Customer Reviews

Hold Love Strong: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Imagine sitting down listening to a friend describe their life growing up before you knew them. A life you did not know he lived. This is how you will feel when reading Hold Love Strong by Mathew Aaron Goodman. Abraham Singleton, the narrator, tells of his coming-of-age in the Ever Park Housing Project in Queens, New York. The author's matter-of-fact, yet intimate, tone will grab you through poetic language as he unfolds the Singleton family story of love, hope, and just living day-to-day.

The story begins at Abraham's birth on the bathroom floor to his 13 year-old mother and his grandmother naming him not for the president but "Like for the old man in the Bible that God said was gonna be the father of a great people as numerous as the stars." The reader is guided by Abraham as time passes and the Singleton family confronts love, loss, drugs and incarceration and their individual turmoil. There is Angela, his mother, who once Abraham is beyond a young child needs to find a replacement for a child's devotion; Aunt Rhonda, who believes that love will set her free but yet cannot commit to a relationship until she faces her inner fear; Uncle Roosevelt, as the oldest male understands the path for his family's survival, but will the necessities of today defer that goal?; cousin Donnell whose behavior is both destructive and life saving, which behavior will lead to the family's survival?; and grandmother, Gloria who keeps hope moving for her family yet refuses to give into hope for herself. Through these characters we watch Abraham mature and learn that life lessons are not always easy nor are they the ones we want to learn.

While most of the story progresses in a linear manner, there are times when Abraham speaks as an adult in the present time as if responding to a question from the listener/reader. These chapters are brief but rich in framing the story. When Abraham explains to his listener/reader what it was like living in Ever Park he says, "We breathed in dying and lived in dying as if dying and the baggage that came with dying were normal, like everywhere in the world..." How matter-of-a-fact some of us take our lives and what we will expect from life if we follow the rules. Reading Hold Love Strong will add to your understanding that rules can be followed but sometimes it is not necessarily the rules that will lead you to success.

I recommend this book to readers of literary fiction and street lit. Readers of literary fiction will enjoy the well-written story with well-developed characters and readers of street lit will enjoy the familiar story told slightly different but with the urban and drama elements.

Reviewed by Beverly
APOOO BookClub
June 14, 2009

This book was a true page-turner. Goodman seems so wise and worldly, it is hard to believe he is a young writer. His writing is so vivid and real I felt like I was living in the projects with no way to get on with life. But still I had hope and longing. Goodman's writing skill is so poetic. I want to read the sequel and learn what happens to Abraham and the rest of his family. I have recommended Hold Love Strong to my book club. Now my husband is reading it and can't put it down. Don't miss this opportunity. This is a book for all ages and backgrounds.
Hold Love Strong: A Novel

I've heard it said that writers tend toward tragic stories rather than triumphant stories because the latter are harder to pull of convincingly. Goodman does not appear to suffer from that problem. "Hold Love Strong" is a wonderfully executed triumphant story. The narrator's family is wonderfully created, both in their love for each other and in how they are affected by the largely futile environment in which they live. Their struggles and hopes , even when they end tragically, are touching. Really, it just makes it all the more touching when the triumphs do come. Goodman strikes a good balance, a twinge nostalgic but not sentimental. A marvelously emotional novel.

At first when I was reading I thought the narrator's voice seemed a tad out of place. Perhaps too erudite. As I continued reading (still pretty early on), though, it started to make more sense as I picked up on the clues that the narrator was going to go to college and was looking back from that vantage point. Once I realized that the voice worked for me and I found the narrator to be very engaging.

I just finished reading "Hold Love Strong" and I loved it. The book is so well written and sometimes beautifully written - brought tears to my eyes twice. The book is a novel, but Abraham's voice (the narrator) rings so true, that you could imagine this book is an autobiography. The characters are fully developed and well rounded so that we see their good points as well as their flaws. I highly recommend Love Hold Strong.

Here is a writer who has worked very hard to hone his talent -- and it shows! Every sentence is carefully crafted. This is a beautiful story written with respect, humility, humor, wit and a deep understanding of subject. I have recommended Hold Love Strong to my friends and family, and everyone I know who reads it loves it too. Hold it, read it, love it.

In his first novel, Matthew Aaron Goodman creates Abraham Singleton's story amongst the gang violence and crack ravaged streets of New York City . Born to a thirteen-year old mother, Abraham lived with her, his grandmother, aunt and uncle and young cousins. Abraham's mother was too young to understand and accept the responsibility of being a mother so he didn't receive her love and attention. His love and nurturing came from a very unlikely source, his cousin who was only four years older than he was. The family endured their share of heartaches and disappointments - the incarceration of his uncle who was a NBA hopeful, his mother's crack addiction and the demise of so many of his hopes and dreams. Through it all Abraham was able to emerge from it all while holding the love instilled by family strong.

I flipped through the pages of HOLD LOVE STRONG while at the library and mentally noted to add it to my "to be read" pile, so when it came up for review, I had to get it. Matthew Aaron Goodman is Caucasian but he flawlessly wrote this book with a cast of African-American characters as though it was his own experience. His prose is lyrical and full of imagery, which immerses you in the settings. I could not help but be drawn into Abraham's tale and root for him to come out on top. His resiliency and adherence to the bonds of love set by his family will win readers over.

Reviewed by Paula Henderson
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

This book is SO good! I wish I hadn't read it yet so I could read it all over again for the first time.

I passed the my copy around and as I hoped it got on a journey of it's own, I;m sure I won't see it again but I hope it doesn't stop and keeps finding it's way into people's hearts. I purchased copies for my Aunt and her daughter in laws and decided this was one I needed for my home library. I won't give any thing away but this book made me laugh, cry, and want to know what is going to happen to Abraham and his family. I am from a completely different background on the other side of the US but that didn't matter because this book is about the human condition, loneliness, sadness, happiness, family. There isn't one person I wouldn't recommend this book to read. If this don't think I could find someone out there who wouldn't be moved by this quiet yet powerful, well written novel.

With poetic language and vivid characters, each sentence of this novel is beautifully crafted and compelling. In an odd way it brings to mind Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for it takes the reader beneath the coarse surface and into the heart and mind of a boy who, if we were to encounter him on the street, we might shrink back from, perhaps fearful and unable to understand him but for this book.

I had the good fortunate to meet Matthew Aaron Goodman when he spoke at the Jewish Book Festival in Rochester, NY last fall. Like Haddon, who worked with autistic children, Goodman taught high school in one of the poorest sections of New York City. But more than that, he let those kids into his life, in some cases maintaining close relationships to this day. And it shows. He really knows them. Now you can too.

WOW!!! Words can't describe how reading this so beautifully written book, I mean I'm lost for words right now but this was most wonderful, inspiring story I have every read!!! Mr Matthew you're awesome author with a beautiful gift, I had to pass this book to my son's so they could become inspired by hope and never giving up..thank you for your wonderful talent and so beautiful written story...I rate this book over 10 stars!!!!