Customer Reviews

Problems In Living

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

 

 

PROBLEMS IN LIVING tells the story of Lana and Eve, two sisters who have struggled throughout their lives to remove the shackles of their past. The story is a family drama with a hefty sprinkling of relationship issues all of which stem from a past that is shrouded in secrecy and half truths. Lana has always played the role of protector and problem solver in the family. She is married but finds it difficult to let go of her control issues and trust that her husband will truly be their for her. Her brother Curtis is the black sheep of the family; he has had long standing addiction issues and as a result he is rather irresponsible. He is married and regularly abuses his wife in front of their small children. Eve is the fragile one in the family; she is often crippled by anxiety, depression, and other bizarre behavior. Lana's father is perfect in her eyes, yet her relationship with her mother is strained at best. Her mother's strange attitudes about women and life in general have left all three children scarred emotionally. In spite of all the family issues and the fact that the parents are divorced, the entire family gathers each week for a family dinner which often results in major drama. When the book opens, Eve is pregnant and anxious to learn the sex of her baby. Her pregnancy seems to initiate a chain of events that shakes Lana and the entire family to the very core. Lana discovers that nothing is as she thought it was and the very people she thought she was holding together had been protecting her as well.

The premise of the book was excellent, my only complaint was that there were periods where the story dragged and then the ending was rushed. The character development was good for the most part, but I would have liked to have learned a little more about Eve's inner thoughts. The diverse group of characters and the various subplots added additional depth to the story line. Overall, PROBLEMS IN LIVING is an enjoyable read that has high drama without being over the top.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay

of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Problems In Living captures just that. It is more than just a mere fairy tale of tv or book problems but these are real life issues and problems that are found in today's society. It is real and causes the reader to relate in many different areas. Whether it's unplanned pregnancy, family secrets or dysfunctional families, you'll find it in the world today and you'll find it in this book. What you will also find in this writing are the ways that people cope or not cope with these every day issues. Triumph and defeat are every day realities and depending on who you are and how you view life, you'll see it here.

Levine has done a great job present every day life the way the way it usually happens. Reading this book makes you feel like you are just living life and solving problems and dealing with issues as in regular life. The escape in it though is that it will make you thankful if you don't have these issues.

I applaud Ms. Levine for the substance that she put into her main character Lana, affectionately known as BB. BB is who most black women are today. She's strength for everybody who's weak, independent but knows how and when to be dependant to a certain extent, the nurturer for everyone but herself and she's even bull headed. She holds onto a lot of anger and disgust for a long time which holds her back in many ways. Yes, she represents the sisters very well.

This is definitely an everyday story for every day people. You'll experience Lana's pain, her anger and her release as she realizes it's time to stop punishing herself and her husband Glorious. She finally releases herself to have children after all those years. And just as she does, her sister Eve who she has been protecting all their lives, takes her life as she discovers her unborn child will be a girl. Now doesn't that leave you guessing?

For the whole story and a good one at that, have a seat and enjoy the work of Ms. Melissa Brown Levine. Ms. Levine, I look forward to more works from you!

Latrice,

Reviewer for Coffee Cramp Reviews

Problems in Living. By Melissa Brown Levine 226pages (2004)

Problems in Living tells the story of Lana Howard whose scars from
childhood run deep. Lana's mother passed down a legacy of gender and color
bias that Lana struggles to overcome while striving to hang on to her
loving husband and trying to protect her fragile sister, Eve.

Lana and her sister were raised by their mother with the beliefs that being
a woman is a source of shame and being a dark skinned Black woman is the

worst of all. Both Lana and her sister struggle with rejecting these
truisms handed down by their mother; Eve with gender, and Lana with skin
color. Eve feels so awful about being born a female that she wraps herself
in a fantasy that her unborn child is a son. Lana, despite being a
beautiful woman and the sole object of her husband's affection, struggles
with self esteem issues caused by her mother's teachings that as a dark
skinned woman she would never be good enough. The author skillfully weaves
the themes of gender and color throughout the story. The themes are not
used gratuitously or haphazardly, but rather you can feel their relevancy
and how they remain an integral and painful part of Lana and Eve's lives.

This book was superb. Lana is a wonderful and complex character. You see
her strength, her vulnerabilities and her faults. She is the symbol of
Black womanhood; the best and worst of what we are. Her story makes you
laugh, and cry and cringe. All credit to the author for creating Lana and
then having the ability to bring her to life on the pages of the book in
intricate detail.

I would highly recommend this book and hope it finds mass market success.

5 stars
reviewed by
misrich
Mahogany
Albany

Every once in a great while, we find an author who is blessed with rare insight into the minds of others. Melissa Brown Levine is such an author who spins words in an almost poetic style. Her characters are real people with real problems in every day life. Lala and her sister, Eve, are reared with the Seven Rules for Living from their mother. Eventually, these seven rules cause problems in living for both of them. The oppression of African-American women becomes worse in this story when their own mother favors light skin over dark. As a result, Lala carries a grudge against the world, and Eve hides away from the world. Lala is the strong one in the family-the one who must take care of a fragile sister and the family of her abusive, drug-using brother. As she assesses others in life, the overwhelming feelings from her childhood come back to haunt her. "I believe at one point in her life she was the same as the young woman attending to her, but life has taught her what some of us tend to forget the further away from bondage years we get: We all still niggahs." This assessment comes from one of the rules, and through her years of struggle against them, this one she cannot dismiss. Through this story, we see a strong woman who believes she is fighting against the rules, but in reality, the dignity, loyalty, and respect she fights for is something she deserves merely for being human. Melissa Brown Levine is an extremely talented author, and I very much look forward to future works from her.

Review by Cindy Bell-Author of Flutter By