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The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood |
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Amazon Sales Rank: 2265
Publication Date: 2008-09-02
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0743266242
Type: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 368
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Helene Cooper is "Congo," a descendant of two Liberian dynasties -- traced back to the first ship of freemen that set sail from New York in 1820 to found Monrovia. Helene grew up at Sugar Beach, a twenty-two-room mansion by the sea. Her childhood was filled with servants, flashy cars, a villa in Spain, and a farmhouse up-country. It was also an African childhood, filled with knock foot games and hot pepper soup, heartmen and neegee. When Helene was eight, the Coopers took in a foster child -- a common custom among the Liberian elite. Eunice, a Bassa girl, suddenly became known as "Mrs. Cooper's daughter." For years the Cooper daughters -- Helene, her sister Marlene, and Eunice -- blissfully enjoyed the trappings of wealth and advantage. But Liberia was like an unwatched pot of water left boiling on the stove. And on April 12, 1980, a group of soldiers staged a coup d'état, assassinating President William Tolbert and executing his cabinet. The Coopers and the entire Congo class were now the hunted, being imprisoned, shot, tortured, and raped. After a brutal daylight attack by a ragtag crew of soldiers, Helene, Marlene, and their mother fled Sugar Beach, and then Liberia, for America. They left Eunice behind. A world away, Helene tried to assimilate as an American teenager. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill she found her passion in journalism, eventually becoming a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. She reported from every part of the globe -- except Africa -- as Liberia descended into war-torn, third-world hell. In 2003, a near-death experience in Iraq convinced Helene that Liberia -- and Eunice -- could wait no longer. At once a deeply personal memoir and an examination of a violent and stratified country, The House at Sugar Beach tells of tragedy, forgiveness, and transcendence with unflinching honesty and a survivor's gentle humor. And at its heart, it is a story of Helene Cooper's long voyage home.
Average Rating: 
Review: 2009-01-03
Interesting Story, but very dry
I thought I would love this memoir, but the writing style just didn't draw me in. It just lacked something. I found the background on the slave trade interesting, though.
Review: 2008-12-28
Enjoyed the background history of Liberia
I have always been interested in the Liberian "experiment" and how it started. This book gives an interesting historical background of the founders. After that, I was really disappointed with the memoir aspect of this novel. The author gives a very detailed perspective on her life and her people, less on the indigenous natives of Liberia or "townies". Something was missing, a sort of compassion for the people who could not/ or would not leave. It was written so matter of factly. As a youth, she didn't care for the House on Sugar Beach, until she was forced to leave that priviledged lifestyle. Chapter after chapter of self promotion, her expensive ACS education and trips to Spain was a bit much. Then she gallantly writes about her mediocre writing because she felt she deserved the plumb assignments. Can you say Self indulged? That whole Iraq chapter really got under my skin. Other than the fact that did escape with her family, her memoir was nothing to write home about.
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Amazon List Price: $25.00
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