Customer Reviews

Singing in the Comeback Choir

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The story is about Maxine, a black woman executive producer of a TV talk show who has a great life on the surface but is dealing with problems on several fronts. Her show is in danger of being cancelled. The grandmother who raised her, a famous singer from an earlier generation, has lost hope after she had a stroke. And she's still trying to forgive her otherwise wonderful husband Satchel for cheating on her.

This book disappointed me. When I read Campbell's "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine," I became a fan of her ability to bring to life many and varied characters, drawing out their different points of view. I was especially impressed with the way she helped you to understand the most unsympathetic of characters. In this book, and to a lesser degree her last one, "Brothers and Sisters," the characters seem one-dimensional and flat. The story is fairly predictable and, when everything works out just grand in the end, formulaic and unbelievable. The dialog is stiff, even telegraphic, especially the phone calls between Maxine and Satchel when Maxine is visiting her grandmother. The book was easy to breeze through, but in the end, it wasn't very satisfying.

Not a page turner, Didn't develope the charcter enough.. Words on the page just layed their sounding dull like a couch potato. To many filler. We did enjoyed the parts when she discussed Maxine relationship with her husband Sachtel. But the story didn't go into enough infromation about why he had the affair. None the less the book had several really profound parts.

After 'Your Blues Ain't Like Mine' I was expecting something great from this talented writer. Unfortunately that was not the case. This book was predictable, dull, and could not capture my interest or attention. I, too, had to force myself to finish the book. Maxine's story with her husband, although poignant, was forced and too sugar-sweet. Very unrealistic. The author's desire to have an uplifting ending resulted in a diluted story with an all too familiar "give-back-to-the-community-message" that drowns out the REAL story in this novel.

SINGING IN THE COMEBACK CHOIR is a novel that is based on one thing: how willing are we to forgive others who have wronged us and ourselves for holding on to those discretions. Maxine is handling a pressure cooker job on 'The Ted Graham Show', amist rumors of cancellation and putting up with the star's temper tantrums, yet she cannot find it within her heart to forgive her husband for his past infidelity. Ted Graham has the status to walk around like a king and use his celebrity status to attract the ladies, but cannot close the emotional canyon dug between him and his mother. Last, Lindy Walker, Maxine's Grandmother and former blues singer, has had to deal with racism, crooked management, and now, her failing health, but can't seem to conquer the guilt in her heart that surfaced after Maxine's mother died. In the end, all three come to realize that to hold on to the past can stagnate, but to forgive and move on can be very divine.

This story was corny, and the ending was predictable. Please Bee Bee, a little more suspence, better dialouge, and surprising plot twists. Through in some emotional depth, and you've got a winner. It's a far cry from "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine".

Bebe Moore Campbell does it again. This time portraying today's African American woman Maxine who's juggling a demanding career as a TV Talk Show producer, Lindy her depressed grandmother who was once a vibrant singer, and a husband who has made a mistake and is yearning for her forgiveness. You have to read this novel, it will take you on a path of memories and definitely show how people comeback.

I am a huge fan of Ms. Campbell's writing, however, I felt this book lacked the honesty her other books are known for. The entertainment industry is pretty shallow and the author's portrayal of was a bit banal and recycled from other books on the same subject. I had a lot of problems with the dialogue which was pretty flat; and the characters were annoyingly uninteresting. The "real" story is Maxine's marriage crumbling from her husband's infidelity. I feel that story alone would have made an excellent book, which I am positive the author would know how to handle honestly (just leave that cliche "miscarriage" motive out). I'm still a fan and will continue reading Ms. Campbell's work.

This is the second book I have heard on tape by Bebe Campbell Moore and I thought it was wonderful. She showed a true devotion to her career and her family. This book is a definite portrayal of how women struggle to balance their career as well as their personal life. I truly admire and respect how Maxine managed to juggle her career with the Ted Graham Show, overlook and stay with her once cheating husband, and take care of her long distant aging grandmother Lindy, all while being pregnant. I really loved how Lindy, as stubborn as she was, finally realized it is never too late to Come Back and be loved. Let's not forget how the once beautiful neighborhood, turn drug infested, managed to come together and clean up its act. Singing in the Come Back Choir is rich in character and in content. I just bought the book, Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, by this author and can't wait to read it!

I have to agree with many of the other reviews out there on this one. It is definately a sleeper not a keeper. It starts out good, but then it just sort of goes nowhere. I am deeply disappointed after reading Brothers and Sisters. Maxine's grandmother was getting on my nerves and it was almost tiring to wait for her to come to her senses. While it wasn't, by far, the worst I have read, it is nothing that I would recommend.

This is the first novel I've read from Bebe Campbell and, once I read the first page, I never put it down. The undercurrent throughout the entire book that kept me connected was the love of, and transforming power of, music. Admittedly simplistic, I do believe the power of music can heal everything from a broken heart to a broken neighborhood.