Customer Reviews

Life Is Short But Wide

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I own each and every book written by J.California Cooper and I wait anxiously for her next book after purchasing the most current. Life is Short but Wide is an emotional roller coaster. Happy times, crying times and even times of anger(that's me reading the book). I've always appreciated the writing style of the author, like two friends looking at people and how they let life live them. With each book comes the gems of wisdom while the story is being told. I shared my first J. California Cooper book with my then 12 year old daughter because of those gems of wisdom. Life is Short but Wide is a good read and I often purchase her books as gifts because I want people to experience a true storyteller.

Author J. California Cooper takes us to Wideland, Oklahoma to chronicle the lives, loves, and losses of two families in her latest offering entitled, Life Is Short But Wide. A 91 year-old narrates the story and immediately espouses Cooper's signature edicts of loving life, yourself, one another, and God. The "do right," work hard, save money, importance of education, etc. lessons are also overtly and repeatedly layered in the stories of Val and Irene, Joseph and Bertha, and their children. Their courtships and hardships are fodder for the take-away lessons of living life to the fullest and appreciating who and what one has in life.

Those familiar with Cooper's earlier work might experience deja vu with this new release. The characters evoke familiar auras of protagonists past; even their actions and reactions to physical, financial, and social challenges were evidenced in similar backgrounds and scenarios in The Wake of the Wind, In Search of Satisfaction, and Family. The reading experience is further diluted with some elongated passages and a tad too much repetition for this reader's liking. Of course, this will not deter die-hard fans of the author who will want to purchase the novel to complete their collection. However, newcomers might want to consider this literary legend's earlier works to experience her trademark bits of heart-warming anecdotes, down-to-earth wisdom, and folksy advice.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
April 1, 2009

I love J. California Cooper's works, but this book was dry as a dessert and as boring as watching paint dry. The beginning was kind of funny and interesting with the two elderly characters, but eventually you're like, okay tell the story and get to the point. Cooper spent too much time having the two characters lecture, and too much time in meaningless details about Wideland, Oklahoma. The plot she was trying to build got lost somewhere between page twenty and thirty. I mean I was yawning by page 10, rubbing my eyes by page 20, in and out by page 30, and completely gave up by page 50. Sorry but this is one book that is not worth the investment.

I am a diehard Cooper fan who only finished the book out of this loyalty. It was too predictable (Myine and mine), but worse was the endless and uncomfortable preaching that was actually confusing given the amount of "loving" going on. This was my first story on kindle and I love the system. But while I'll be recommending it, I'll be steering any J California newbies to her earlier work.

I have read everything that this author has ever written and at this point it is abundantly clear to me that her magic is in the short story. She is able to weave wonderful tales of family, life, love and triumph over hardship. However, whenever she creates a novel it feels drawn out and does not tie up well in the end. This one is no exception. There was much sadness and little sunshine. To experience this author at her best, try her short stories.

I am a huge J. California Cooper fan, so it pains me to give this book 3 stars. I too was wishing Herman would stop all that nonsense and step to Myine. I thought they were gonna die before things finally came together for them. Good grief, Charlie Brown.

I was hoping for more on Tante since early on it was hinted that the person you'd think would fair the best... actually didn't. She did pretty good for herself and I see how she ended up lacking in the emotional sense.

Also, the Kindle version had some conversion errors. capital B's were replaced with capital Rs. capital C's were replaced with capital Gs. very annoying!

oh... and one last thing. Is it me or did this book seem a tad bit TOO preachy?? I felt like I was being guilted into coverting.

My book club, Sistaz Perspective, recently read Life is Short But Wide and we gave it an overall rating of 4.0. Personally, I give it a 5.0. A little slow in the beginning, but once into it, you cannot put it down. Loved it!

I am a J. California Cooper fan. I found this book to be distracting. I actually stuggled to finish reading it. I thought the story was just too long. What a surprise to find the author injecting her religious views in this work of fiction. I felt held captive by this. Yes to other Cooper books.. No to Life is Short But Wide.

J. California Cooper is extraordinary! In Life Is Short But Wide she captures you into each character and their circumstances. I own all of her books and I find myself rereading them over and over! If you haven't read any of her books, please do, because if you don't you are missing out on a true storyteller!

J. California Cooper pays obvious homage to Hurston and Walker and nods, perhaps inadvertently, to Pearl Buck. However, "Life is Short..." never seriously competes with the works of these literary giants. Nor, is the book up to par with Cooper's earlier fiction. The writing lacks the complexity of language and characterization that could have lifted the story beyond a morality play. Because so many of the characters, especially the women, share the same foibles and moral laxity, it is easy to confuse them. Equally undeveloped past caricature, the men are alternately passive, licentious and foolish. As the only character to reveal a degree of depth, Tante's absence from far too many pages is notable. The universal themes of love and survival under oppressive circumstances would have strengthened the plot if the writer had removed numerous pages of repetitious dialogue and situations. Cooper injects historical references throughout the book; without this device to anchor the decades-long narrative, this reviewer would have felt that time did not move in Wideland, Oklahoma. Still, time moved much too slowly in my getting to the predictable end.