Cece In The City

Tag: Pearl Cleage

  • What Looks like crazy on an Ordinary Day

    Book: What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day

    Author: Pearl Cleage

    By: Cece Hymes

    This is the second book I have read by this author. Both books are really good. This book was about a lady named Ava Johnson who was from Michigan but had moved to Atlanta to start her career and make money. She made good doing hair. Now as we all know Atlanta is full of parties, celebrities and having a great time. Some years later she is doing great and finds out she is H.I.V Positive, she wants to do right and tell all the guys she ever slept with in the last couple of years to get checked. She mailed all of them letters and one of their girlfriends came to her place of work and went off.

    Ava decided to go stay with her sister in Michigan for some months before she goes to San Francisco. She goes back to her hometown and sees it different than what it used to be. It’s a lot of young ladies pregnant, a lot of young people on drugs and seeing that the town went down. Her sister helps out with the youth and tries to educate them in life.

    There was a baby born but the mom was on drugs, the mother’s family was on drugs also, so Ava’s sister decided to take care of the baby. Try to give her love and the best home for the baby. Ava sees an old friend and they get close. They share their past and life experiences. They accept each other for who they are. They all become close and try to help the community. It’s a pastor and his wife in the neighborhood that are not great pastors that try to do bad things to Ava and her sister.

    So much transparent between the community, a lot of robbing, the older folks being scared, The young people on drugs being evil doing things they had no business doing. The pastor’s wife does something bad and gets the baby to go back to the family who really do not want the child but are doing it for the money. They hurt the child and ran. It’s sad what people do when they are on drugs. It’s sad how the mindsets are of people in today’s society. I like that Ava is honest about what she has and doesn’t want to put others in danger.

    As I read this book, I feel sad for everyone in the book even though good things happen. It’s like the real world, you have to be safe, anything can happen. As women we need to learn self-defense, safe sex, and more. I have a women’s group that I will be working on adding these kinds of classes for us to take.

     

    Make sure to check out the book and let me know what you think. Also Join Cece Book Club on Instagram and Facebook.

  • Seen It All Done the Rest book by Pearl Cleage

    Book: Seen It All And Done The Rest

    Author: Pearl Cleage

    By: Cece Hymes

    This was the first book I have read by this author, and it was good. This was a book about Josephine Evans, who was an actress who had been on the stages for 30 years establishing her career. Josephine had been acting in her career and then they counted her out. She went back home to see about the property her mother left for her and to also check up on her granddaughter. Her granddaughter Zora had been through a lot and just kept being in the blogs. Her life has just been different since her dad passed away.

    Josephine goes to check on the property and she finds out that the area has turned bad, a lot of robberies, drugs and homeless people have taken over. She checked on the house that has been vandalized and unkept. She goes to the company who has been keeping up with her home. Come to find out the company wants to take over all of their homes in that area. They are trying to buy the elder people out and give them less money to sell. They do things you wouldn’t even imagine.

    Josephine talks with Zora, her granddaughter and friends to fix the place up. As they do that Zora decided to video and share to the world what they are doing. It seems like every time they get far in cleaning up the place something else happens to the home. So, they have to start all over. They cannot get a break. They all will not give up and so many people saw on the internet what they were doing and wanted to help them and also wanted them to travel to do more in the different states.

    While the team cleans up I think they all bond and share different stories with each other and they all came together at the right time in their lives. What they needed the most was encouragement, inspiration and a team. I love Josephine’s character. She is a strong, independent, smart woman and glad she doesn’t let people run over her. She is human though, but her granddaughter gives her the same push that she gives her.

    This book makes me think, lately I have been volunteering to do more in the community, and I would love to do what she does and inspire more women and help more elderly people and that’s what I plan to do. We have to empower each other and inspire one another we go through so much in this world. We are scared to talk about it as a whole. We need that outlet; we need those stories. That will help people be more open to speak. We try to put those moments back in a dark place and hide those feelings.  I just watched the luckiest girl alive that I think us women need to watch.

    Check out the book and let me know your thoughts? Also Join Cece Book Club on Instagram and Facebook