Perfect Peace: A Novel

Emma Jean grew up having a complex, because she felt unloved by her mother. Once she married Gus Peace and the babies started coming, she longs for a little girl that she could give all the love she felt she never received as a child. Only problem is…all 7 of her babies were boys! So, she took matters into her own hands and convinced everyone that baby #7, whom she named Perfect, was actually born a girl. Not once, did she think about the consequences if, and when, the truth was revealed.This book by @drdanielblack deals with self-hate, mental illness, poverty, forbidden love, identity crisis and much more.I highly recommend this 💎💎💎💎💎 page turner and look forward to reading more from this author, as well as meeting him at the NBCC this summer, hosted by @curtisbunn.

This is probably one of the best books I have EVER read; this story is emotionally intense, shocking, sad, heartbreaking and yet hopeful because, in spite of some of the horrendous things that happen to people in this book, the human spirit somehow survives some of the craziness and folks can still move on, maybe broken but still thrive. It also shows you how destructive we can be when we try to love people out of our woundedness, we end up needing and wanting things that are unhealthy. We can't make up for did or didn't happen in our own childhoods by trying to work our mess out thru our children.It's hard to talk about this book without giving away too much, but this story focuses on deception and how one lie can change the lives of so many people in an irreparable way. It also challenges the way we understand gender, sexual orientation, and sex roles in our culture and how our inability to accept and embrace difference can be so destructive. While the book takes place in the 1940's, the topic is timely for our current time period.

It was painful, at times, to feel the hurt present in the hearts of Emma Jean, Perfect, and others. The writing here is so vivid, so well done, that feeling is exactly what happens. It's almost like watching television, and as the scenes change, your experience of each character changes along with it.Emma Jean, a lady with low self confidence and feelings of self worth, married Gus and began having babies. She loved them all, but desperately wanted to restore what she was lacking by pouring it into the life of her own daughter. The treachery and deceit that follow nearly destroys everyone she loves, including the perfect little daughter she'd carefully constructed.This is an emotional read that tackles many topics. Each is done in a way that realistically displays the ills of the world. In the end, there isn't the "for a big pretty ribbon on it and everyone is all better" outcome. There are some casualties. That's a great way to end such a read, because such is life...there will be casualties.

While I did enjoy the book in its entirety there are a few things that kept me shaking my head in frustration. Starting off with Emma Jean, I had hope for her character, I know most readers would hate her but I did not. She did need to be punished for her wrongs but I felt as though her demise was bit unfair. I thought Henryetta's deed was equally as bad as Emma Jean's. I felt like the author put so much on Emma Jean from childhood then into adulthood and never let up. The God in this novel is not a forgiving one. My other frustration was with the closure of the book, I felt like our "main" character Perfect/Paul gets muddled out, leaving me with so many questions on how his character fared in the end. I did enjoy how Mr. Black was able to seamlessly switch POV from character to character, it felt as though I was reading a movie. It deals with some tough topics causing me to take breaks between chapters to get some resolve. But it is for sure a page turner. It gave me great ideas and topics to ponder and discuss. Overall a good read.

I really wanted to love this book more than I actually did. The author is obviously very talented and the book deals with a great number of themes: mental illness, child abuse, poverty, education, gender roles, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion-- I could go on. With all that on his plate, the author put such a large cast of characters in the mix that the juggling act became clumsy and slightly muddled.Did to her abusive upbringing, it's no surprise that Emma Jean, despite her good intentions, managed to harm more than one of her children. Perfect of course, but also Solomon. I found his storyline to be very tragic but also not very believable. How he got into Howard and excelled from Day One was far fetched. All the children's success seemed contrived since the attitudes and resources of their parents were insufficient to justify the levels to which they rose. Ditto Emma Jean's comeuppance at the hands of Henrietta, which was way over the top and seemed incongruous with Emma Jean's thick hide throughout the book.I would gladly read other offerings from this author. This was an ambitious endeavor that ,IMHO, fell short during the denouement.

This is one of the best books I've ever read! It's a story of love, abuse, neglect, and sorrow. Not to mention many more feelings and emotions. The story is set in the middle of the 20th century. It displays the struggle of the black community where whites prevail. I recommend this book to anyone that loves to read. The focus is on the Peace family, primarily Paul. I can't go into the details because I don't want to spoil the story of The book for future readers. The storyline is different on many levels. The characters are well developed and believable. I will certainly read more books from this author.

Uma história surpreendente e escrita com muita maestria. Ainda que seu foco não seja a questão racial ou a luta dos negros pelos direitos civis nos Estados Unidos, o autor oferece um quadro real e comovente de uma comunidade rural negra no sul do país em meados do século passado.

Extraordinary story .Extremely well written

Anyone who enjoyed "The Book of Negroes" or " The Help" would find this book very worth reading. I liked the psychological aspects concerning the effects of raising a child to believe that he/she is of the opposite sex. A good read with some depth.

This is my book of the year! The range of topics Daniel Black addresses, from African American life in the 1940s, to gender and its construction, to patriarchy and the position of women within it, although very broad, is just so well executed within a narrative that keeps you fascinated until the very end. I'll look forward to reading his new one!

Good