Customer Reviews

Where Is the Love?

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Have you ever had a day where your current relationship is on the rocks or about to end? You sit there and remember each and every lover you've ever had. Every time when love meant something and every time it didn't. If you have done this at least once in your lifetime, then this is the novel for you. Emanuel has captured the very essence of this issue that men and women can relate to. His writing style is real, edgy, hysterical,with a smooth, sensitive side to it. A good read, I can't wait for the sequel.

Ladies, if you want to know how guys think and what they think about this is the book for you. It's laugh out loud funny and real.Although the main character remains nameless believe me girls you've met someone like him before. I enjoyed it and think you will too.

Although the title character remains nameless throughout the book, he could be any number of men that we run across daily. As he takes us through each failed relationship in his past, we laugh, get angry and reminisce along with him. At times you wonder has he learned anything from these relationships. At the end, you hope that before he ventures down the aisle again, will he answer the question of why is he getting married again. This book was entertaining and allowed you entry into the male psyche. You are able to see how they view relationships and why they sometimes appear to be committment phobic.

Emanuel Carpenter has weaved a engrossing tale, with plenty of laugh out loud moments, as well as a couple of ahah moments ...who could forget first loves, drunken college days, clubbing on Friday and Saturday nights and of course that first heartbreak and last. Kudo's to Carpenters very in your face writing style and his ability to turn even a bad situation into a hilariously funny one.

A nameless, soon-to-be, 40-year-old man is embarking on his second divorce in Emanuel Carpenter's WHERE IS THE LOVE? This life changing event starts him on the road to recollecting all of his relationships, committed and non-committed, and the results of each. The revelations he discovers are realistic, honest and some may find, twisted.

WHERE IS THE LOVE? opens with nameless asking himself why he remarried. From there we go on an adventure from his teenage years until present day to discover the man within. Many accounts of the women he bedded are revealed as well as his reasoning for remaining in uncommitted affairs after his first marriage. He reveals his escapades about women from his college town, his hometown, as well as abroad, touting himself as an international lover.

Nameless expresses an honest opinion about not bearing children, sexually transmitted infections, alcoholism, his friendships, his enemies and a candid look into his family history. WHERE IS THE LOVE? is a very well written, informative and humorous look into one man's psyche as he expresses his pain of dating and committed relationships. As the story ends we wonder what's next for this twice-divorced, childless man. Does the totality of ill-advised behavior rest on his shoulders? Has he learned the errors of his ways, matured in any form or will his transgressions repeat themselves?

Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

In his sophomore novel, "Where is the Love?", Emanuel Carpenter explores the lack of emotional togetherness as an all but nameless, soon-to-be "two time loser" ponders over his past, "doggish" ways.

The main character is a successful salesman who turned the "art of sales" and his research on women to a foolproof method of getting with almost every woman he pursues. His inability to keep his zipper up before his first marriage and revealing too much of his past to his second wife has him reliving time when he was in control.

From store clerks to international bombshells this man bedded down women in the states and abroad. He safely explores countless one-night stands to boost his overgrown ego and attempts to fulfill his insatiable desire for sex. This player seemed to be searching for a stable relationship but was too emotionally unattached and selfish to take things beyond the sack.

Told from this player's perspective, "Where is the Love?" is a candid account of how men view love, sex, and women in a fictionalized tale. Emanuel Carpenter has written a book that will undoubtedly be a handbook for women on the lookout for dogs.

For all the "playas": find a new game because we have the cheat sheet.

Makasha Dorsey
Atlanta, GA

Being a fan of books written by black authors, I generally overlook books by new authors until I hear more about them. This book kept me hooked from start to finish. The main character would make single woman apprehensive about dating and relationships, but somewhere in this novel the narrator grows and learns love is about relationships, honesty, commitment and communication and not necessarily sex.

When you read this book it will take you back to the day when..... Carpenter truly captures the essence of love, hate and self examination.

Definitely a must read!

A book with many common themes that plague men and women in relationships, especially in the Black community. This book touches on many aspects of love but ultimately breaks it down to the main focus of the story, we (the individual) are responsible for the success of our relationships.

You learn from the main character through his family, friends and sexual exploits, that love relationships are at the mercy of our experiences with family and the love of ourselves. Once our foundation of love is unstable, a person can find themselves drifting through life and love with no purpose and no understanding of how to make it work.

Carpenter does a good job of pulling you into the ups and downs of the main character and just when you think there is no hope for him, the light at the end of the tunnel comes on and there is revelation as to what his true problem has been with love.

This is a must read for young men and women struggling to cope with the balancing act of immediate family, career, love and personal satisfaction. The author has provided a stimulating story through use of humor, pain, suffering and self reflection to guide readers through a simple but yet entertaining story of do's and don'ts in love and relationships.

Wow, what a powerful book. I didn't want to put it down. The character was someone I felt sorry for and disgust for at the same time. I began to wonder if there was any hope for him, as he continued to treat women with complete disrespect as his sexual conquests. The women who were drawn to him also treated themselves with disrespect.
This is Carpenter's 2nd book. He writes about real people with his own unusual, raw, funny style. He is no longer an aspiring author, but a successful one. I find myself curious about the topic of his next book.

Where Is The Love on the surface is a hilarious trek through the life and times of a Playa Playa. The author chronicles a man's experiences with love, sex and marriage spanning the innocence of young love to a sullen man facing his second divorce.

I must say that this book was a lesson in life for me. Watch out players cause Carpenter has turned in his player's card and revealed all your secrets. This is a must read for single women which answers the age old question, Why do men do the things they do? This is an equal opportunity book, because he also gives the brothers a lesson or two about how to get over on the ladies.

The deeper side of this novel deals with fear, pain and growth. We see our nameless narrator's fear of commitment, fear of fatherhood and fear of growing old. He carries with him the pain of his first failed marriage, the pain of disappointing his family's values and the pain of betrayal. I love the fact that the author won't allow the reader to give up on our hero as it were, but you stay right there with him until the bitter end. The reader is rewarded with the knowledge that all is not lost in life of our reformed player. We see that adversity is his motivation for rebirth. Kudos to you Emanuel Carpenter, I'm looking forward to the next novel.

Reviewed by Felecia R. Ellis of Memphis RAWSISTAZ