Thursday, Mar 26, 2009

Book Review: Up At The College

Author:       Michelle Andrea Bowen

Publisher:    Grand Central/Hachette

ISBN:          978-0-446-57775-5

Website:      http://www.micheleandreabowen.com/

 Type:         Fiction

Pages:        304 Hardcover

Purchase:    $16.31 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“Yvonne Fountain Copeland is determined to move on after her husband of fifteen years decides to leave her because their marriage became “boring.”  Returning to her hometown of Durham, North Carolina, Yvonne is convinced that a change of scenery will help her draw closer to God and find inner peace.  Yvonne didn’t know that the journey to peace would lead her to sexy, single, childless basketball coach Curtis Parker.

Yvonne and Curtis soon discover that you can’t find true peace and joy without God’s help.  What began as a series of “why me’s” evolves into an extraordinary journey consisting of victory, faith, joy and love.”

(Above excerpt is from the back cover of Up At The College)

The Review

I want to start with the positives about this book.  I very much enjoyed the faith element to the story.  There were great little “reminders” of parts of The Holy Bible that I needed to read and was appreciative of when I crossed them.  For example, the book begins with a time in Yvonne’s life when she feels that she has hit bottom.  At this time, she is reminded of the words from John 4:4-6.  These beautiful words helped me at a time in my life when I needed to be reminded of them.  There is another quote in the book shortly thereafter that really “hit home” for me:

“To obey God was a privilege, and far too many Christians missed that point.  They always acted as if obedience were an imposition to be endured, rather than a way for God to keep them safe and able to receive the many blessings He had set aside for them.  They didn’t understand that God’s call for obedience was a tremendous act of love on His part.” 

Another part of the book that I enjoyed was watching Yvonne and Curtis’ relationship grow.  As taken-aback as she was by Curtis’ romantic moves towards her, she takes the time to ensure that God is the center of their relationship.  With the God at the center of a couple, their relationship has the strong foundation that it requires to grow.  I applaud Bowen for including that in the story.

Lastly, I appreciated the characters giving praise to God for the blessings that were bestowed in their lives.  Likewise, the challenges that they were faced with, they understood were something that God had in their plan for their growth.  Let me add: at the end of the book, I wanted to be a part of that church service because it sounded like a blast!

Now, for the unfortunate words that I have to express about this book.  First of all, I am Caucasian from a predominately middle-class, white community.  Therefore, I am not familiar with the informal vernacular of a black, Baptist community in the South.  In fact, some of the language in here I had to run past a friend to understand what I was reading.  Even so, Bowen’s vacillation between using proper English and this “slang” (for lack of a better word), wore on me.  For me, it was comparable to reading a foreign language.  Yet, it was English. 

Let me give an example:

“LeDarius, who was usually quiet, said, ‘Dang, Coach, you are crunked tonight.’ “

I thought that Crunking was a form of more “hard-core” hip-hop dancing.  I don’t think that is what this line meant. 

Another example, in this case it is just a missing word that throws me:

“ ‘Oooh,’ Rochelle said, ‘you so fast, Elaine.’ “

Huh?  You are so fast… meaning she’s easy?  I don’t know.  I just didn’t get it.  I’ve read other books where a cultural vernacular is used and completely understood it.  In this book, it was more difficult for me to “get it.” 

Even if I were to understand some of the language better, I don’t believe that this particular book was well written.  There were way too many ensemble characters to keep track of that were not instrumental to the plot.  In addition, the time that was spent on Yvonne and Curtis (and their close friends and family) should have been the more prevalent and central storyline of this book.  It were those parts that I looked forward to and didn’t get enough of in reading this story.  Additionally, all of the writing about “Rumpshakers,” a local “naughty” dance joint was just a waste of time and energy for me, reading-wise.  I could have completely done without it.  I understand why Bowen inserted it, or at least I believe I do (for the purposes of showing later redemption), but I just couldn’t wait to get through those parts.

I want to thank my special friend for helping me with the wording.  But, for Bowen, unfortunately this read really fell short for me.  There may be a better audience for this book; I’m just not it.  It was a CHALLENGE for me to complete this book.  However, Bowen put her time and heart into writing it and I believe that she deserves a review out of me after reading the entire story.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

This book will receive, probably, my lowest rating to date.  First let me state that my hat goes off to anybody who can complete writing a novel and she’s written many.  Second, I respect Bowen for the love she has in her heart for Jesus and my review has no intent to place hurt.  Rather, my honest opinion is what I seek to provide my readers about my experience with a book.  With that being said, on “Sher’s Out of Ten Scale,” genre:Fiction/Christian, I give this book a 3 out of 10. 

My thanks to Miriam and Hachette for providing me this opportunity. 

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