Singing in the Comeback Choir [Turtleback]

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

Maxine McCoy has made it. She has overcome the odds she faced as a black woman from a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood to become a successful television producer in Los Angeles. She loves her hardworking, ambitious husband and is pregnant with her first child. She does worry, though, that the shows she produces are of no social value. But even this concern drops away when she receives a phone call from the caretaker of her seventy-year-old grandmother and learns she has to return to Philadelphia. Orphaned at an early age, Maxine grew up with her grandmother Lindy, a singing star. Lindy is now a smoking, drinking, embittered women whose glorious voice has atrophied from disuse, and the house that used to swing with laughter and music is dim and lifeless. Lindy's once striving neighborhood has become a blighted, crime-infested area. Yet after a few days there, Maxine realizes that Lindy and Sydenham Street itself have been the source of her own strength and success, and she is moved to help both reclaim their glory. Bebe Moore Campbell's writing is "clean and clear," said The Washington Post Book World. "Her emotions run hot, but her most important characteristic is uncompromising intelligence coupled with a perfectionist's eye for detail." With lyrical prose, rich humor, and keen insight, she creates a moving story of hope and redemption, of the faith and commitment that can make any comeback possible.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-Maxine McCoy is a successful television producer in L.A., but half of her heart is back on Sutherland Street in a decaying section of Philadelphia. There, her grandmother Lindy, a former blues singer, has recovered from a small stroke but, against doctor's orders, is drinking and smoking far too much. Maxine's TV show is slipping in the ratings, but she finds time for a trip to Philly to check on Lindy, who raised her, and needs help, even if she won't admit it. Maxine needs help too; her husband has had a brief affair that destroyed her trust in him. She is pregnant and, after one miscarriage, is afraid for her good fortune. Lindy is depressed and bored, and when she is invited to sing in a music festival, she is both elated and fearful. A trio of unforgettable musicians help her get ready for her last performance. This is Maxine's story, the story of a black woman who has made it big but hasn't forgotten her roots, or let success overshadow her loving, caring nature. It is also Lindy's story; she yearns for one more chance, but finally realizes she needs help, and accepts it. The minor characters are also drawn with compassion and humor. YAs will find dynamic role models in these strong, black women and the men who love them.
Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

At 37, African American Maxine McCoy's plate is full. She's newly pregnant and fearful of another miscarriage, trying to rebuild trust in her unfaithful but regretful husband and worried about the grandmother who raised her and still lives in a failing north Philadelphia neighborhood after suffering a small stroke. As executive producer of a television talk show, Maxine has nurtured the host and raised ratings, but cancellation looms and the pending sweeps are critical. Then her grandmother's paid companion leaves, and Maxine goes to her beloved grandma, once a renowned singer who's lost both her zest for living and her singing voice. Struggling to meet all her commitments, Maxine is torn between her mentor's admonition to follow the money and her growing desire to follow her heart. In her third novel, Campbell (Brothers and Sisters, LJ 8/94) dwells less on racial issues than on human problems, particularly those faced by modern women working outside the home. Campbell tells a fine feel-good story, and her audience is bound to embrace it. [BOMC Main selection; Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/97.]?Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
-?Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606193022
• ISBN-13: 978-0606193023
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,217,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flat & predictable, can this be the same Campbell?, July 19, 2000

By 

Ellen Isaacs (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Singing in the Comeback Choir (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Underdeveloped -Women of Color Book Club, Oct 26,01, November 16, 2001

By 

Women of Color Book Club (Clarksville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Singing in the Comeback Choir (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, March 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Singing in the Comeback Choir (Paperback)

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.