Review of Deceptive Calm
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Karen Cobb
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- Latest Review: Deceptive Calm by Patricia Skipper
Review of Deceptive Calm
[Following is a volunteer review of "Deceptive Calm" by Patricia Skipper.]
Book for Review: Deceptive Calm
Author: Patricia Skipper
This book is about how the main characters navigate their lives through the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s growing up in Charleston, SC. Vanessa was dropped off as a baby on the doorsteps of a Black Catholic Orphanage and found by Sister Roe, an African American nun, who brought her up as her own daughter. Trisha was Vanessa’s best friend, who the KKK attacked and injured during a riot against a mixed-race student school bus. Both dreamed of going to college and becoming broadcasters. Barry was Vanessa’s first love and was the son of a famous African American neurosurgeon and had the same ambition of becoming a doctor.
These three high school students endured attacks from the KKK, curfews, discrimination, and abuse as they navigated high school, college, and the work force. This book focuses on Vanessa life as she endures all these circumstances and so much more and still becomes one of the top news reporters in the Bay Area of CA.
I really liked this book. The author does a great job of showing the history of what It was like to live in the South (Charleston, SC) for anyone that was not white and the amount of discrimination that was endured and overcome by many, especially in the main character of Vanessa. The author gives hope to the audience that anyone can overcome their upbringing, circumstances and hate all around them through the life of Vanessa. Vanessa did not let the circumstances or the times she lived in define her or push her down. She found a way to make her own path with determination, hope and courage and is an inspiration to us all.
This book can be challenging to read. The language spoken by the people of the South can be hard to understand if the reader is not familiar with it already. There are references to the Civil War and Charleston, SC history which is a bit boring in places. The author writes about subjects that are disturbing and can be triggering for people. This book has explicit violence, sexual content, abuse, illegal abortions, and a harsh reality of discrimination in the South and in CA. I would not recommend this book for anyone under the age of 18.
The author did a good job of weaving all of these subjects into Vanessa’s life and showing how each one of these can be used to strengthen and give courage and hope to rise above the circumstances that life gives you and become the person you want to be and to follow and fulfill your dreams despite things that happen to you and around you.
I give this book a rating of four out of five. This book is for those who are not afraid to be taken on a journey of what it was really like in the South during the Civil Rights Movement and wants inspiration of how to overcome difficult circumstances in life and achieve your dreams even when everyone and everything is against you. I really love the inspiring story of hope revealed in Vanessa’s life.
Reviewer
Karen Cobb
******
Deceptive Calm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Book for Review: Deceptive Calm
Author: Patricia Skipper
This book is about how the main characters navigate their lives through the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s growing up in Charleston, SC. Vanessa was dropped off as a baby on the doorsteps of a Black Catholic Orphanage and found by Sister Roe, an African American nun, who brought her up as her own daughter. Trisha was Vanessa’s best friend, who the KKK attacked and injured during a riot against a mixed-race student school bus. Both dreamed of going to college and becoming broadcasters. Barry was Vanessa’s first love and was the son of a famous African American neurosurgeon and had the same ambition of becoming a doctor.
These three high school students endured attacks from the KKK, curfews, discrimination, and abuse as they navigated high school, college, and the work force. This book focuses on Vanessa life as she endures all these circumstances and so much more and still becomes one of the top news reporters in the Bay Area of CA.
I really liked this book. The author does a great job of showing the history of what It was like to live in the South (Charleston, SC) for anyone that was not white and the amount of discrimination that was endured and overcome by many, especially in the main character of Vanessa. The author gives hope to the audience that anyone can overcome their upbringing, circumstances and hate all around them through the life of Vanessa. Vanessa did not let the circumstances or the times she lived in define her or push her down. She found a way to make her own path with determination, hope and courage and is an inspiration to us all.
This book can be challenging to read. The language spoken by the people of the South can be hard to understand if the reader is not familiar with it already. There are references to the Civil War and Charleston, SC history which is a bit boring in places. The author writes about subjects that are disturbing and can be triggering for people. This book has explicit violence, sexual content, abuse, illegal abortions, and a harsh reality of discrimination in the South and in CA. I would not recommend this book for anyone under the age of 18.
The author did a good job of weaving all of these subjects into Vanessa’s life and showing how each one of these can be used to strengthen and give courage and hope to rise above the circumstances that life gives you and become the person you want to be and to follow and fulfill your dreams despite things that happen to you and around you.
I give this book a rating of four out of five. This book is for those who are not afraid to be taken on a journey of what it was really like in the South during the Civil Rights Movement and wants inspiration of how to overcome difficult circumstances in life and achieve your dreams even when everyone and everything is against you. I really love the inspiring story of hope revealed in Vanessa’s life.
Reviewer
Karen Cobb
******
Deceptive Calm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Deceptive Calm by Patricia Skipper
