
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ASIN: 0399522344 |
Customer Reviews:
An excellent book for first time decorators........2000-04-21
House Comfortable is a very complete resource for creating a comfortable home. I recommend it for first time decorators and those who are designing a custom-built home. It covers a variety of topics including lighting, color, furniture placement, room measurements, etc. But, it goes beyond listing the design elements of a comfortable home and actually tells you how to achieve this goal. This book includes a resource section and loads of wonderful, practical advice; detail you would tend to omitin a do-it-yourself project. It reads like a stylish text book that you will want to take with you on shopping trips.
Book Description
A comprehensive look at the work of Ray Johnson, the seminal American collage artist, whose innovative oeuvre has been ignored by the self-referential mainstream art press. Critical essays investigate Johnson's imagination of mass culture and communication systems, his queer subjectivity and his insightful engagements with art movements of the 1960's including Fluxus, Pop Art and Conceptualism. Discover the rich legacy of an artist that the art establishment doesn't want you to know about. Exhibition catalog, dimension: 8 x 101/2 inches, this book includes 90 b&w and 35 color reproductions.
Customer Reviews:
How Sad I Am Today............2006-08-10
This book is exactly what I was looking for, a nice compliment to the mail art piece of Johnson's that I recently purchased. Shipping didn't take too long. Great transaction!
Is It Possible to Capture Ray Johnson in One Book?.......2005-10-29
It is it difficult to capture the magnitude of Ray Johnson in such a small publication. Nevertheless, the book is structured in a way that offers a glimpse into the realm which is Ray. Not only does the book offer selections of the artist's collages and moticos, but includes essays from friends and contemporaries and examples of Ray Johnson's personal submissions to his New York Correspondece School network. It can only be hoped that a larger collection of Johnson's work will be published soon, as his razor wit and ironic turns never cease to be amazing and enthralling.
Book Description
The Sweeter the Juice is a provocative memoir that goes to the
heart of our American identity. Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, in an
effort to reconcile the dissonance between her black persona
and her undeniably multiracial heritage, started on a journey of
discovery that took her over thousands of miles and hundreds of
years. While searching for her mother's family, Haizlip
confronted the deeply intertwined but often suppressed tensions
between race and skin color.
We are drawn in by the story of an African-American family.
Some members chose to "cross over" and "pass" for white while
others enjoyed a successful black life. Their stories weave a tale
of tangled ancestry, mixed blood, and identity issues from the
17th century to the present. The Sweeter the Juice is a memoir,
a social history, a biography, and an autobiography. Haizlip gives
to us the quintessential American story, unveiling truths about
race, about our society, and about the ways in which we all
perceive and judge one another.
Customer Reviews:
Well written, but surprisingly racist.......2006-12-20
The Sweeter the Juice clearly demonstrates that racism is equally prevelent on both sides of the color line. While Haizlip's book is well written, the author is no less guilty of racism towards white people than the WASPs she condemns. Her comments about whites and "poor white trash" in particular are uncalled for (i.e. "my mother said there is nothing worse than poor white trash" and "a nice white person is nothing more than that. A nice white person"). As the descendant of working class Southern whites I was personally offended by her assumptions about my ancestors. In fact, my father rose out of Southern poverty and all of the associated racial biases of his family.
When a white person does something gracious for Haizlip, she overlooks it and portrays it as a negative event. For instance, when Martin Luther King is shot and Haizlip's white neighbor comes by to make her tea and offer her sympathies, the author says "she said that assuming she knew how I felt." While Haizlip's ambivalence towards whites is understandable given some of her experiences, she makes just as many stereotypes about whites as they do of her. She claims to be an integrationist, but part of the reason American society is not socially integated today, is the self segregation of blacks and mixed race people like Haizlip.
Haizlip is contradictory at times. As a New Negro like her mother, she is "eager to please" and be accepted by white culture, but at the same time, she resents her caucasian heritage and is active in African American social circles. This book seems to be more about the author's insecurities about her racial identity than about bringing familes together.
After meeting her white relatives, Haizlip creates a "white corner" to keep their photographs separate from the rest of her family. She says she wonders if they would have ever bothered to find her. This seems a bit ridiculous since it is the grandson of her aunt Grace who takes the initiative to locate Haizlip and unite the families along with her. Again, Haizlip cannot accept as legitimate any positive actions on the part of whites. Haizlip tells her daughter that she keeps the white family's photos separate from the others because it wouldn't be honest to do otherwise. Haizlip explains that she will never be able to connect with her white relatives because their lives are too different from hers- they passed for white and she didn't. So does this mean that Haizlip cannot have anything in common/be friends with any white person? And she's the one who worked so hard to locate her mother's sister to begin with. Without meaning to, Haizlip is passing down her own anger towards white people to her daughters, potentially preventing them from forming bi-racial friendships with whites who are color blind would not reject them the way Haizlip's mother's relatives rejected her.
The saddest part of this book is that towards the end, Haizlip does not accept her new-found white relatives the same way they accept her. She keeps their pictures and their lives as separate, but equal (to quote a Jim Crow phrase) as possible.
In order to make herself feel part of "Us" instead of "Them," Haizlip turns poor whites into the "Them." This is not how we will solve today's racial problems. Racism will only be solved if everyone becomes part of "Us."
Only book Oprah recomended actually worth reading.......2006-04-13
I am not an Oprah fan but one day with nothing to do I actually spent a rare session in front of television flipping channels. And I found myself stopping at her channel at her show's beginning wondering What is it This time?
The author of this book and her mother were there to discuss this book and her family saga as well as the Issue of 'Passing'.
I found their discussion so facinating that next day I went straight to the book store and ordered this book. Later I would buy other books on the subject.
Not wishing to be 'controversial' I must confess that the book was quite fasinating and I did enjoy reading it.
Very enjoyable, while still intense book...........2003-12-13
I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Sure, some of it was confusing, like some said, but what part of genealogy isn't confusing? My own genealogy confuses ME! :o) This book was wonderful! I think the author did a wonderful job in addressing this little spoken of topic. I was recommended this book after I found out that my family had African American roots, & so this book hit home with me. It aided me through an emotional journey...answering many of the questions such as: "Why so many secrets?" It also helped me to understand that some of my family members will never in their lifetimes will willing to openly talk about this subject, but the book confirmed my feelings that it's their loss. Thanks & kudos to the author!!!
Lost Family.......2003-03-24
I just read this book. It was very moving and insightful. It was so sad that Margaret Taylor, Shirlee's mother, was abandoned by her father,sister and brothers, and endured such a difficult childhood. It took over 70 years for Margaret to find her sister!
I think that Grace Cramer's life was more tragic, perhaps, because she blocked out so many memories and isolated herself. I would think she could have at least written her sister, once in 70 years! even if she was nervous about revealing her heritage to other people. It was wonderful to hear that Grace's grandchildren had a happy meeting with Shirlee.
The photos are great and the stories about the Taylors, Morrisses etc. are inspiring. It was fascinating to read about African American life in New England and the South. I look forward to reading the book about the Haizlip marriage.
A first rate piece of writing.......2002-10-13
The author, Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, is of mixed race parentage, her father more dark skinned black than her mother. Her mother, the youngest of her family, was abandoned by her brothers and sisters and her father, a mulatto, her mulato mother having died. Most of her surving relatives (those of Mrs. Haizlip's mother) moved away to other places and passed for white. The last child of the family, she was a painful reminder to them of the black experience they inherited. This abandonment happened around 1916. She passed into several gaurdianships and then ended up in the home of a light skinned couple, a dentist and lady who was slowly loosing her sanity. Her female gaurdian spent most of her time covering her furniture with white sheets,pulling down the blinds of the house and running around in rags. Her mother eventually met Julian, a part white and part Indian, a divorcee son of a prominent black minister. They married and Julian Jr. settled in as a pastor to the small black community in the working class town of Ansonia Connecticut.
In the pictures provided in the book, Margaret and her mother look rather Mediteranian. Margaret and Julian their three children, plus some foster children, lived an exceedingly happy middle class lifelife. There were summer homes to vacation, pleasant trips to Baptist national conventions, regular shopping trips, a vibrant social life, guests at home from NAACP leaders to Jackie Robinson. Racial problems were a little part of their life in this community. The children, except for the only sun Julian Jr. nicknamed "Brother," one of the few problems in their lives, were very successful in school,full of extra-curricular activities, camping, clubs, and so on.
Not exactly the life of the average black family in the 1940's. The author would marry a gentleman named Harold Haizlipp, attend Ivy league schools. They were amongst the elite of New York, sitting on a bunch of trustee boards, knowing all the famous intellectuals, and it was in such genteel circles that she and her husband conducted activism against racism. One interesting incident was a party thrown by the Haizlips in apparently the late 60's in New York. Attendees included Betty Shabaz, widow of Malcom X and a daughter of Nelson Rockefeller. A white woman, apparently some sort of civil rights worker, was brought along with one of Shirlee's friends. She apparently was so overcome by the interracial socilization going on, in addition to the nature of the party which called for guests to wear costumes revealing as much skin as possible (inspired by the play "Hairspray). The woman gripped around Harold's Cousin tightly and started screaming that the black males there wished to rape her before she was subdued and taken to a mental hospital.
Harold was commissioner of education in the Virgin Islands from 1971 to 1980. Shirlee had to fret about things like worrying about wearing the same dress as Queen Elizabeth when she met the latter. She became manager of the local CBS affiliate on the island and tried to make its programing reflect the interests of the natives. When she returned to the U.S., she became a director until 1986 at New York Public Television station WNET and had a few unpleasant racial situations there. She moved on to be the director of the National Center for Film and Video preservation at the American film institute and she found quickly found herself out of place in this organization which declared "Birth of a Nation" to be one of America's greatest film treasures. She didn't last long there. She expresses a great deal of disillusionment with race relations in this country.
The author towards the end of the book (set in the early 90's) helps her mother seek out her "white" relatives and there is mostly happy reunions. The interaction with Shirlee's Aunt Grace is particularly interesting. That lady was apparently quite sincere when she said she had no memory of her early life of things that related to the "black" part of her life. She had blocked it all out. Grace also is quoted bring up the issue more than once of her Spanish translator grandaughter going out with Hispanic men. She says "what's wrong with a good white man" and that her grandaughter's boyfriend is "dark--like a black man."
This book, except for the first part which is somewhat stiffly writen-- where the author laboriously describes, her ancestors, their physical features, their houses, personalities and so on--is a first rate piece of writing. The author has lived an exceedingly romantic life, one with lots of family love, friends and activity. ...
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