Customer Reviews

The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara: The Complete American Stories-Edited

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In The Bonus, White thirty-four year old male (computer engineer) with a physical disability -- Michigan State grad -- falls in love with a single, ex-elementary teacher -- Albany State grad-- African American forty-two who starts working for the hero at his company. The two are introduced innocently enough by mutual older friends (black married couple) trying to help the heroine find a job. But both the reader and the heroine are in for a surprise when the company turns out to be more than what was expected. The story has so many exciting and believable twists (starting with the actual printing and publishing of those two unedited books by the author that are actually part of this story). The Bonus follows the timeline of actual calendar events that lead up to Y2K and beyond while introducing jump-off-the-page characters that you'll remember. Positive story that throws in real accounts of American history, military, music, government, holidays, parenthood, money, humor, sports, social causes, morals, education, familiy traditions, and on and on. Makes us as Americans realize and know that even with our infighting and differences we still will/can help each other in times of need. Worth reading over and over and over again.
Sister Planet Tara is a continuation of ideas from the Bonus meaning the author actually tells you in The Bonus how she came up with the idea for Sister Planet Tara. A story of two older college women friends -- African American and Chinese American who are snatched from their backyard and wind up on Planet Tara. They meet human-looking (including sexually functioning) aliens who have already determined that these two women will become their new family members. With so many detailed details (including you-are-there love making scenes in both The Bonus and Sister Planet Tara), both books will have you asking yourself "is this really fiction or non-fiction?" And you find yourself pulling for all the characters. Outstanding. There has to be a movie in the works for both stories. Definitely ten stars and more.

THIS BOOK TURNS YOU IN EVERY DIRECTION SO THAT YOU'RE NOT SURE WHAT'S NOT TRUE. And especially with some of the things happening in the news that are in the book. It makes you think, laugh (some times out loud!!!), cry, and wipe your brow and go "WHEW" in diffrent ways.
The book has money, politics, sex (& birth control), education, some profanity (not near as much as some books)for more expression, families, history, holidays, music, military, disabilities, sports, humor.
There's different things going on in both stories but the two stories are related; and the stories can be read together as one complete book even starting from the back with the modern day scifi story that has politcal undertones and then read THE Bonus at the front a modern day contemporary story that also touches on politics so that the book becomes a complete scifi book.
But you can also switch and then read THE Bonus from the front through SISTER at the back and get an entirely different and complete story that becomes all TODAY and contemporary. Or read just one of the stories and still get a complete story. It's like having three different books all in one but still telling one story.

The most positive, entertaining, educating, emotional (catches you off guard), uplifting book I've read in a long time. There's a today's love story mixed in with real things that are happening in the world today. If its fiction its really good fiction including the scifi story. Definitely not a quick mass generated book. Finally something written that really pulls you in both the contemporary story and the Scifi one (entire book is just one main story split into two books inside this one book). I cannot say enough about the entire book. Maybe not for the closed minds because the male heros in both stories have a disabiilty and there are gooood lovemaking scenes between hero and heroine in both stories (the part later involving the heorine's jealous cat in THE BONUS is verrrry funny!!). The author did a good job in throwing all kinds of sensitive things together to create a good book to read. I read it all the way through scifi story and THEN turned around and started reading the book again from the beginning with the contemporary story (THE BONUS) again. Good.

Author added wrapped revised and took two books and turned everything into this one book and completed a circle!!!!

This fiction//nonfiction story book//textbook format covers everything from education through politics with messages covering race relationships love politics society militrary family government disabilities space exploration has extremely good eye for detail and ability with detail and unique way of writing drawing attention about things that happened after book was written. Rates FIVE STARS.

i've read the book a couple of times and keep getting something different each time. the last time and though the short scifi story Sister Planet at the end of the book was supposed to be part of a dream taken from contemporary The Bonus this time when i read the entire book again i got the impression that Sister Planet was really the main story that pulled in The Bonus which is the longer and more detailed story at the beginning. you can read the book from front to back or back to front and get two complete stories and not sure which complete story is really the lead story. it's a book that i'll read again because it follows the calendar and pulls in sports, summer stuff, holidays, and also has EXTREMELY detailed relationships between adult couples and families. some funny dejavue and true to life stuff that kicks off the holdiay seasons. some stuff that's actually happening in the news today is also in both stories which makes this book good and based on when it was written which might make it seem true scifi but also nonfiction.

The book was different in that it starts out and makes you think its just another love story but then you get a lot of clues in just the next few pages that made you realize you're reading something different in all kinds of ways. It sets you up because you start liking all the characters -- also in the scifi story at the end - and then you're not sure if the author is going to do something to the characters at the end of both stories that will make you REALLLLLY mad.

FRank, honest, open look at life. With twists and strong support for education, family, relationships (friends, couples, families).