DISCUSSION: The House at Sugar Beach By Helene Cooper

Joined : 02 May 2008 Posts : 280 My Mood :

Hope you enjoy it more than I did, CG. I've read two excerpts of this book and I must say I'm gravely disappointed....sorry to enter the confessional so early in the am, especially since this is the first major book release by a Liberian who worked for two esteemed news publication, WSJ and NYTimes...It seems a bit shallow and too misguided for my liking...I remember emailing Helene Cooper some time in the early 2000s, based on some frivolous comments she made relative to the Liberian war and situation...I was hoping she was going to redeem herself in my mind with this book, not that she owes me anything... I'll still read the book... Maybe I'm missing something or it's only me!!!!

the first excerpt was ok.. this one got me like ....... affraid

thing though, these excerpts really exposes/show the vast divide between the classes of peopel before the 1980 coup....

the vast wealth enjoyed by a handful only......am really happy i grew up in the "New Age", where i can affiliate, befriend peopel of all backgrounds and tribal origins.......................the war did that, i guess.
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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards."
~Vernon Sanders Law

Joined : 02 May 2008 Posts : 280 My Mood :

I'm not against someone writing about how the elite lived....i guess what I don't like is the tone/ point of view in both excerpts, which seems to be perpertuating stereotypes of blacks and africans -> the big lips, big nose, christian dior shades, shades of black, long flowing hair, diamonds, thin.... i've read several books where the author effectively shows the disparities between the classes due to color, tribal affiliation, etc without appearing an elitist.....Helen has lived in NYC for the past 30 yrs....She left LIB when she was 14.... Did she learn nothing from her life as an African American woman in USA.....Where is that reflected in her writing????

What does she want her reader to walk away feeling, that she was one of the elite in LIB... That's it???? We got that from the first page..... She started this excerpt with the subtitle: This is about rogues... Huh?????

And Bubba Town where the country people lived????? Hiding Mandingos in the basement???? Very comical.... Hopefully there would be an influx of tourists to see where and how the country liberians live......

I must say that I did enjoy some of her figures of speech tho, such as complexion like milk candy -> very authentic..