Amazon.com: Half a Heart (9780374933845): Rosellen Brown:: Books

Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

Average Customer Review

3.1 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whole Hearted Praise for "Half A Heart", May 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Half a Heart (Hardcover)

Rosellen Brown has created very real and all-too human characters in this vivid book. Miriam and Ronnee's struggles to accept themselves, to accept one another, and to accept the past are powerful and painful. The complex issues of race, motherhood (and daughterhood), class, and honesty are addressed beautifully, with powerful prose and visceral descriptions. Brown enters the heads of both characters with equal strength and emotional intuition. Highly recommended!

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars kept me up all night, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Half a Heart (Hardcover)

I had already read a quarter of this book when the fairly bad reviews came out, but I plugged along anyway. Half way through the book, the plot really came together, and by the end (which was the part that kept me up), I was very moved. A lot of questions which are never answered are frustrating, such as why she agreed to give up the baby in the first place, but in the main, I thought it was a very touching and well written book. Maybe having a daughter of the same age, I felt all the emotions more strongly, but I am anxious to read more by this author.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decide for Yourself, May 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Half a Heart (Hardcover)

Hard to believe I read the same book these reviewers are trashing. It's far more complex and sympathetic on all sides, not sentimental but challenging (maybe that's the problem)and unwilling to accept easy stereotypes. Ronnee is no "tragic mulatto" -- she may be confused but she's much too dignified for that. And her father is no big black brute. So what's going on here? Protecting the turf,to keep white writers from poaching on territory that isn't "theirs"? I guess readers will have to decide for themselves but they should read "Half a Heart" and make up their own minds.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Woman Meets her Bi-racial Daughter for the First Time
This is a very interesting novel by one of my favorite authors. She uses her usual technique of utilizing internal self-consciousness to create emotional collisions throughout... Read more

Published on March 4, 2009 by Bonnie Brody

4.0 out of 5 stars Best I've Read in a While
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I picked it up at my daughter's yard sale; a friend of hers brought it to sell -- a lucky find for me. Read more

Published on April 5, 2008 by Jo Ann Ross

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not waste your money
I have just finished Half a Heart and I was very disappointed w/this novel. First, the book seemed to drag on and on. It seemed that Ms. Read more

Published on September 10, 2005 by michie

3.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing book from a good writer.
This novel disappointed me deeply because it started out so good, with so much potential. A white woman gives birth to the child of a black man in 1960s Mississippi. Read more

Published on September 6, 2001 by slomamma

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotionally rewarding answer to the question "what if?"
As the mother of several grown children, I've often wondered who my children would have been without my influence... Read more

Published on June 10, 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Half a Heart
It's been a while since I've read a book that totally mesmerized me. I wanted it to go on and on. It is a beautiful story, yet does get ugly and strange at times. Read more

Published on June 2, 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars A major disappointment
Ms. Brown is a more-than-competent writer and the premise of this novel is intriguing, but it disappoints on nearly every level; the storyline is tedious and the characters... Read more

Published on October 24, 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars What a Shame it wasn't EDited
I love the premise of this book. I found it compelling enough to stay up all night reading it. BUT I found the interior and exterior dialogue ... Read more

Published on August 5, 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits the Mark
I didn't think this was a book about "the 60's" nor was it a book about interracial parenting or relationships. Read more

Published on August 1, 2000 by Susan Ito

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read on a timely subject
With a whole heart, talented writer Rosellen Brown tackles a hard topic--the reunion of a long-separated mother and daughter--in the context of our national obsessions with race... Read more

Published on July 11, 2000

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING as beginning at the beginning-just when would that be, and who would tell the story? Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, New Hampshire, Mary Ann, New England, Parnassus College, Eljay Reece, Veronica Reece, Sonny Skeen, John Freund, Jordan Pinsky

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