Customer Reviews

Love Like Gumbo (Fjord Discoveries, No 2)

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

 

 

You don't need to be creole to enjoy this gumbo, you only need to know how to laugh, cry, resent, and love. In other words, read this book, then close your eyes, then read yourself. After all, we are all just pots of gumbo, with new ingredients being thrown in every day.

Even though this is fiction, I understood this account is right on hit with many Creole families who have migrated from Louisiana. They tend to form enclaves and continue as they have in Louisiana. Grace, a young woman of twenty who is questioning everything including her sexuality wants no more of it, or so she thinks. Can she escape the smothering, close-knit family that insists in keeping its culture amongst the post-riots and uncertainty of 70s Los Angeles? This book had some comical moments and a little on the wild side with T-Papa appearing from the dead. There were some slow moments but all in all this is a must read for those who enjoy reading about those black folks that insist on being called Creole.

I read this book cover to cover, putting it down only to laugh or cry. A wonderful book for anyone who has ever been or every will be a parent or a child.

I enjoyed this book to a point...It took me into a culture that I knew little about and the characters were for the most part likable. However I had difficulties in staying the course with Grace who seemed to want to escape the "suffocating love" of her family (Is this really love of religious dictatorship?) , but could not make the break needed to bloom into the real person that is there, just below the surface. Her co-dependency was a bit disappointing. Ms Rawles' definitely shows potential as a writer and only needs to get away from the Broussards for her next story.

LOVE LIKE GUMBO was good enough for three stars, and that is only because Grace's need to be independent and her wacky family helped to place it at that rating. Aside from that, this had to be the only book that had more words than WAR AND PEACE! The structure of the book was definitely erratic, and there is such a thing as too much description. 2-4 pages to describe one thing is not a book to recommend to Evelyn Wood. It took me two weeks to read the book completely. Not a personal best. If you have nothing to do for one week, two weeks max, and you need a book to catch you off guard (like, far off in left field), then here it is. Otherwise, move on to faster pastures.