Spring Break read

Over spring break, I read the novel ‘What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day’ by Pearl Cleage. This is Pearl Cleage’s first novel; she’s originally a playwright and after reading her novel you can definitely tell. Her characters are well-rounded and the dialogue she uses is powerful, thought provoking, and moving. ‘What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day’ is a story about a woman, Ava Johnson, who comes to Idlewild for the summer where her sister Joyce lives. The book deals with a lot of heavy issues. Ava is HIV positive, while Joyce works at a shelter with deals with teen pregnancy, rape, domestic violence, addiction, and a pedophile priest. Though there are a lot of tense moments, the light moments make the book. Ava eventually meets a man Eddie, and they fall in love, despite her illness. It’s an intense book but it’s the witty narration that doesn’t make it to heavy. Passages like this describing her HIV status, “Most of us got it from the boys. Which is, when you think about it, a pretty good argument for cutting men loose, but if I could work up a strong physical reaction to women, I would already be having sex with them. I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying I can't be a witness. Too many titties in one place to suit me.” She makes these horrible issues funny and witty, which is really difficult. It's definitely a new take on a romance novel. I would definitely recommend this book to others.