Sugar

Happy Birthday Dad!  Wish I could have visited upstate for the party.  Busy days for sure.  A mildly interesting book today, Sugar by Bernice McFadden.  If you like books where “everything comes together in the end,” this book is for you, though the story itself is somewhat like a movie from the Lifetime Channel, not my favorite movies.  The book begins in 1940 with the tragic death of Jude, a 15 year old African American who was brutally murdered and sexually assaulted.  Fast forward to the main story, 15 years later where Sugar, the main character of the story, enters the small town of Bigelow, Arkansas in 1955. Sugar’s sordid past as a prostitute has her arriving to her new home (left to her by her mother), living next door to Pearl Taylor, a woman 20 years her senior.  Pearl, a devoted Christian, is the mother of the deceased Jude and she befriends Sugar whom reminds her of her own Jude.  The reader learns of Sugar’s side business that keeps her well off by charging the various “johns” – every man in the town, except Pearl’s husband John – a fee for sex.  As Pearl and Sugar get closer, Sugar shares her sordid past and actually helps Pearl move beyond the grief of Jude’s passing.  Pearl learns how to satisfy her man from Sugar, hmmm ok??, a bit strange, but heck this is 1955 all older woman are getting less self-conscious about sex, right?  Pearl gets Sugar to attend church and potentially change her ways… and then Pearl’s son comes home, and guess what?  He falls in love with Sugar, who seemingly vows to change her ways until her pimp visits and almost kills her.  We almost have a full circle story… and yes finally we do.  Guess who ends up being Sugar’s father?  OK, I won’t give it away.  Maybe I should so you don’t have to finish this Lifetime story.  Luckily the story is fast paced.  As you can tell, not for me.  Very "soap opera"ish.  Surprised by the accolades this book seemingly has received.  Take a pass.  While there are some pieces that fit nicely, this book is way too perfectly fit.  Sugar is a complicated and unsatisfied person looking for something she doesn’t feel she deserves.