Really, really good book. Had me from page 1 right up to the end. It did bog down just a little about 2/3 of the way through, but then picked up again at the end. Great characterization. Would highly recommend this book.

I loaned this book to my neighbor and she returned it unfinished. A day or two later I opened it and couldn’t believe how difficult it was to read. The writing was choppy and jagged and with names like Even and Valuable living in Petal - well, that threw me.
Once I got into the lingo it became slightly easier to follow but all in all it was not smooth or poetic. Was this deliberate?
Barely three stars. I think the story could have been cleaned up, about 100 pages shorter and still told a good story worth reading.

I’m honestly not sure how to rate this book. I found it fascinating but, due to its heavily tangential narrative, quite hard to follow. It felt like numerous short stories, each with its own life and characters, that made no sense together til the last chapters.
That said, I did like the ending.

This novel isn’t obvious or in your face. The themes and conflict take some work to identify, but they’re there. I truly enjoyed each and every character and how they wove into one another’s lives. The text was enjoyably descriptive and full of well written dialogue. It’s worth the read for something a bit different.

I read this book for a project in Ms. Shakir's class. This book was a little bit difficult to follow at some points ,but ultimately it all came together very nicely. I admit, that yes, I indeed cried at the end, twice. Once because it was sad, and once because it was happy.
This story is about a white girl named Valuble Korner, a black man named Even Grade. This is a story about Love, morals, and tough choices. I highly recommend this book. A word of advice, this book tends to get very graphic so if you can't handle it, don't read it. My philosophy was, if its good enough for Oprah, it's good enough for me.

This book started out a little slow and I had trouble understanding who all the characters were and keeping them straight. After a while though, I was able to get them all straightened out and I became enraptured with the book and found it hard to put down. There were so many twists and turns. The author did a great job writing it so that I really was surprised by most of the events that happened and how they unfolded.

I really enjoyed this book. Such great writing and a story that drew me in from the start. It takes you to the deep south in the U.S. in the 1950s with a cast of characters that felt like friends and family by the end of the book. I debated giving it 5 stars because it isn't quite as good as some of my favourite books with a 5 star rating, but at a solid 4.5 I decided to round up rather than down. This book is a treat to read. I highly recommend it.

What did I think of this book? Hm, It was good, I liked the story, I laughed aloud in some places and anxious in others. I really didn't care much for the writing style though. It didn't flow, it was hard to follow and it switched between first and third person narratives with no warning. Several times I had to go back and reread a paragraph or start a section over again just to figure out who was doing the talking or who was being talked about. The author not only confused me with the narratives, but also with the story line itself. This might not come across right, but I would feel totally lost with what was happening, then go back and reread to see if I had missed something only to realize that, NO, I had not missed anything - she just skipped the middle of a story. I'd be reading about an event going to take place, a conversation between two people or maybe just a thought someone was having and then two pages later I'd be reading about the aftermath of said conversation or event that was to take place with no idea of when it happened...it felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle only to find it already in place. Bad analogy? That being said, the story in and of itself goes like most novels do. There are, of course, exceptions. For example. I can't think of another story I've read in which a random character is added in the last 50 pages of the book. That was weird. But perhaps I am missing some literary symbolism because I really didn't see the point in doing that. At this point you may be asking yourself, "How on Earth did it get 4 stars?". Yeah, that was a tough call. I really wanted to give it 3 just because I was annoyed about being confused so many times and having to go back and reread, which i really don't like doing. BUT the story itself was really good once you can get into it and forgive it's faults. So, it does have it's redeeming qualities. I liked most of the characters, a couple were annoying, but that's ok because I don't want to like everybody. I liked how those characters have individual lives at first but though certain turns of events, whether they be natural disasters or manmade ones, become entwined and somewhat responsible for one another. I enjoyed reading about their personal demons and the symbolism it provided and how people dealt with and lived with their choices and the choices of other people. There is a love story to be found here too. Not just between two people or couples, but a different kind of love for everyone whose lives were involved. Love found in unexpected places, love that is lost, love that stretches the limits of the soul, love that is pure, love that redeems, love that destroys, and love that endures. There are lives lived in this book that are so unusual for the time period that I personally find it hard to believe, but hey, it's a story and anything is possible.
So there it is in a nutshell, without giving anything away. I hope you find it helpful.

I read this book years ago when it first hit the market. I fell in love with the characters, their dialogue, and the easy-going narration. Melinda Haynes tells a sad tale of racial ambivalence, class order (or disorder), and the mistakes and sins common to mankind--regardless of the era. The story charts the lives of Even Grade, a black man, and Valuable Korner, a fifteen-year-old white girl, the daughter of the town whore. Their lives intersect at points neither could have imagined. Family secrets are dragged out into the midday sunlight for closer examination. Yearnings for human connection, commitment, and love without strings brings this story to it's heart-felt ending. I recommend this gem.

I was really dragging on getting through this book. It took me a very long time to get attached to the characters. I found the writing, descriptive and invoking, although at times a little too drawn out.

The story unfolds in small town Mississippi circa 1956 populated by a colorful community desperately trying to overcome their sordid past. Valuable, a teenage girl and daughter of the town whore, doesn't know she's pregnant by Jackson, the boy she considers her best friend and the boy she doesn't know is also her half brother. The two seek out Joody, a woman that lives in the woods by the river and is rumored to possess mystical powers. Joody is often visited by Even Grade, a man that grew up as an orphan abandoned by his mother and has never gotten over it...his best friend is Canaan, more than twice his age and quite the philosopher, Canaan has given up on women until Even arranges his meeting with Grace, the woman who has raised Joleb from infancy after his mother suffered complications from his birth. Grace knows all about Joleb's real father...and so it goes on an on, complex and fascinating, full of surprises and well worth the read.

Rather a preposterous read. The story in the 50's in a southern town, includes a white teenager whose mother is the town whore, and her boyfriend, who is actually her half brother, although she never finds out. And then there is the black area of town and two couples that dance around each other and one of the women is a black wise woman who can read peoples futures. And of course, the one black couple adopts the white baby of the teenager who dies in child birth. Really a trite and unbellievable plot.