Customer Reviews

Good Hair: A Novel

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

On a cold, dreary winter day and anticipating nothing better than curling up with a good book I decided to give Benilde Little's debut novel Good Hair a chance. Mind you this book had been sitting on my bookshelf for almost a year and I wasn't overly enthused or anxious about reading it but there was just enough information on the book jacket to entice me regarding what I hoped would be a light, quick and entertaining read. Good Hair lived up to the challenge! I really enjoyed this book...and was pleasantly surprised. The story is told in first person from Alice, the protagonist, point of view. It's the story of a most unlikely romance between Alice a hard working, first generation college educated sista who falls for Jack the by-product of an upper middle class, privileged AA family and a third generation doctor. Along the way we really get to know Alifce and the story seems almost autobiographical in nature as we journey with Alice from her childhood through the present as she struggles with day-to-day encounters and tries to find herself in the midst of it all. The storyline was spiced with pointed insight regarding contemporary issues such as spousal abuse, incest/sexual abuse, suicide, homosexuality, betrayal, self-esteem as well as caste issues among AAs. Good Hair was grammatically well written and the storyline flowed, however, at times, it also felt like a casually plotted storyline with sketchy characters,sometimes stilted dialogue, and a multitude of loose end situations. I believe that the storyline had the potential to be even better if (1) greater character development was displayed beyond Alice's character; I especially would have liked to hear Jack's point of view vs. being told about him from primarily Alice's perspective; (2) stronger ending...I was really disappointed in the ending which seemed trite and predictable. Then again the ending did leave room for a sequel. Overall Good Hair was a good read and it held my interest so much so that I was able to finish the book in one setting. Ms. Little's writing style piqued my interest and I will also give The Itch-her sophomore novel- a chance.

This was the first time that I have read a book by Ms. Little and it was excellent! She kept me reading and reading and I didn't want to put it down. This book describes the lives of many young women who find love when they least expect it. The only thing that left me hanging was the end. It left me wondering what happened after the marriage and whether or not Ms. Sherry was actually pregnant. But overall its a WONDERFUL novel. Keep up the good work Ms. Little.

I really couldn't figure out the point of this book. Racism and social class within the African American culture, or a romance between the protagonist and Jack? I felt that in the first couple of chapters, too much emphasis on the "good hair" aspect of the novel was put forth and then it just spun off into this whirlwind romance thing. Despite my negative attitude towards the organization of the plot, I loved Little's writing style. The sarcasm and cynicism Alice displayed added flavor to the book. Miles was a great one too, I know many people who would fit into his very character. Yet I feel that Jack could have been a little more developed, having been one of the main characters. I will look forward to reading Little's new book, The Itch. It looks like this is one of many entertaining and thought-provoking novels to come.

Aside from the cheap shots taken at Rutgers (where I am a student), I really enjoyed the beginning of the book where the author introduced Alice's experiences growing up in Newark, NJ because this is the only well developed portion of the book. It allowed Alice to introduce herself to the reader, whereas the other characters were not as well developed. This could stem from the fact that Alice is telling the story in the first person. In other words, Alice doesn't allow the reader to learn more about the other characters in the book, i.e.- Jack, the other main character, because she doesn't really know them herself. It's as though her superficiality (Coach this, Ferragamo that) is evidenced in the book through her shallow examinations of the other characters. Readers witness them on a surface level only. However, this explanation in no way compensates for my disappointment with the character development. It's just an observation. Little's The Itch suffered the same problem.

I would have loved for Alice to relay some of the stories of Jack's childhood and young adulthood, the experiences in his life that made him who Alice fell in love with (that is, if she was really in love with him and not his status). He was represented as an oftentimes naive man, but there was only one instance of his naivete in this book (the cheating). I needed more proof since this was his mom's excuse for the cheating, for which Alice forgave him.

I would really love to see more novels written by a more seasoned Little that introduce and more deeply examine the lives (not just the twisted events, but the thoughts, feelings and ideas of these people in an authentic voice)of the black, upper-class. The Itch and Good Hair are the only books of this severely underrepresented genre. Little alluded to the cause of this shortage and the problems with Good Hair that I've discussed in The Itch: a system that repackages black art for an assumed homogeneous mass black market, i.e.-the film that broke even in The Itch. In the end, the artist can not recognize his or her own work and the "mass market" isn't given a chance to witness the artist's true vision. This is probably Little's apology for not being able to deliver a better book with her first attempt, Good Hair.

I really enjoyed the book. I liked how it was a romance between two people who came from two different worlds. I really loved the main character Alice Andrews, because I could relate to the issues she went through in the story, and these are issues that us black women really go through. Issues in the story such as sexual abuse, low self-esteem, insecurity, and being hurt by men. And what I really liked is that even though Jack came from a well-off family and he cheating on Alice, he seemed like a man who really loved her regardless and he understood her, and he was letting her know that he wasn't going nowhere.

I must first say that I loved Miles, he was the most authentic character in the book, he was who he was and he didn't try to hide it, unlike the main female and male characters. The book details the problems and character flaws that we all have regardless of class or social standing (ie. Jack letting himself get caught with that Sherry). I must mention that the dropping of designer names became a little too much for me, as some points I felt like I was walking through Macy's instead of reading a novel about love and life. All and all it was a great book especially when Jack came in and claimed his woman, a little unrealistic though a black man would never have been that passive or reserved, all hell would have broke lose!!!!!

Although I enjoyed reading this book, I was very disappointed with the message the auther seems to be conveying--Money buys happiness. Alice, the main character, finally decides to marry her cheating fiance, Jack, only after he buys her a luxurious home in a well-to-do neighborhood. Also, the story line and characters are somewhat superficial. With comments like, "I let him get a whiff of my Annick Goutal" and "I threw my Coach duffle in the back seat" strewn throughout the entire book, the author seems to be perpetuating the elitist behavior and attitudes her main character supposedly despises. After the first couple chapters, those little comments become annoying. All in all, the book was enjoyable--not at all thought-provoking or enlightening--but definitely fun to read.

I received this book as a present, after telling friends and family alike how much I wanted to read it. Not only did Benilde Little attend my alma mater, but I was hopeful that here would be a book to gladly expand the offerings in African American fiction. I hoped I would find an interesting and enjoyable read. Unfortunately, I did not.

Although Ms. Little does provide a few interesting insights into the black middle class, like "negro geography," that made me chuckle at the familiarity, I found little else of substance or interest in this book. The writing overall is fine, she even has glimpses of good writing including the opening page or two. It was the substance of the novel, though, that ultimately left me dissatisfied. The main character, Alice, is two-dimensional throughout. She never grows, never changes, never comes into more of herself. Instead, she just spends her time searching for another boring, emotionally unavailable man to be her mate. The relationship between Jack and Alice is never passionate, never the stuff of love, or even lust, as far as the reader knows. I wondered why in the world they were dating, much less considering marriage. Jack chose a woman unlike the women he was supposed to choose, and yet, I didn't understand why he made such a choice. Did he love her? I saw no evidence of that.

If I allow a writer to take me on a journey, I want to go somewhere, not just around the block and end up right back where we started. But, that's exactly what Good Hair felt like. Ms. Little didn't take me anywhere. She was sketchy with details and introduced information that she never did anything with. I was especially put off that there was no real conversation about Jack's infidelity, much less that he and Alice still got married. By the end, I felt I had wasted my time, but I decided to give her another chance. I hoped the glimpses of substance I saw would be amplified in her second book, so I also read The Itch, but it presented the same problems: minimally developed characters, emotional distance, and, by the end, again asking myself why I had wasted my time. By now, Ms. Little has run out of chances with me.

Very exciting and stimulating. Male and female should read this novel. True love does really exist. This novel shows you if something is meant to be then it's going to be. Two people have to really want it. You can work through obstacles insptite of the mistakes one has made. Reading this book in two days, I would highly suggest this book be added to your list of "I must read books" Reading this book on vacation I was able to enjoy more and put myself in it and imagine the scenes. This would make a good movie just as How Stella Got Her Groove Back or even more. In the real world this does happen. This novel was real and to the heart from the heart. This is something that you really get into as you read. Once you pick it up, you don't want to put it down for anything, or if you do, you can't wait to pick it back up and continue. You will go to sleep with this novel and wake up with this novel anxiously reading. If you did not have an open mind before I think you will after reading this novel. Go into it with an open mind. This is a novel that alot of us needed. This shows that two people from two different backgrounds can be united together. Who cares if one doesn't come from the same background. All that matters is that you both have a honest living and are truly happy with each other. This shows you how to love for the right reason and how loving for the wrong reason can get you no where but into a mess.

From the moment I read the first page I was captivated by the story-telling ability of Ms. Little. I loved delving into the world of the beaugoisie, upper-middle class lifestyles of Blacks. The real way in which she handled the color complex issues within our race was so insightful as the characters interacted with each other. Each character reminded me of someone in my life that I could relate to. As a result, I enjoyed the book immensely. I can't wait to read the next book. If it says Benilde Little is the author you're in for a treat.