Customer Reviews

Little Girl Lost

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Little Black Girl Lost is a novel filled with drama, action, and suspense. It will have you glued to the oversized chair, with peppermints and a bottle of water. It takes you back to an era where things happened and were often over-looked unless you took matters into your own hands. This is what Ms. Johnni Wise did. She handled business as she dealt with the life that was given to her, not of her own choosing. Ms. Wise had to grow up very quickly as her mother sold her virginity on Christmas Eve, and from there the trails and tribulations unfold. Your emotions will want to reach out and hug Ms. Johnnie Wise but she is resilient, a characteristic she must have in order to survive. So, come take this journey with Keith Lee Johnson as he invites you into the world of secrets, lies, betrayal, sex, and drama that Ms. Johnni Wise will encounter.

How does a church-going, singing-in-the choir, piano-playing Christian end up as a prostitute? Her mother sells her to an eager white man, of course. Sixteen-year-old Johnnie Wise's life will be forever changed after the rainy Christmas Eve when her mother, Marguerite, decides to introduce her to the world of prostitution that Marguerite has inhabited since being sold by her own mother. Feeling soiled and dirty, Johnnie turns her forced prostitution into an advantage. Investing the money that Earl Shamus pays her, she uses her newly acquired bedroom skills to convince the man to buy her a home in an upscale black neighborhood. While all of this was taking place, she finds a man who truly loves her; she returns that love, promising him that the prostitution will eventually end. Then her new lover's gangster boss wants Johnnie and the true tension begins.

Marguerite, in a fit of jealousy and envy over her sixteen-year-old daughter's good luck, attempts to blackmail one of her own customers, who just happens to be head of the Ku Klux Klan, into buying her a home in the same neighborhood. Things rapidly begin to fall apart for everyone when the Grand Dragon takes his revenge.

Keith Lee Johnson has written a suspenseful novel filled with rage, revenge, sex and even genuine love. The picture he paints of Louisiana in the 1950s is fascinating and is something of a history lesson in itself. I do hope Mr. Johnson is writing a sequel so we can follow Johnnie Wise and witness the rest of her extraordinary life.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Early 1950's in New Orleans we have a budding beauty Little Miss Johnnie "Wise" her very name is golden, and no one has yet to realize that this little miss is more than a sight for sore eyes! With a heart pure as gold, and a voice filled with praise Miss Wise is a child of God, and all she wants is to live accordingly. God bless the children!

That is until that rainy Christmas Eve. Miss Johnnie Wise innocence is loss forever thanks to the lust of a well known child molester, and a devious mother. A mother who in her own sick mind thought that she was sparing her child's heart! Did the ends justify the means?

Was I not a good Christian? Miss Wise pondered why she'd been lead astray. It wasn't even her who initiated the sin, yet Miss Johnnie Wise would have to incur the ridicule and try to understand the way of the world with or without God.

As Miss Johnnie Wise realized that she held the note for the most delectable "brown sugar" in New Orleans she uses her senses to profit utilizing her astonishing gift.

As jealousy steals her mothers life Johnnie Wise realizes that maybe it's too much. Or is it? She's found a secure new love in young Lucas, while maintaining her stocks, balancing her insurance, and the protection of the mob Miss Wise will ultimately school the onlookers.

This is a very detailed book filled with painstaking truths, lust, betrayal, and more importantly greed! Will Little Miss Wise be triumphant in the end?

This was the most awful book I have read in years. The characters were selfish, immoral, did hateful things to one another, and never learned from their mistakes or experienced personal growth. I had no empathy with, or sympathy for, any of them. It was an ugly story with no reason for the telling; no point, no moral. And besides that, it was not even well written. I did something I don't remember ever doing with a book before--I threw it away.

Am I the only one that gets emotional over books? I can think of very few books that have evoked the type of emotion that Little Girl Lost has caused in me and I couldn't put the book down until I had turned the last page. I was angry throughout the book for the most part and that was a strange emotion for me to while reading. I was angry that the 15 -year-old protagonist, Johnnie Wise suffered greatly at the hands of the one person we learn to trust early in our life, our mother. Her mother sold her virginity to the insurance man, Earl Shamus on Christmas Eve in exchange for Christmas presents and Christmas dinner. Propagating the sins her mother grievously committed against her, Johnnie's mother was sold off as a young girl as well. It angered me to see that these two women could sit around and discuss prostitution as if this is normal behavior.

Johnnie had the ability to make men wish for younger days and fancier ways. Although 15, she was built up like a 30 year old woman and surprisingly had the fit and finish of a much older woman. Well versed in the fact that she was robbed of a childhood, I admired her courage to make lemonade from the lemons. Her many benefactors each granted her something other than money that she could grow from. She learned quickly that she had something worth cherishing and that same something would afford her a better lifestyle. In spite of her situation, Johnnie extruded grace and poise in spite of. She walked an amazing line between adolescence and adulthood, still wanting to pursue relationships more age appropriate while fulfilling her perceived lot in life.

Little Girl Lost wasn't just about Johnnie, really. It showcased a mindset of the era. Set in New Orleans in the 1950's, there are racial overtones throughout that angered me as well. How black people were supposed to act, and the atrocities that happened, even the nuances of, were wonderfully displayed in this book. Mr. Johnson touched on topics that are difficult to discuss, and accept, and his mastery of it makes his writing a high priority on my list. I found that though I was angry, which seems like such a negative emotion, I wasn't negative about the book. I found that the writing provided a catalyst of change within me to affirm the fact that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover or in this case a person by their profession. Great job Mr. Johnson!

This book grabbed my attention and kept hold of it until the very last pages. After being thrown to the "wolves",by her own mother, I read eagerly to see how Johnnie was going to survive. She started learning how the world really works. It was interesting to see her thoughts and actions evolved from being a `good Christian girl' to an `entrepreneur'. That is how the world works and she definitely was learning how to work it! I like how the majority of the characters all had something to do with each other. Also, I enjoyed trying to figure out how each one was going to affect the other one. Finally, the only disappointment of book is that there was not a sequel for me to start reading immediately after I finished the last page of this book.

Wow.....Read this book and couldn't wait for book 2. I have now read all seven of this author's book and have yet to be dissapointed. I can't wait for book eight, Hell Has No Fury.

Little Black Girl Lost (LBGL) was my book club's (Diverse Divas) selection for this month. We all totally enjoyed the book. In fact, so much so that several of us have purchased LBGL #2 and #3. I felt the book was well developed and provided great details.
Some of us had love/hate feelings towards Johnny. We all felt that she had many opportunities to turn her life around but didn't. I personally felt sorry for her in the beginning because I felt she was definitely a victim of circumstances and/or victim of her surroundings. I would recommend this book because it was definitely a GREAT read! I'd definitely like to see this on film!

Little Black Girl Lost wasn't anything to write home about... This book was boring at best... Maybe this was Mr Johnson's first book , if this is the case then I understand the boredom... A Carl Weber he is not...Do not go out and buy this book, borrow it from the library or from a friend... If you do borrow it from the library and keep it pass its due date, they probrably won't charge you a late fee and if you borrow it from a friend, they probably won't care if you don't return it either... Take a break and and hook up with Mr Weber before you pen another book Mr Johnson... TT4N

This is the story of a sweet, church-going, fairly innocent young child in a very good recreation of 1950's New Orleans. Her mother, however, is a prostitute whose ideas of preparing her daughter for adulthood are a bit unmotherly, to say the least. Young Johnnie takes to prostitution like a duck to water..with a twist. She uses her brains as well as her body to make a little profit. And even more twists follow.

One thing for sure, Keith Lee Johnson can weave a tale and this book is no exception. Mr. Johnson has a flair for telling a story that never ends the way you think it will and that is his trademark. You can rest assured that if you read one of his books, you will not be bored, you will be on the edge of your seat, good guys remain good guys and consequences will be paid by those who deserve them.

This is truly a good story with a little bit of everything...history, murder, greed, anger, jealousy, sex, prejudice, and even love. Well worth the time to read.