Incredible! Its been over a month since I read this book and the
characters are still with me. There were so many unbelievable turns,
twist, and tear worthy moments. My goodness, this book is so well
written - the picture is so vivid - even during moments that you wish it
weren't. This was a great read - I definitely recommend it. Just know
that it is extremely heavy.
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Novel-Bernice-L-McFadden/dp/0452282209/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334594152&sr=1-2
From Publishers Weekly
With her eponymous anti-heroine, debut novelist McFadden breaks the
mold of a venerable stereotype. Here, the hooker with a heart of gold is
instead a hooker with a past so tarnished no amount of polishing can
change her fate. As a baby, Sugar is abandoned by her mother and raised
by a trio of prostitutes who run an Arkansas bordello. Turning tricks at
age 12, and leaving town four years later to try her luck in St. Louis
and then Detroit, brings more degradation, along with an ever-hardening
heart. Upon her mother's death in 1955, Sugar is willed a modest home in
Bigelow, Ark., but when she moves into town, and supports herself the
only way she knows, the female population rises in wrath against her.
All except Pearl, Sugar's next-door neighbor, who more than a decade ago
lost her beloved daughter, Jude, to a vicious rapist/murderer. Pearl is
struck by Sugar's uncanny likeness to Jude, and is determined to become
Sugar's friend in spite of vocal disapproval. Although the two women
are opposites in nearly every way, they bring out the best in each
other: Sugar convinces Pearl to loosen up and accompany her to a
Saturday night juke joint, and Sugar promises to go to church for two
months of Sundays. Hypocritical gossip spreads among the townsfolk and
tension grows when it turns out that nearly every married man in Bigelow
pays a visit to Sugar, leaving the apparently frigid wives planning to
run Sugar out of town. Pearl gives it her best shot to transform Sugar,
but both women's painful pasts come back to haunt them in a crescendo of
violent reenactments, betrayals and surprising revelations leading to a
poignant, bittersweet ending. While hampered by a forced and compressed
backstory, a surfeit of maudlin moments and some overwriting that is
inadvertently funny, this ambitious first novel will appeal to readers
who can appreciate Sugar's determination to come to terms with her past
and fashion a viable future. Agent, James Vines. (Feb.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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