Sugar

by Bernice L. McFadden

Book Overview

20th Anniversary Edition--with a New Foreword by Kimberly Elise

A novel by a critically acclaimed voice in contemporary fiction, praised by Ebony for its "unforgettable images, unique characters, and moving story that keeps the pages turning until the end."

A young prostitute comes to Bigelow, Arkansas, to start over, far from her haunting past. Sugar moves next door to Pearl, who is still grieving for the daughter...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452282209
• ISBN13: 9780452282209
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Made me angry

My heart hurt for "sugar" I wish she could have found another way to live her life.

Unexpected plot twist

This book made you laugh & cry all at the same time

Sugar is a book I'll always remember!

This was the first book that I read by Bernice L Mcfadden. It was an extremely good book that was well written. Bernice McFadden did an amazing job bringing out the personalities in each and every character! While I was reading this book, I felt like I was apart of the book. It is definitely a book worth reading! Oh and Im almost finished with * This Bitter Earth* which is like a part 2 of *Sugar*. Believe me.....buy them both, you wont be disappointed!

Beautifully written, stunninly haunting

In the writing workshop I recently attended and in the book on writing I am now reading, I am constantly being reminded to hook the reader with that first sentence and paragraph. "Jude was dead" grabbed me from the beginning and had ahold of me until the last page was turned. This hauntingly beautiful tale of a "scarlet" woman and the small town without pity was an exercise in human nature. Sugar comes to Bigelow, a small African American town in Arkansas, in 1955 to live in a house next door to Pearl and Joe. Fifteen years earlier their daughter Jude was brutally murdered. There is something about Sugar that reminds Pearl of her beloved daughter and while the whole town shuns her, she befriends her. Sugar brings out the youth and makes Pearl laugh and enjoy life. Pearl has not laughed so much since before Jude died. Pearl, the virtuous wife and mother, pillar of the church has even taken to dying her hair and visiting the juke joints with Pearl and taken Joe with her. The town is horrified at Pearl taking up with Sugar and their back- biting curiosity turns to venom.Sugar, abandoned, as a child and growing up around brothels just does what she know best, make men happy. She knows secrets about Bigelow that no one else knows. Sugar has never known love and when she meets Pearl's son she finds out what it is, alas, she is unable to accept it. A tragedy unfolds with devastating consequences that reveal the events of fifteen years prior.This book is written in rich detail, realistic characterization and superb writing. This writer's ability to capture the look and feel of the 50s Jim Crow south and the people who inhabit this small town are amazing and there is no doubt this is a literary masterpiece. I'm told there will be a sequel; I can hardly wait.

Suberb & Fabulous

"Sugar" by Bernice L. McFadden is this author's debut novel and what a striking launch for her writing career. A friend recommended this book and she said it was the best book she's read in over two years and this women ain't never told a lie! Ms. McFadden tells the story of Sugar with boldness and passion. I was amazed at how the story began to unfold connecting the two-neighboring towns with the secret of Sugar's heritage. The past and the present connected smoothly by using the memories of the characters as they reflected on past events. I certainly would not want to reveal the plot of the story and ruin the book for those who have not read it so I will simply say I strongly urge everyone to "buy the book". It's worth every cent. I will say that this novel has earned a place on my "FKS" (Forever Keep Shelf). I'm so glad I purchased the hard copy. Bravo Ms. McFadden, I cannot wait to read your follow-up novel. I give "Sugar" two thumbs up, a flute of sparkling apple cider, jumbo fried shrimp with a loaded baked potato and a cherry jubilee!

Hey! I want more stars - cause this is a " 10 "

Listen, why are you still reading reviews...you should be ordering this book by now. If anyone has anything negative to say about this book....then they don't know a good read when they see one! LOLSugar is [ as they say these days ] off da' hook! There is no doubt that Bernice McFadden has written herself into the creme de la creme of authorship - ok I made the word up. ;-)Sugar is about two friends that are soooo different, and from totally different backgrounds. Sugar is Ms. Thang and every man wants to "be with her!" Sugar raised to survive using what my moma called "her sweet lucy." There's Pearl who is totally opposite from her new found best friend; she was raised to be the perfect mother, wife, church lady, and model citizen.The relationship that Ms. McFadden develops between them is soooo touching and dear. You are sure to get caught up in the lives of Pearl, Sugar and the whole town of Bigelow.Hey, Get This One! Ms. McFadden you've got another Fan....can't wait for the new one to come!Sugar is Sweet with a tinch of sour!

SUGAR IS SO GOOD IT'LL MAKE U WANNA SLAP YOUR MAMMA!

Of course none of us would dare to chance slapping our mamas; or even want to. But, according to my friend Martha "to slap your mama" is a southern saying to indicate that something was the zenith of being good. While I did not, nor would I ever even want to slap my mama, I did read Sugar in twenty four hours...Just couldn't put it down. "Jude was dead." Now, if this first line in the prologue doesn't grab you, then wait just a minute. That's how long it will take you to get to page twelve, and the opportunity to meet Sugar who McFadden introduces as a storm when she writes,..."The storm walked into their town on two legs in spiked, red patent leather heels. She waltzed right through the main square, blond wig bouncing to the rhythm of her walk, a leopard print pocket book slung over one shoulder, matching suitcases in each hand. Her eyes were covered with cat's eye-shaped white-rimmed glasses, mirrors to her soul, unavailble for view." Like a spider's web McFadden's Sugar lures you in, and you're stuck. Stuck until the very last word and wanting more of this amazingly captivating debut novel. Sugar is a page turner, as evidenced by lines such as: "The murder had white man writen all over it. (that was only a half truth)," and "When the knock on the door came, during the heavy fog with it's long tentacles of mist that wrapped around their ankles. Pearl looked down and kicked at it, then she gabbed Joe's arm and began to shake." It is a book that demands that each and every word be read and tucked away in that compartment of your mind where before the book's end your ability for total recall will be put to the test. However, Sugar is not mystery. Although, by virture of the fact that it is about life...it is. - The citizens of the small southern town of Bigelow, Arkansas, in the 1950s, are skillfully written about with the down-home folksy-ness reminiscent of one of our greatest storytellers, Zora Neale Hurston. And with mouth-watering descriptions such as..."If eating was a sin, then al that sat around the Taylor table would surely have been sentenced to hell. The table created beneath the weight of heavy ceramic bowls, filled with sweet sausage dressing, collard greens, potato salad, macaroni salad, chittlins, candied yams and roasted potatoes. A turkey, baked to golden perfection sat beside a glazed ham adorned with bright red cherries. Biscuits so light and flaky they threatened to rise to the ceiling if not for the melting sweetbutter that dripped and ran across their swollen bellies, restraining their flight,...Sugar, that as do most novels written about the Black commuity, pay homage to the importance that food plays in Black culture. McFadden is to be commended for being able to develop the book's characters so completely; not a simple accomplishment for a book of only 229 pages. Readers actually feel transported to the dusty Bigelow, Arkansas community of narrowminded women and hypocrit

ANOTHER MUST READ NOVEL!

I finished SUGAR last night and wanted to share this with other readers. I literally carried this book around with me until I finished it last night. I read it under the dryer at the salon, in my car in Atlanta, GA traffic jams, at home in the bed...it was just that good. It's a wonderful story on how people go through unpleasant situations but they still survive. SUGAR and PEARL make you think of old and new friends. It's a MUST read, especially by other book club members! I assure you, you will not be disappointed. If you read and liked "Miss Ophelia" by Mary Burnett Smith then you will surely go out and buy this book today! Hurry up it's in local bookstores all over America, it hit the stands a few days ago!