“More Sugar, Please
Okay, so I’ve heard about this book, heard about this book and heard about this book. Haven’t run into a single person who read it and didn’t love it. But this is me we’re talking about so that doesn’t mean anything to me. I had read a previous title by Bernice McFadden and it didn’t do anything for me. I tried her alter ego, Geneva Holiday, and wasn’t moved. It wasn’t until a dear friend who is also a bookseller actually put the book in my hand and told me to take it and read it that I gave in. Even still, it sat on my shelf for over a year. Determined to put a dent in the unread books on my shelf, I made “Sugar” a challenge read, and here we are. I finally did it! And you know what? I enjoyed it.
“Sugar” tells the story of two women, very opposite yet in need of each other. Pearl is only a shell of the woman she used to be after the murder of her daughter. Sugar is a prostitute who moves into town and next door to Pearl. The two form an unlikely friendship unknowingly forcing the other to reconcile with the past.
Two people, the exact opposites, becoming friends and learning to appreciate the other and learning what’s important in life is not a new theme. However, the somewhat predictability of this tale forces readers to rely on the author’s storytelling skills and on the journey itself to entertain. And entertaining it was. I quickly became emotionally vested in Pearl and Sugar, rooting for them and their growth the whole way. Bernice McFadden does a wonderful job of placing readers in Bigelow, Arkansas, in 1955.
“Sugar” was worth the read and I now join the chorus of voices recommending it to others.
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Ms Toni wrote this review Saturday, August 13, 2011.
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