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Summary: take it slow---don't miss a word.
Review: "Mother of Pearl" by Melinda B. Haynes is written in a time before I was born. The events focus around the year 1956. PLEASE Do Not rush through these chapters. Melinda can say more in one sentence than many authors say in a lifetime. I was pulled back in time. I am a white female. After reading this book, I can say that I have been inside the mind and heart of Grace, Even, Cannan and Joody-all black. I found myself pulling for them and wanting to spit in the eyes of the local white folks. During the flood sceen in the truck , I laughed out loud so hard it hurt. Father Russ was so refreshing--when Joleb loses all hope and peace--Father Russ reaches inside and loves Joleb, showing the true love of Christ . I wish I had this Father Russ to talk to sometimes. I miss Even. He was the strong one--I see his face today. I long to hear from him again. Hint...Hint..... I have seen the paintings of Melinda Haynes and she is a wonderful talented artist--this time she is painting the canvas with stokes of words that touch the center of your soul. READERS...... Take it slow.
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Summary: Like crawling through thick, Southern, SLUDGE
Review: I was excited about this book when I bought it. I opened it up to the first page, read it, stopped, and read it again. I was confused. I'm an English graduate student. I should be able to understand it on the first try, right? Little did I know I would start a whole novel of reading a bit, stopping, going back and reading the same bit again. Ms. Haynes, while ambitious, is a little too concerned with showing off how many words she can fit into a sentence and leaves the plot, and characters, secondary. Truth is, I gave the book to my boyfriend when he was suffering from insomnia and he said it worked like a charm. The REAL award should go to the person who wrote the synopsis on the back cover. Bravo!! Way to rope a reader in!!
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Summary: Entertaining look at 1950's Mississippi
Review: In 1956 Petal, Mississippi, Black Even Grade and local seer Joody Two Sun become lovers. Not long after that Even meets teenage white girl Valuable Korner, whose mother is the town hooker. Though he loves the weird Joody, Even understands Valuable's need of family as he himself was abandoned by his mother almost three decades ago. Meanwhile, Valuable falls in love with her neighbor Jackson McLain. However, when Valuable becomes pregnant, Jackson flees town. Still, she dreams of taking care of her "Pearl" as she calls her unborn child. However, the young girl knows her family will provide no help. She turns to Joody and Valuable to help her through her pregnancy. MOTHER OF PEARL provides readers with a taste of small town Mississipi in the early stages of the Civil Rights movement. None of the characters seem to permanently hook the reader as much as the setting does. However, what Melinda Haynes does do is imbue her characters with human flaws and attributes that change as they do. Thouh the varying misfortunes of each of the ensemble cast overwhelms the audience at times, readers will know wht this novel is a selection of Oprah's Book Club. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: A Simile Factory
Review: 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?!!!
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Summary: A Beautiful Masterpiece
Review: MOTHER OF PEARL is a novel about the truths of life and love. Set in Petal, Mississippi in the summer of 1956, Haynes opens her story with a vague description of the initial characters, but this only draws the reader in furthur to know more. The story unfolds for 28 year old Even Grade, a black man who is an orphan in need of a family. As Even finds himself falling in love with the town crazy, Joody Two Sun, 14 year old Valuable Korner is also experiencing new love in her lifelong friend Jackson McLain.
Haynes finds a way to incorporate very colorful and descriptive language into a masterpiece that comes together beautifully to create one big picture. Some think that the complexity of the language takes away from the book, but I think that it adds to the overall effect that the reader experiences when discovering this heartfelt story of two lives.
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Summary: A COMMANDING READING
Review: Oprah picked it, and so do millions of others because this powerful debut novel captivates with its truth. Set in 1956 Mississippi, with a compelling narrative that reveals characters in all their frailty and glory, Mother Of Pearl synthesizes the longings and aspirations humans share. The author speaks with a compassionate voice and actor Nan Visitor performs with a commanding one, perfectly capturing the nuances of saints and sinners alike in this memorable tale of what can happen in a single year.
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Summary: Hard on the eyes? Try your ears instead!
Review: The mannerism of Nana Visitor's reading style on the audio version of this book literally breathes life into these wonderfully, diverse characters. Her intelligent technique of knowing when to ebb and when to flow, and her flawless presentation of each character's personality and "voice", gives well-earned justice to Ms. Haynes unique writing style. Admittedly, even on audio, there were parts of the first chapter that were so full of metaphor and prose that it took a while to find the rythmic niche... but only momentarily. The story was so intriguing, and Nana so adept in her presentation, that I began to marvel not only at its unfolding tale, but at the way it was read. The story of the relationships between these wonderful, interesting characters... full of diversity, twists, and insight, is one I'll not soon forget.
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Summary: Review for Mother of Pearl
Review: This book is a very slow read. It takes quite a while for the book to grab the reader, then its still moves pretty slowly. The books contains many stories, most seem to intertwine with each other effortlessly. However there are some chapters that should have been edited out. I wish the author would have focused on just a couple of the characters instead of making every character that was introduced into a main character. I feel since this book is called "Mother of Pearl" that it should have focused more on Val and Jackson. At the end I had more questions than answers.
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Summary: Challenging Prose, but interesting nonetheless
Review: This book really took awhile to get used to. I had to start it a few times before I could even get past the first few pages. The prose is so thick and metaphorical it requires more effort than I was expecting for a summer novel. At first, I also found the names rather cheesy - Even Grade, Valuable Korner? I mean, really.
Once I started to get into the actual story I began to enjoy it however. The characters start to really show their personalities and you start to care for them all - Canaan's stubborn grumpiness, Valuable's tenacity, Joody's quirks. The author really creates quite the set of characters, and while they're not wholly believable, there are enough pieces of reality to let you believe.
I kept going back and forth in my feelings about the book. The book seemed to grow in its intensity up until the flood. At that point it was quite exciting and I kept wanting to read more. However, the flood for me seemed like an ending to the book. There was the resolution of the drought being over, and the sense that everyone was just beginning their new lives together. Joleb had been found and rescued, and all seemed well. With Val's pregnancy in the background during that time, I found myself wondering why there was so much left in the book. Here is where it became more difficult to read again. The general flow of the book seemed to halt in its tracks.
I had really enjoyed seeing the relationship between Jackson and Val grow and evolve, and was rather disappointed when Jackson left. When he doesn't show up until the end of book again, I'm almost mad that he did come back. All the other characters were developed so much more fully by that time, Jackson seemed like an afterthought. He'd been gone too long for me to care too much about him as a character.
While I didn't really think so while reading the book, thinking back on it now there are quite a few storylines and characters. While interestingly intertwined, it's difficult to describe even a basic plot for the book, which means that it's probably too complicated. Also, while the author tries to be metaphorical, the book really didn't make me stop and ponder the deeper meanings of her text or of life. I think I just wasn't willing to put that much effort into a novel during the summer. A literature class would probably have a very different time with it and get more out of it.
This is a good book with an interesting story, but it's probably a great book if you are willing to spend the time and effort into unraveling it's vast, deep meanings. I think they must be in there somewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Feel like I wasted my time.
Review: 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.
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