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Considering Venus [Paperback]

Isaac D. Gisele
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Seaburn Books; 1 edition (June 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1885778422
  • ISBN-13: 978-1885778420
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,293,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book explores the almost-unacknowledged issue of lesbianism among Caribbean women and adds to it the complication of a heterosexual perspective.

Considering Venus asks, "What happens when girlfriends becomes more than friends?"

Two forty-something women meet again 25 years after high school: Lesley, an African-American, is straight, recently widowed with three children, and looking for a friend, while Cass is Antiguan, gay and looking for love.

Cass finds all that she is looking for in Lesley; but would telling her the truth be a confession of love or a betrayal of their friendship? When Cass does tell her, Lesley runs away, denying her own feelings and conflicted about the whole idea of women loving women. She knows that she is not gay and fears being labeled that way. Her return chronicles the many ways in which women form attachments and how friendship and love are interwoven into a unique type of relationship. Lesley learns that labels are simply society's way of expressing its prejudices, and love, ultimately, is what really matters, regardless of its gender. On the other hand, Cass experiences the exhilaration that accompanies finding her soulmate, even as she experiences the pain and distance that come with loving a straight woman. In Antigua and in New York, family members and their stories are woven into the novel as each woman becomes a presence in the other's life. In Lesley's case, however, her children are not told the true nature of the relationship. The children's discovery of what the women are to each other violently forces the issue to a head, as everyone involved looks at his or her own fears and prejudices and determines where to go from there. Considering Venus attempts to shatter stereotypes and portray gays and those who love them as they are: only people. People whose lives are no different from the mainstream. People who work, pay bills, love their families, and worry about growing old. The novel is not racial, not strident, nor political. There is nothing sensationalistic about Considering Venus, except that two people can still meet, fall in love and determine to live as happily as they can.

No woman with a best friend can afford to miss Considering Venus


Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Seaburn Books; 1 edition (June 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1885778422
  • ISBN-13: 978-1885778420
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,293,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
(11)
4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Captivating November 6, 2000
By A Customer
This book was given to me by a friend and I was very amazed a this book. I was very hard to put down. The story line was great. The author kept her audience focused. I was also impressed to see that it was written by a fellow Caribbean person. CONGRATULATIONS You did yourself proud. I recommended this book to a few people and they too were impressed by it. We even had a discussion about it and we have ne question, Where's the sequel???

Anyway D> GIsele Isaac, Congratulations on a book well done, I'm sure u will doi it again with a BANG!

Remember your audience is waiting for the sequel.

GOOD LUck

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Was Okay, could've been better September 6, 2000
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was okay, believable characters but there wasn't much depth. It was good if you had nothing else to read. The best thing was the dynamics between the two women, without that there would not have been much worth reading. I just did not think the writing style was great.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Arguably the single most interesting book I've ever read. September 18, 1998
By A Customer
I was pleasantly surprised to find this book written by a fellow Antiguan in our local book store. This story of a gay woman falling for a woman who is not quite comfortable about being in a gay relationship, but not quite willing to give it up either, demonstrates that sometimes love shows up in unexpected places. It's about a 'normal' woman following her heart inspite of what her head and her family sometimes have to say about her life, and the heartache that accompanies making unpopular choices.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and captivating. You'll wonder "what-if?" December 9, 1998
By A Customer
A truly delightful read. So strong were the character developments that I too wanted to call Cass while she was in Antigua. Where's the sequel?
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Middle-Aged Lesbians Need Love, Too August 4, 2005
Even as the lines appear, the hair turns a little lighter and the all the children are gone, a woman still needs love.

That's the underlying message of CONSIDERING VENUS, D. Gisele Isaac's story of love between two middle-aged women.

Antigua-born Cass is the lesbian who falls for Lesley after they reunite at their 25-year high school reunion. Only one problem: Lesley is a straight woman recently widowed with three adult children.

Seems unlikely that they'd fall in love--but they do--despite the fact that Lesley hasn't figured out if she's gay or straight, that she was married to a man for 23 years, and her grown children are very dependent on her.

They pursue a relationship in spite of all the barriers. Everything seems wonderful at first. Cass knows this is love, and while anxious and unsure at first, Lesley relishes their time together. That is until her children discover their affair; they selfishly scold her for becoming a "lesbian"--a badge they scorn her with like a scarlet letter--and accuse her of forgetting their father.

An interesting thing about the novel is that Lesley's sexuality is never defined. It's just love between two women--with no barriers.

Isaac has written a lovely book, with just the right fusion of prose and poetry make it a joy to read.
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If D. Gisele Isaac wrote "jiggy poo poo" on a piece of paper, I'd want to read it. She has one of those writing styles that just draws you in and wraps you up in the flow of her words.
I felt like the characters in the book were real people that I could actually bump into if I went down to the road in the supermarket. Now lemme tell you bout the book:

Considering Venus explores the lives of a heterosexual widow, who finds herself falling in love, and teetering into a relationship with an old school friend who just happens to be a lesbian female.
The pair undergo the typical battles of a new "same sex" relationship as the story unfolds.

Now I have two BIG problems with this book. Number one: the book actually had an ending, I wanted to stay in Cass and Lesley' lives forever (no homo lol) and number two: WHEY THE SEQUEL SO LANG WOMAN!
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5.0 out of 5 stars A grown-up book for GROWN-UPS November 10, 2009
By SueGal
Amazon Verified Purchase
Well, where to start. I must first give my deepest respect and gracious thanks to Ms. Isaac for this beautifully written book. The list of "mature" lesbian fiction is so short you need only one hand to count. This woman has scripted the blueprint for love in the "boomer" generation. I am not going to recount the plot, as everyone else is doing such a fine job, but I will make my personal comment from my heart. I, too, am an older, black woman who found love with another woman in my 50s. I was married and have children, but I always felt like something was missing - just couldn't put my finger on it. I eventually found my answer. This book describes all those feeling and offers a nice little storyline to boot. I also relate because I am black, older than a college student, not beat-the-door-down broke, but far from rich. I think lesbian-fiction readers are just regular people like myself, and everyone doesn't hike, dive, or support a 6 foot frame on lucious limbs! We're just regular and like to read about regular people in the plot. I really can't say what folks look for when they read books, but you find something different in each book; sometimes you can take a part of that book with you in your personal life and it will help you on your journey. I grew up in BK, NY so this setting made me enjoy the story all the more. I felt real good reading this story and watching Cassandra and Lesley wrangle with their emotions over each other and family. The road of life is most times difficult and we always try to determine how our choices will affect others, at least I do. This almost proved the undoing of Lesley, but she prevailed. There are no quick fixes in this story, just a comfortable, quiet read about trying to attain happiness.... Read more ›
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