Customer Reviews

Hoopi Shoopi Donna

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was knocked out by how wonderful this book was. I literally could not stop reading it until I finished it. Suzanne Shea has a wonderful feel for 2d and 3rd generation Polish-Americans (of which I am one) and it makes for a delightfully original setting. The family dynamics were heartbreakingly true to life, especially in the Polish-American culture. But you don't have to be Polish to enjoy the great writing and vivid characters.

When I read this book back in 1996,I liked it SO much,I purchased SEVEN copies and put a note in the frontis(sp?) page telling that the one who received this book he or she HAD to give it to someone else to read...I have NEVER received the books back(and YES,my name and address WAS in each) so it is my HOPE that those books have since traveled the world..I ALSO contacted OPRAH"S book club about choosing this book to read........it needs MORE publicity..but i DO believe I've done MY part!!

I just finished reading Hoopi Shoopi Donna in October, 2001, although it was written in '96. Found it on a clearance shelf in a local drugstore and was attracted by the title and cover. What a great find! It was written with the kind of humor I enjoy. Just a daily take on everday life and relationships. I found the Polish family traditions interesting but the relationships were "every family." Donna's thoughts were so honest, even though she admitted herself they were not always kind. She knew she was being unpleasant at times but felt it was her right. Boy, I've felt that many times!
I am in a book club in my area and can't wait for my turn to host and choose the book... as I already know my selection. This definitely needs to be discussed with others.
The only adverse thing I can think of is my sympathy for the nice guys who always got dumped led me to being very frustrated with Donna. She's comes around at the end. Never have I considered reading a book twice... but this may be the one.

Very touching story of a young girl and her doting family.

Donna's days are filled with dinners prepared by her loving Babci (Grandma), dresses and outfits made by her talented mother, and evenings of playing her accordion for her proud father. But when a poor little cousin from Poland, Betty, is adopted by the family, Donna begins to lose the attention and affection of her father.

A misunderstanding causes a dreadful split that Donna never recovers from. She becomes the selfish teenager while Betty becomes the selfless victim. Donna, once high achieving and dutiful becomes mediocre (working as a quality inspector in a tampon factory--love it!) and estranged as Betty thrives and flourishes from her father's love.

Reconciliation comes late--but not too late for Donna. Through music and the polka, the music of the accordian, she finds forgiveness.

While I found the ending confusing (why did Donna drop Joseph Angello even when she knew he hadn't lied to her?), it did cause me to think. It wasn't a pat ending.

I absolutely loved this book! Donna reminds me of so many girls that I grew up with, including myself. I will recommend this book to all my friends and whoever is looking for a good book to read. Where has this book been hiding?

Loved this book- a must for any babyboomer from an ethnic background in 70's Massachusetts- a moving depiction of a daughter's search for her fathers approval fraught with sibling interference and classic coming-of-age dilemmas- if your Grandma is Polish, you'll love this!

Hoopi Shoopi Donna is one of the most enjoyable and engaging books I've read in a very long time. The characters are beautifully drawn and the story is symbolic of every rift we have with life at one point or another, and the journey that the lucky ones are able to make back to hope and peace. This is an extraordinary novel.

I loved this book ! While I'm a Polish-American, you don't have to have the ethnic connection to enjoy Shea's novel. It's funny and heart-breaking and ultimately redemptive -- a very satisfying and fulfilling read. If you liked 'She's Come Undone' or 'Emma Who Saved My Life', you'll like 'Hoopi Shoopi Donna'.

Hoopi Shoopi Donna is a nice little tale about Polish American Donna Mileweski who finds her personal redemption through, what else, polka music. This is a nice read that will have special appeal to readers of Polish ethnicity.

Author Susan Strempek Shea began her Polish American novels with "Selling the Lite of Heaven" (1994) followed by "Hoopi Shoopi Donna" (1997) and "Lily of the Valley" (2000). There are so few novels about Polish American characters who are connected with their ethnic heritage that Strempek Shea became somewhat of a celebrity in Polonia. Critics even began proclaiming her the "Polish Amy Tan." It's not clear if Shea took offense at being pigeon-holed but she's steared clear of novels about Polish Americans for quite some time.

Being of Polish descent and a lifelong New England resident myself, I could relate to the joys and traumas of Donna's life all too well. It's hard being the first American, when your parents stubbornly insist on keeping one foot in old-country ways.

Nonetheless, young Donna's life is happy enough, especially with her loving grandmother, Babci, living just next door in the family's duplex. Then her father decides to bring his little niece, Betty, over from Poland, and Donna's life changes forever.

No longer the apple of her parents' eye, Donna is resentful of the attention little Betty garners. Then tragedy strikes, and Donna finds herself a permanent outcast in her own family, with Betty there to pick up the slack.

Because of that fateful day, the two girls' lives are permanently set. Beloved Betty goes on to become successful in every aspect of her life, while Donna, existing in the shadows, is subjected to a mediocre existence. As the years pass, Donna realizes that the events of that long-ago day don't define who she is as a person, and what she needs and deserves from life. It's up to her to strike out into the world, and make things right.

This was the first book of Suzanne Strempek Shea's that I had ever read, and it made me instantly fall in love with her writing. Since then, I have read several others, and I feel they all maintain that same level of literary brilliance.

To read one of Shea's books is to step fully into the universe she has depicted, and to walk among new friends and faces.