Customer Reviews

Live at Five (Harvest Book)

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

 

 

In this ascerbic novel of the TV, race and class, Haynes' African-American protagonist, Brandon Wilson, anchors the local news in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ratings are abysmal and a new producer has been sent to shake things up.

Brandon, 38, middle-class, ambitious and plagued by hair that never does quite what he wants, knows that St. Paul may be the height of his career. Or it may be the end if Dexter Rayburn, the new producer, decides the station will benefit by his firing.

Dexter is high-energy demonic. He gets in Brandon's face with jive talk, rap music and vulgar imagery. Brandon isn't "black" enough, he says. In the interests of ratings, he demands Brandon go live in the ghetto for a while, broadcast his show from there.

Queasy but excited too - it just might work - Brandon agrees, although he's never spent a day in the inner city and regards its inhabitants as ignorant and baffling. The plan is exploitation in the hopes of ratings.

Haynes introduces a varied and unsentimentalized cast. Chief among the ghetto inhabitants is Nita, young single mother of three, manager of the apartment building, store-clerk, night student. Beneath Nita's tough exterior is a tough interior - and some tired loneliness. She doesn't think much of the light-skinned, arrogant Brandon until a chance crisis breaks through both their shells, threatening Brandon's more traditional romance.

Haynes keeps a lot of balls in the air, juggling tensions between privilege and poverty, integrity and ambition, sound bites and real lives. He writes with humor and vitality and maintains suspense about choices right to the last page.

I've read this book twice and enjoyed it both times. What I appreciate most about this book is the look at life in the middle of the spectrum. Nita is poor, but her children aren't starving, they aren't homeless, or neglected. Instead you get glimpses of how life is harder when you don't have much money: the car not starting is stressful, not having a credit card is shameful, Ben and Jerry's is a luxury, the lack of options and crunch for time. While Brandon is the focus of the book I really liked Nita a lot. And the viewer comments at the beginning of each chapter are a hoot. I enjoyed the characters in this book, how they interact with each other and how their expectations about each other are colored by their own prejudices. I enjoyed Live at Five and would recommend it.

This book is an early offering from the pen of David Haynes. It contains earthy dialogue that is appropriate to his characters, but which seems, at times, to get in the way. The book contains his usual blend of third person narration and interior monologue/stream of consciousness. It also has the usual feisty older woman character and the female narration that is usually found in his books. I know that there is another "content" review for this book because I read it. I, therefore need not summarize the plot since there is enough of a summary in that review. In spite of its language, I think that young adults, particularly inner-city young adults would find this book relevant. It is easy to read; it contains the language with which our young people speak; it has a timely relevant story with an interesting moral dilemma at the end that would make for great discussion with a younger audience. In addition to this book I also purchased "Somebody Else's Mama" and "The Full Matilda." This provided me with an overview of Haynes' career to date. It also proved to be an interesting overview of the development of the writer as the works got better and better as they went along. There is familiar territory in all of them, which I would rate 4+ and 5 respectively, the "feisty" older woman become more sophisticated and erudite as she progresses toward "Matilda" who is finely, consistently, and subtly drawn. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Haynes shortly after reading these three books. He is a delightful, charming, easy-going individual. At that meeting, he read from his (then)nearly finished new offering, which promises to be another 5. Fans of his should watch for its release soon.

k54

This is another great one by David Haynes. Live At five, was funny, and serious at the same time. Nita was single parent who was trying to do right by her kids, Brad need to come up with the perfect story for the news at five, or risk losing his job. Their views on life want let you down.

I kept waiting and waiting for this book to get better. It was billed as "humorous" in it's review and I did not find one thing funny about this book. I was really disappointed. I have a policy of always reading a book from beginning to end just on the chance that it may start off slow and then get better. This book never did. I wish I had stopped reading it. I also bought "Heathens" and I am thinking about returning it.

This is definitely not a book I would recommend.

Based on the synopsis on this book, I really expected it to be a funny, thoroughly enjoyable book. I kept waiting and waiting for it to get better. I have a policy to read a book to completion after starting it so I felt like I had to finish this book but I found it to be pretty painful. I really did not like this book. I bought "Heathens" which is also by this author and I am seriously considering returning it and getting my money back. I was very disappointed.

This isn't one I would recommend.