Customer Reviews

One Sister's Song

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Carter's One Sister's Song is a clear-headed, multi-sided look at a complex situation that hasn't found resolution in hundreds of years of history. What world(s) do people live in when they come from more than one racial or ethnic background? Who wants them? Who claims them? Where do they want to be? How do they choose?

Carter, who knows some of these issues first-hand, is sensitive to the fact that everyone involved in an interracial situation has their own image of how things are and how they should be. She also knows that lives are lived on private terms, sometimes raggedly, sometimes nobly. Her characters are not socio-political representations, but they are real people, right down to their inconsistent and sometimes bumbling ways.

Audrey acts impulsively; Julian zooms from gloom to exuberance and back again. Boyfriends past and present act like clods; some people are just unthinking. Some are just plain mean. Behind it all hovers the spirit of Audrey's sister Laura and the way she viewed the world. Audrey's coming to grips with this, finding her own way, is the heart of the story.

Refreshing, engaging, thought-provoking, and real. One Sister's Song is all of these.

A beautiful story - you will not be disappointed!

**NOTE** Currently all the used copies of this book listed for sale refer to the first edition, which has a plain cover with no artwork. The second edition, published in January 2004 with artwork on the cover, is listed as "New." The second edition is the book pictured above.

Enjoy!!!

This novel is one of the best I've ever read. I've often wondered why many authors feel they have to intentionally offend. This book is proof that an exciting, well written story doesn't have to go there.

One Sister's Song is intriguing; the characters and imagery are so rich and real I felt pulled right into the book.

This novel is effortless to read and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. It's hard to believe Audrey, James, Pritch, Julian and Laura exist only on paper! I'm hooked! And I anxiously await Karen DeGroot Carter's second novel.

I took Friday off and took One Sister's Song to the pool in my neighborhood to lay out and read. I was hooked. I read to page 95 before realizing I was burned and had to get out of the sun for the day.

I could not put the book down. I took it with me to a movie Saturday and told the women waiting in line with me how great it was. Some of them wrote the name of the book in their checkbooks and on the back of old receipts.

Finally, Sunday, I only had 40 pages left, so I curled up with a cup of coffee and read the last 40 pages, savoring each and every one of them.

This is a great read that leaves you wanting more!

This rich, engaging novel tackles one of our most intransigent social issues while never sacrificing the individuality and depth of its characters. Audrey Conarroe's moving journey into her own past, and the future she must create for her nephew is one that will remain with this reader for a long time.

I found One Sister's Song to be a very personal journey through life lessons that could happen to anyone. While I have never experienced the same emotional trials, nor any racial discrimination, I thought I had some notion of what it would be like. I was wrong. I learned so much from Audrey's perspective. Through her dreams and research I feel enriched by UGRR history. Her story grabbed me from the start, and while I found myself worrying on her behalf for much of the book, I am very proud of her in the end. I will be thinking about Audrey for a long time. I'd love to read another Song!