The ability to transcend individuality in writing is such an incredible feat that often goes without mention. The fact that I, a suburban 18 year old white girl, could be so profoundly affected by a novel about a black woman with HIV and a shattered home town, is remarkable. The love and teaching that this novel is riddled with is something I will never forget, and the final line and instructions for woman throughout are things I’ll have saved forever. This book is so close to five stars for me, but it’s just not quite there in a few aspects, but none so overwhelming as to bear inherent notice. Nonetheless, I really did adore this book and I’m sure to reread and recommend it frequently in my future.

This review is several months overdue, but here are a few thoughts.

This was a quick and interesting read, but I'm not sure that it deserves the acclaim that many readers have offered. The story is filled with lots of unrealistic drama that takes away from the very real and human story at its core. Ada's struggle as a woman recently diagnosed with HIV becomes essentially buried as a love interest, an abandoned child, delinquent teenagers, lies within the church, crack addiction, and custody issues all try to crowd into the relatively short book. I also felt that Joyce and Eddie's characters were quite static, with only a terse attempt to develop depth.

Overall, this was an OK read, but it doesn't make any of my "best of" lists.

After completing this book a second time, I realize the things I love most are Joyce's endeavors to "save" the young women in her community. The events that emerge from her attempts are this books gems.

The audiobook reader's voices and cadence are perfect for this pearl of a novel. My mind often travels back to these characters and I understand how they've become the foundation for Pearl latest novels. I wonder if she'll ever bring us back to Idlewild and to Joyce, Ava and Eddie's lives. But interestingly enough, at the book's conclusion, their lives felt complete. I'm sure they continue on, but I don't feel an absolute connection where I'd beg for a sequel.

I enjoy Pearl's writing and this book sets the pattern. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, however, I know this isn't her best work.

I happened to read the second book of this duo first. I called that one my favorite book of 2022 so far, despite the fact that it was written in the 1990's. This book is not quite up to that standard, but it's got most of the attractions of Idlewild, #2: smart, funny dialogue combined with sharp social observations and Black women characters you would recognize if you met them on the street. I resonated more with Joyce than with Ava, and I liked hearing more about the young women of the Sewing Circus in the second book, but those are minor differences, not objections.

Both books have some of the same problems, too. I did think Eddie was a more intriguing male character than Nate in I Wish I Had a Red Dress, but both are women's fantasies. It's a problem that Ava and Joyce want to be protected. It's a problem that the protection takes the form of violence. In both books, the bad guys are shallow and not well delineated.

So why did I like them so much? It felt as if Cleage welcomed me into her community without explanation or apology. She didn't use the explanatory comma for white readers, and she assumed that crises affecting the Black community in Idlewild were parts of the plot, not confessions of inferiority that needed to be defended.

Truth is, though, I enjoyed the voices of sisters Ava Johnson and Joyce Mitchell enough that I didn't really care about anything else.

Very good read. It had all that I was looking for; humor, suspense, love, and class. I would definitely recommend this one.

Review to follow.

Had to read for class but I actually really enjoyed it❤️

“And we danced too wild, and we sang too long, and we hugged too hard, and kissed too sweet, and threw back our heads and howled just as loud as we wanted to howl, because by now we were all old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight.” p.244

Ava Johnson is almost the exact opposite of me. Seriously, we have nothing in common--but I was drawn to her character in just the first page of the novel, when she discloses her big secret. It's also nothing I can relate to, but intriguing nonetheless. She has undergone change since escaping the tiny Idlewild community, but comes back to discover that maybe change isn't always good. Her growth and progress through the novel were captivating, and Cleage really sucks you in to feeling as though you know Ava and all the other characters. Cleage's descriptions, although minimal, are enough to clarify specifics, but leave the rest up to the imagination. My favorite quote from the book, and the only one that explains the interesting title, is this:

"...because by now we were old enough to know that what looks like crazy on an ordinary day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight"

Oprah did a great job in picking this novel for her book club. I highly recommend it to anyone--no matter how opposite you are from Ava.

More at: http://leahslitandcoffee.blogspot.com/

I don't give too many 5-stars, but this one is well deserved. LOVED this book and so did my whole book club.

A story that follows the journey of a woman returning to her roots with a lot of baggage and learning to let go of it. The two sisters Ava and Joyce were well-written. I could almost see them because the writer fleshed out their personalities and idiosyncrasies.

Some of the plot points were very wishy-washy and kind of unbelievable. And the part about the antagonist Mrs. Anderson seemed rushed. I wish the book had spent more time dropping hints and clues throughout, so I didn't have to be blindsided by the ending.

With the breath knocked out of her by unexpected news, Ava Johnson uproots her life in the city of Atlanta and returns to her small hometown in Michigan. Expecting to hide and recover in the safety of her childhood home, she is surprised to find the problems of the world had come crashing down in this sleepy hamlet, no different from anywhere else. Surprising even herself, she realizes it is time to set down roots and help her sister and an old friend make a difference in the lives of the people she had thought she’d left behind. I enjoyed the development and the ride.