Editorial Reviews
From Publishers
Weekly
This bittersweet fourth novel
by McFadden (Sugar) traces the lives of two damaged but resolute people
destined for an ill-fated love affair. The reader meets protagonist Campbell
as a sensitive eight-year-old living in a Brooklyn housing project. As she
watches her mother weep and rant at her feckless, philandering father,
Campbell promises herself that "ain't no man ever going to break my heart."
At age 15, however, that promise is broken when she gets pregnant by a high
school boyfriend who skips town. Donovan, meanwhile, also grows up listening
to his parents' violent quarrels. When he's nine years old, he is assaulted
by a pedophile in his building, an experience that impairs his future
relationships with women. As an adult, he takes a city transit job and
becomes a workaholic. The two meet when Campbell is a single mother in her
30s and a talented fledgling artist. She bumps into Donovan at an art show
and promptly falls in love. But Donovan is threatened by Campbell's money
and success. He brutally rejects her, leaving her to play out the scenes of
bitter anguish she observed so often while growing up. McFadden's latest is
heartfelt and competently written, with her usual flair for dialogue and
well-paced narrative. Yet Campbell and Donovan respond predictably to their
traumas, and Campbell is not as vivid as some of McFadden's earlier
heroines. In spite of her worldly success, Campbell is an archetypal female
victim, too thinly drawn to carry the melodramatic scenes of despair that
cap the book.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
McFadden separately introduces
Campbell and Donovan and their early lives of family tragedy and
disappointment lived within the same gritty urban neighborhood. She
ultimately brings these two wounded people together in a bittersweet story
that shows the limitations of love and fate. Campbell is raised by a mother
who has trapped her husband in a bitter and loveless marriage. Campbell gets
her first lessons about longing and passion from the gay tenants who live in
the apartment below, the sounds.
Spotlight Reviews
Lovng McFadden's Loving Donovan, February 11, 2003
| |
Reviewer: Phyllis
D Rhodes from Orlando, FL USA |
It is this reviewer's opinion that Bernice
McFadden's latest novel, Loving Donovan, is another hit! She cleverly and
thoughtfully reveals the stories of Campbell, Donovan, and their
relationship. The "Her", "Him", and "Them" chapters are told in true
McFadden fashion. She takes us back to the beginning - rewinding time and
starting with the very young Campbell and Donovan and slowly moving them
into adulthood.
Through carefully placed flashbacks, we
transcend generations and meet Campbell and Donovan's grandparents and
parents in their younger state of being. We experience their pain, joy,
shame, and fears. We learn their most scandalous and guarded secrets and
begin to understand all the complexities and dynamics that shape their
thoughts and actions. We clearly see the cycle of desolation that ultimately
molds and influences Campbell and Donovan. The families are dysfunctional,
the homes are broken, no one is perfect, but they are doing the best they
can given the circumstances. McFadden gives us just enough to understand
Campbell's quest for love and to empathize with the troubled, delicate
psyche of Donovan. Will Donovan and Campbell overcome the personal baggage
to embrace love? Can they supercede their haunting, painful pasts for a
promising future together? Read to find the answers.
It is the beauty of McFadden's words, pacing,
and storytelling style that keeps the reader mesmerized throughout the book.
This reviewer finished the book in one sitting. Her writing style is
simplistic, precise, and rhythmic which makes it so easy to visualize
images, hear the voices, and feel the emotions. Loving Donovan will not
disappoint McFadden fans...I loved it and cannot wait to see what she
presents next.
Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO Bookclub, Nubian Circle Book Club
Another Great Novel!, February 2, 2003
| |
Reviewer: Trevor
from New York, NY United States |
Ms. McFadden has woven a tight dramatic story of love and survival with
Loving Donovan. It is a book you cannot put down and will be discussed for
some time to come. I had the pleasure of being at her book signing at Barnes
and Noble Astor Place January 27 and her aura, warmth and insight warmed an
otherwise frozen New York evening! I recommend this novel to anyone who has
had to question and endure trials in love and life! Read it and enjoy!
All Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
My thoughts on Donovan, July 18, 2003
| |
Reviewer: Sheila
Johnson from USA |
I personally enjoy all of Bernice Mcfadden's
writings. Though different in story lines, always written with a good flow
and prose. As for Loving Donovan, this book totally affected me emotionally
long after I had finished. Showing how so many people around us who's lives
have been "secretly" invaded upon. How children grow up to be adults and
have to learn how to cope in a world that they can't trust, then sometimes
we look at the "abnormal" behavior of others and question it, when in
reality if only we really knew.
Hard Not To Love Loving Donovan!!, June 20, 2003
| |
Reviewer: An
Amazon.com Customer from Clarksdale, MS United States |
Loving Donovan was one of those books that I
took EVERYWHERE with me. I read it in two days. The story is told in three
parts:
1)Her, which is the story of Campbell
and her past,
2)Him, the story of Donovan, his
past, and how he deals with the way he was molested by a sick man that lived
with his grandmother, and
3)Them, when Donovan and Campbell
meet.
This was not just your ordinary, soap-opera romance
story because Mcfadden's writing style is just so refreshing. For any
McFadden fans or for people who have yet to experience her writing style, I
say BUY IT NOW!!!
