Customer Reviews

I Left My Back Door Open: A Novel

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

...and this book while you're at it! Like many of the other reviewers of this book, I liked Sinclair's previous books, so I gave this one a try. I'm sorry I did. I kept reading and reading, thinking to myself, "surely this must get better." It didn't. The main character, Dee Dee, is supposed to be in her forties, but she sounds like she's a child. I didn't see any depth to this character at all, or to her boyfriend, Skylar. And why Sinclair threw the Bill character in this book, I'll never know. I guess just to have a reason to bring Skylar in to mediate, so he and Dee Dee could meet. Jade and her story of marital troubles and feeling unfulfilled was the most interesting aspect of the book, but Sinclair did a poor job of concluding her story, as if the revelation of a spouse's secret sexual fantasy will cure a bad marriage. Basically, everyone in the book seemed to be unhappy with the condition of their lives, but Sinclair didn't really make their problems very deep or interesting. Sinclair took some deep issues and dealt with them in a very superficial manner, which left me feeling very let down by the book.

I am a true April Sinclair fan,however,after reading this book I was greatly disappointed. These characters were never fully brought to life as in past books. I sense there was a lot of editing in which the best part of the book got deleted or in the film business((left on the cutting room floor)). This a definitely a thumbs down!

No, this is not the best book ever written. But it's a breezy, refreshing, upbeat vacation read. I recently went away for a week and brought a couple of books. Both were so downbeat that I gave up after 20 pages of each. I went over to a local bookstore and found April Sinclair's new book. Sinclair can be relied on for funny, lively, and interesting dialogue. As a white woman, I truly enjoy reading about the thoughts and feelings of an African-American woman. While it's true that Sinclair wants to tackle tough topics like incest without giving them enough weight, she truly seems like a happy, optimistic soul who is trying to spread warmth and light through her writing. I imagine she's a kind and good-hearted person, not a tortured soul. While I liked, "Coffee" better, I truly appreciate Sinclair's upbeat prose and her inspiring themes.

I just finished "I Left My Back Door Open" and feel as if I've just met my new best friend. On the surface, I have nothing in common with DeeDee...she's black, I'm white, she's urban, I'm rural, she's large, I'm petite...but I have the same things going on in my head, in my life as she does in hers. Universal appeal is magic and April Sinclair certainly mastered it in this novel.

Like almost every reviewer here, I was impressed with Sinclair's previous works so I was excited about reading her latest, only to be let down. There is no real story in this novel; it only seems to be a sounding ground for the social issues that Sinclair wishes to address. Authors have done this in the past with their novels, but they are clever enough to bury into the plot than being as obvious as Sinclair by making her characters discuss almost every social issue known to man. They were interesting conversations, however, so Sinclair should consider writing a book of essays. It just didn't work in the context of the novel, because it sounded forced and unrealistic. I understand that these conversations take place in real life between adults, but not ALL THE TIME. Sincalir should have stuck to a couple of issues and cleverly crafted them around the plot instead of ramming several down the readers' throats.
The stories went nowhere: Jade and her husband had serious problems and she was thinking of leaving him for someone else. We are briefly introduced to this someone else, then BAM! Jade gives her hubby a spanking and all is well. What happened between Sarita and her husabnd? That story was left hanging after his affair. What was the point of setting all of that up if it was left unfinished? What was the point of Tyeesha'story? She seemed to 'smarten up' a tad too quickly. That is NOT how teenagers operate; to get from point A:rebellion,to point B: acceptance of your parents rules--is a much longer, eventual process. All of the plot and structure was relinquished in favor for the social issues Sinclair raises, which is presented in a not so subtle manner. It would be nice to guess what Sinclair wanted to say with her book, instead of being told.

I thought this book was so overwhelmingly predictable I just couldn't enjoy it at all. I've read Sinclair's other books, (Coffee will make you black & Ain't gonna be the same fool twice) so I really thought I'd enjoy this one. But I found the characters unintersting and utterly contrived so that the author could just spout her agenda. She moralizes everything, from spanking to teenage pregnancy. Afterwards, I felt as though I'd been cheated out of a good story because the author just wanted to rant about what she didn't like about society today.

If you're a April Sinclair fan, don't expect much. If you're new to this author, read Coffee Will Make You Black. Sooooo much better.

[....] I fell in love with Sinclair's work, Coffee Will Make You Black, for its insight and diversity of characters. The experiences of a young black girl who is ambiguous not only about her racial identity but also her sexuality in the turbulent 1960's was portrayed in such a vivid way that I could barely keep myself from buying her next book, this book, I Left My Back Door Open. Sad to say, I was sorely disappointed. It was like going from Alice Walker to some trite, romance novelist. I thought she was too good a writer to put out such a work. The storyline was a dizzy array of didatic messages (big women are beautiful, lesbians are beautiful, black people are beautiful) which were not veiled well in either the characters or the dialogue which were both subpar. I would rather have the message gradually revealed to me in a work rather than preached AT ME, especially in such an inept way. I hope her next work will be much better. I'm still rooting for her...

This book isn't going to change your life but if you are looking for a pleasant read, you might just enjoy this latest offering from April Sinclair.

Like the description reads, this is a sometimes witty story about love and relationships told from the point of view of a forty-something African American woman named Dee Dee.

The strength of this novel is the likeability and honesty of the main character. As a reader, one wants Dee Dee to be fulfilled, get the last word, and fall in love (even when she's acting slightly immature or unreasonable.)

Unfortunately, for a novel of this length, Sinclair doesn't really do a good job of tying all the ends together.

Most of her characters are intriguing but they never rise beyond the thumbnail sketches that Sinclair makes of them. With all the drama going on in the book (coming out, divorce, single-parenting, sexual harassment, incest, and problems in the Black community) Sinclair isn't mindfull enough to fully flesh out the dilemas and bring a satisfactory level of closure to the can of worms she's opened.

The most interesting exchanges in the novel take place at Dee Dee's work where we encounter her Chinese friend and co-worker, an older African American security guard who has "quit" being Black, a White male co-worker on the verge of a breakdown, and random callers to her radio show.

In her work setting, Dee Dee is at her best. Unfortunately, once her relationship with a new man takes off, her other relationships seems to struggle for lip service as once important characters pop in and out, serving no real purpose.

This isn't the best book I've read this year but it is an entertaining quick-read. I'd put April Sinclair is the mid-range of modern African American female writers. It's very easy to visualize a book like this one being made into a Alfre Woodard movie.

What a wonderful book full of surprises and some seriously unexpected turns. This book is an awakening, a serious wake-up call for people and the way they choose to live their lives. The past you carry around with you like baggage or the shame you bare (as DeeDee does)when you have no closure. Page after page I could see, feel and taste the hope, strength, sprirt and faith that was revealing itself to characters like DeeDee, Sarita, Freddy, Tyeesha, Skylar and Jade. This book tells the story of a woman(DeeDee) who discounts herself because she believes she isn't beauitful, she's aging, she's not the right color and her weight. She's hauling some serious baggage and doesn't seem to have room for anything or anybody other than her cat Langston. That is until Skylar and Brianna come into her life. This book had me missing my friends and looking for the nearest Belly Dance Classes. Thanks for the wonderful and inspiring read Ms. Sinclair. Our book club truly enjoyed it.

After Coffee Will Make You Black and Ain't Gonna Be the Same Fool Twice, Sinclair's new book was a dissapointment. I Left My Back Door Open was banal, predictable and anti-climactic. While one must admire Sinclair's talent for dealing with difficult issues in an everyday manner, she attempted to tackle far too many emotional problems at once. Her connection of child abuse with adult development of bulemia is poignent, however, she casts a lifelong struggle off all to facily. A moving speech by a progressive reverend and the attainment of a cute boyfriend is certainly not the antidote for a character struggling to deal years of abuse.

Rather than admonishing a woman who bases her concept of self-esteem on whether or not she has a boyfriend, Sinclair lets the quest for Mr. Right plays center stage in I Left My Back Door Open. Her treatment of this antiquated obsession leaves the reader to wonder if Sinclair has abandoned any hope of overcoming the traditional confines of prescribed heterosexuality. What happened to the feminist sentiments that ran throughought her previous books?