Search - Mother of Pearl

Predictable and wordy. I didn't see this as insightful as others did and found it a chore to get through. Save your time, as there are better books out there on the same subject.

I want to recommend a serious novel: MOTHER OF PEARL. This was an Oprah Club book and I really enjoyed it. A bit out of normal realm for me, but I highly recommend it. The setting is small town Mississippi in the 1950's. If you are familiar with the Southern lifestyle you will get into the book right away. I have talked to others who weren't so accustomed to the way we do things "down South" and they thought the book was a little odd. (not bad-just odd) But trust me, this book rings pretty true. This is a story about judgements, persecution and prejudice. The two main characters are Even Grade, a 28 year old black man who grew up an orphan in a segregated small southern town and Valuable Korner, a fifteen year old girl, considered poor white trash, a daughter of a whore (father unknown). These two unlikely people develop a genuine friendship. The book is full of outrageous, believable characters who help these two try to create a life they never had as children. The author is Melinda Haynes. She is a great writer and this book really kept me turning pages as the mystery unfolded. Multiple plots lead up to a shattering tragedy. Great book.

This is a stunning, insightful novel about race in a small town in the 1950s, in the deep South. The characters, a 28-year-old black man and a 15-year-old white girl, will engage your attention. I found this book to be a though-provoking fiction work about love, about mystery, about race, and about tragedy. Fiction, you see, is sometimes carries far more "truth" than reality. A satisfying read.

Very interesting, takes a while to get into, but offers a lot of rewards. NOT a beach read!! If you like Southern literature, you'll probably eat this up.

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.

Fabulous book!

An Oprah's book Club selection and NY Times bestseller, Mother of Pearl is set in Mississippi in the 1950s. The novel revolves around 28 yr old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner (named after a sign), the 15 yr old daughter of the town whore. Both want to discover the human connection, enduring commitment and unconditional love they never experienced as children.

I do like this book -- and it is a selection of Oprah's Book Club -- but it seems like everytime I start reading it, I just can't finish it. I've tried about 3 times. So, what I've read is good . . . but I don't qualify to review the entire book!

Capturing all the rueful irony and racial ambivalence of a small town Mississippi in the late 1950's, Melinda Haynes' celebrated novel is a wholly unforgettable exploration of family, identity, and redeption. It revolves around a 28 year old Evan Gradee, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, the 15 year old white daughter of the town whore and an unknown father. Both are passionately determined to discover the precious things neither experienced as children: human connection, enduring committment, and ablve all, unconditional love. A startling accomplished mixture of beauty, mystery and tragedy.

This is part of the Oprah book club selection.

From Publishers Weekly
In prose both rugged and beautiful, Haynes plumbs the secrets of the South in her stunning debut novel. Set in Petal, Miss., across the Leaf River from Hattiesburg, the narrative opens in the summer of 1956, shortly after Even Grade, a 27-year-old black man, has met Joody Two Sun, a seer whos known as a witch, and not long after Valuable Korner, the 14-year-old daughter of the towns one loose woman, gets her Blessing of Blood, as Joody Two Sun calls it. Evenso named from the note his mother left when she abandoned him at a Memphis orphanageis a decent man, kindheartedly building a family of friends; while Valuable, the daughter of a dying Southern line, an orphan of sorts herself, is deeply in need of family. Valuable and Jackson McLain, the boy down the street, fall in love, and Haynes captures that phenomenon delicately and persuasively. In a heartbeat Valuable is pregnant, and as Jackson is forced to move away, Valuable turns to Joody and Even for support as she carries the baby she comes to think of as Pearl. Despite Evens help, Valuable, whose family hides secrets far darker than this pregnancy, seems doomed to pay for the sins of the past. Indeed, Hayness capacious novel is very much about the justice wrought by destiny, but it is also about finding family, people who nurture, forgive and care for each other; in the novels resolution, those most deserving of love are brought together. Haynes is fearless in portraying her characters flaws, their pettiness and racism, their erring thoughts, but shes also merciful, letting them grow and change during the course of the narrative. While perhaps too many of the characters take the stage, each with tragic accounts of their lives, Haynes nevertheless triumphs with a rare and memorable ensemble. This wise, luminous novel demonstrates her great giftsfor language, courageous storytelling and compassion. BOMC and QPB selections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As usual, Oprah knows how to pick a book!

Read it for the ending!

I have two of this book and have not read it yet.

NY Times bestseller

In intese well written book, could definitly read again