I’m not a big Oprah Winfrey fan, but I will say this: The Oprah Book Club sure picked a lot of great novels. Mother of Pearl is one of those reads. I chose it based solely on the Oprah seal of approval on the cover.

What Melinda Haynes accomplished with her debut novel is nothing short of brilliance. There is a subtle undertone of sadness running through this story set in the deep south during the 1950s. Lives are never going to be what those who live them hope they’d be; expectations—unless negative—are usually unmet. Valuable Korner, a white girl and 15-year-old daughter of the town whore, finds her life intersecting with that of Even Grade, a black man just trying to live the life handed to him. Family secrets are unearthed, leaving young Valuable struggling against awful truths from the generations that came before.

This is a story of redemption. Love leads to commitment after tragedy, and empty lives find fulfillment. Haynes manages to pull this off without that sappy feeling. This is one of those books I have kept on my shelf long after reading. It is worth your time.

So here's the honest truth: when I first began Mother of Pearl, I was cringing. So many characters (at least to me). So many weird character names (at least to me). So many pages... was this going to be worth the time and effort? I began the book at home - but perhaps I needed to be in the South to truly appreciate it. And, what perfect time! I lugged the hefty almost-500 pager to Georgia with me on a family vacation and it was like a light switch went on. I couldn't put it down. Suddenly, amid the intense humidity and southern accents, I was transported. I grew to love each and every character - even the ones with the weird names (like Valuable and Even), and with every chapter I wondered how the story was going to twist and turn. Haynes' novel blends powerful topics about race, status, love, relationships, faith...the works. And, might I add, impeccably. Reading Mother of Pearl furthered my belief that love knows no color, and sometimes the smallest connections and interactions leave the biggest imprints on our hearts. The story of multiple characters in a small town one year seems like a simple story - but the depth of each of them was incredible. I turned each page feeling like I was in that hot, humid town right there with them. Worth the five stars - and more.

Over two months to read. I really wanted to give up on Mother of Pearl early on. Since I'm a Haynes, I figured I'd give the girl a chance. In my younger days, before film became video, I enjoyed cinema and would never walk out on a film, no matter how bad it seemed. Many of these films were considered art, and highly rated. It taught me that taste, like food or music, is very personal.

Melinda Haynes has a writing style in this book that I'm sure is NOT for everyone. This is the case for all writers appeal to readers. Which is, of course, applicable to all art and creative work. If Mother of Pearl were visual art (paint, photo, etc.) I'd rate this writing style as abstract.

About two thirds of the way through the 400 plus pages, the story and characters started to jell for me and I was getting used to the odd nonsensical verbiage used by the author. Haynes' style is definitely unique, but there is a plus to this uniqueness that creates an interesting mood... like that of a classic 40's black and white movie. The story of black and white south, 50's era, very open language of sex and thought, very odd characters, and unique story line all gave a feel of film noir to me.

It's been standard for me to not read other reviews before I finish and review a book. This helps me stay honest to my own emotions and not be swayed. Reviews are all about each persons individual taste... like thin or thick pizza. We are all unique and this has been a unique read. Anchovies anyone ?!?!
Now I'll jump in and read some other reviews. Cheers.

Even Grade is an orphan and Valuable Korner may as well be, her mother being a whore and her father unknown to her. Both of them live in a small town in Mississippi and this is their story. And the story of Jackson, who was Val's friend and became her lover; and her two queer aunts who mother her; and of Grace who mothers Joleb, who loses his brother and almost loses himself; and of Canaan, who knows much with his head and learns more from his heart; and of Joody two Suns, who reads people but not herself. It’s really a story of the many faces of love, and how deep bonds of family can form in spite of differences in race or generation.

Melinda Haynes has taken on a Herculean task, crafting a multicharacter story that reaches across racial barriers to encompass an entire community. She doesn't shy away from the ugliness in life--bigotry of every stripe, mean-spiritedness, betrayal, thoughtless cruelty, and death--but what interests her is the potential of the human heart to find space within itself for the most unexpected people. With its strong, lyrical language and fully realized characters, Mother of Pearl is a fine novel and a terrific introduction to a new literary voice. --Alix Wilber --

Frankly I couldn't say it any better than Alix so just read what he wrote.

An ok book. Not riveting. Not a page turner. Just didnt seem to go anywhere. Weak character development where the reader got lost in all the fluffy descriptive details, very Faulkneresque. Has potential but needed a stronger editor to tighten up the plot line, I think. I found I had to keep going back because the story line didn’t match what had already been described.

The story begins in 1956 in a poor small farming town, Petals, Mississippi, where the author's father really was a preacher for the first seven years of her life. Although well-written for a person who did not attend college and even dropped out of high school in her eleventh year, I was really bored with the story. Normally, I'll read at least 4 books a month on these challenges, but this one took me 20 days, a couple hours here and a couple of hours there. I kept falling asleep and dreaded getting back to it. It was even an Oprah Book Club pick back in 1999. But, I felt the character's inner thoughts just went on and on and on and there was too much jumping back and forth between all the characters for me to fully appreciate them. OR...maybe it was the fact that I just recently read a book very similar, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and wasn't in the mood for another one of these stories. They had the same theme, racial tension in small southern town, and full of characters with oddball names and broken families.

Even Grade, a 27 year old black man having an affair with the homeless psychic woman, Joody Two Sun, living in the woods down at the river by the bridge.

Canaan, an old uneducated man who loved to read and learn and was having an affair with the widow, Grace, who was maid and caretaker for the strange, super-disfunctional and racists Green family. Joleb Green, age 16, kills his invalid mother, who Grace was caring for.

The star was Valuable Korner, the mother of the illegitimate baby boy named Pearl. She died giving birth to Pearl. Valuable lived with her whore of a mother, Enid, until she ran out on her again. Valuable was then forced to live with her two gay aunts, Neva and Bea, who didn't want nothing to do with her baby when they found out she was pregnant at age 15 by a 17 year old towns boy named Jackson, who also happened to be her half-brother.

Valuable found out that her grandfather, who had long past, was a Klu Klux Klan and hung a black man and murdered his baby boy with him, which happened to be Grace's husband and baby from way back.

After Valuable's death, a full circle was made. Pearl, although white, ended up in the arms of a black family, Even Grade and Joody Two Sun. Grace and old man Canaan married and had a daughter one year later. They would meet at the bridge so the two children, one white and one black, could play together.

Excellent poetry like writing pulls the reader into a fantastical story about different types of families and characters who find love in spite of the differences of race and upbringing. Unforgettable characters people a simple story of life in mid-twentieth century Mississippi. Magical realism mingles with realistic dialogue and characterization. A joy to read! And a beautiful ending!

Re-reading. I love all of Oprah's older book reads. This is one of them. I picked up another copy at a thrift store for a $1.20, so why not?

This book was one of Oprah's first book club choice. It takes place in Petal, Mississippi, a small town in the 1950's. There are still sharp divides between the black and white communities but the book's cast of characters find themselves drawn together as family: Even Grade, a 28 year old black man and his best friend, the elderly Caanan, 15 year old white girl, Valuable who is the daughter of the town whore; a lesbian white couple who helped raise Val during the times her mother abandoned her, Joody, a mixed-race woman with strange powers, Jackson - the white boy who grew up with Val and now as a teenager sees her differently, -and more.

The characters are the voices of the story. It is a tale to be pondered, thought about and enjoyed slowly. Revelations are subtle. There is a touch of magic or witchcraft with the the character, Joody.Her ability to "read" people makes her a person to be feared by the community - especially the white folks.

I think this is a book best read in long pieces of time rather than the many short spurts I gave it. It would be easier to keep track of people and events. I liked the characters especially Even Grade.

In Absolom, Absolom William Faulkner effectively combined Greek Tragedy, regional vernacular and Southern Gothic to create the story of a man desperate to hide behind Southern gentility and respectability and whose Machiavellian tactics are recounted through the subjectivity of others' interpretation. Melinda Haynes in her debut novel, Mother of Pearl, is obviously indebted to the modernist prose and Southern heritage of William Faulkner, Flannery O' Connor, Fannie Flagg and Eudora Welty. At times Mother of Pearl vividly recalls Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon with an ensemble cast of memorable characters who populate the small town of Petal Mississippi during the summer of 1956. Her dialogue and attention to the nuances and wisdom of Southern dialect is spectacular, her background as a painter gives her a spectacular attentiveness to description (though all the metaphors involving color become a bit cumbersome). Unfortunately, the novel, which initially inspires a palpable sense of dread, foreshadowing that in August of 1956 Even Grade was still a happy man. A slit pig prophet haunts the dreams of two different characters and Even has a vision of his beloved Joody Two Sun performing a magic ritual that will destroy her, but none of these portends lead to anything remarkable. The ending is profoundly anticlimactic, but the style is compelling enough to propel the story. Essentially, a small town in Mississippi, removed from the turmoil of the nascent Civil Rights movement, has a diverse cast of characters whose lives are inextricably bound both by the accident of geography and fate. While Haynes attempts to revise history by creating a town in an era where racial intolerance and homophobia is viewed as ignorance and though I would love to imagine that in 1956 Mississippi there were open-minded small towns history indicates that it is probably the invention of the author.