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What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
Author: Pearl Cleage
Acclaimed Playwright, essayist and columnist Pearl Cleage breaks new ground in African American women's literature--with a debut novel that sings and crackles with life-affirming energy as it moves the reader to laughter and tears. — As a girl growing up in Idlewild, Michigan, Ava Johnson had always heard that, if you were young, black, and had a...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780380975846
ISBN-10: 038097584X
Pages: 244
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 22

3.5 stars, based on 22 ratings
Publisher: William Morrow Company
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

achadamaia avatar reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 14
Ava Johnson finds out that she is HIV Positive. She goes back home to be with her sister and get her head together before she moves on to San Francisco. Life takes several unexpected turns and leads Ava down a different road.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable story. Sometimes funny, sometimes maddening--just like life.
reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
This is a wonderful book. I was laughing, crying, getting mad and feeling that sometimes, as the characters in this author's first novel does, you have to put aside your worries, and look at all the wonders that are so close, you know you're learning a life lesson. All my favorite characters in this novel are victims, who refuse to stay victims, because they're too involved helping others. I didn't understand the title at first, but it really fits the story. Cleage puts real life on paper!
TropicAtHeart avatar reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
This story discusses a lot of real-life topics - AIDS, teen pregnancy, drug use - all of which occur in the suburbs in Michigan. I liked this book because it tackled all of these issues head-on. A lot of "coming homing" books are all about how home is where you are safe and where you belong; this book doesn't buy into that myth. It shows how the issues that we associate with "the city" are just as prevalent in "the country," and that the people who deal with them are just like everyone else in the suburbs.

It was a really quick read, and it's got everything - a little humor, a little romance, a little action etc.
Modaba avatar reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 75 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
When I first started this book, I did not expect to enjoy it. It came highly recommended to me, but I just didn't think I would be totally absorbed into it. After the first 50 pages, I was hooked! Sometimes it takes me at least that amount of paper and print to make a decision about a book...I am so glad that I gave this book time to grab me into its spell! It is a beautiful story! Very well written and very emotionally touching! Thank you, Pearl Cleage for the gift of this wonderful manuscript. It is a tale of love and positive energy in even the most negative of situations. It is a story of love and hope.
PinkyMac avatar reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This is a great story of family and friends dealing with trouble and tragedy. A terrific quick read.
Read All 83 Book Reviews of "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day"

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reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 41 more book reviews
wonderful
reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 367 more book reviews
In a remarkable debut novel that sizzles with sensuality, crackles with life-affirming energy and moves the reader to laughter and tears, author Pearl Cleage creates a world rich in character, human drama, and deep, compassionate understanding. After a decade of luxe living in Atlanta, Ava Johnson has returned to tiny Idlewild, Michigan -- her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits on one dark truth: Ava has tested positive for HIV. Bur rather than a sorrowful end, her homecoming is a new beginning. Because, in the ten-plus years since she left, all the problems of the big city have invaded the sleepy community of her childhood. Because dear friends and family sorely need her help in the face of impending trouble and tragedy, and Ava cannot turn her back on them. And because, most importantly, Ava Johnson is inexplicabley and undeniably falling in love.
reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on
Disappointed in this book and couldn't finish it.
After several chapters I couldn't see a clear
plot and too much packed into this book for it
to really get your attention...mine anyway.
reviewed What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day on + 61 more book reviews
I just could not get into this book. Ex-library copy.


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