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11th out of 30 books
—
67 voters
Passing Love
by
Jacqueline E. Luckett (Goodreads Author)
Nicole-Marie Handy has loved all things French since she was a child. After the death of her best friend, determined to get out of her rut, she goes to Paris, leaving behind a marriage proposal. While there, Nicole chances upon an old photo of her father-lovingly inscribed, in his hand, to a woman Nicole has never heard of. What starts as a vacation quickly becomes an inve...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
January 25th 2012
by Grand Central Publishing
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BEC'S REVIEW
Passing Love is really two stories of two women and Paris, the story of Nicole and of RubyMae. As can be expected despite their different time settings there is more than just Paris connecting those stories, but I shan’t spoil anything for the reader, leaving you to wonder and guess at the connection. What I can say is that Paris is well represented in the stories in a way that inspires me to one day travel there.
The characters in Passing Love are flawed, as any good character is. N...more
Passing Love is really two stories of two women and Paris, the story of Nicole and of RubyMae. As can be expected despite their different time settings there is more than just Paris connecting those stories, but I shan’t spoil anything for the reader, leaving you to wonder and guess at the connection. What I can say is that Paris is well represented in the stories in a way that inspires me to one day travel there.
The characters in Passing Love are flawed, as any good character is. N...more
This was a 4-1/2 star book for me. I really enjoyed Jacqueline Luckett's writing style: fluid, engaging, and descriptive. PASSING LOVE is the tale of two women: Nicole-Marie, a 50-something divorcee involved with a married man, and Ruby, a girl growing up in segregated Mississippi. When Nicole's best friend dies, she feels compelled to keep a promise. She'd always dreamed of going to Paris, and now she has nothing to hold her back. In fact, removing herself from the situation with her married lo...more
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This is a superb novel about life in the paradise called Paris, France. However, it's not just about Jazz, poetry readings, walks in the park or eating fine meals. It's also about real life. The characters in the novel live from Oakland, California to Paris, France. It's as if their lives are so energized one place can't contain them. They have to live from ocean to ocean. PASSING LOVE by JACQUELINE LUCKETT is about love, deep love between men and women. There is also the love between siblings....more
I received this book as a part of the Good Reads First read program.
It took me a couple of chapters to really "get into" this book. Each chapter switches between current times and the 1940's/1950's. Once I got Understood the format, I liked it. the writing was very well done, even though it had a lot more sensory detail than I usually like in a story. I am a "meat and potatoes" girl- give me good characters and a great plot and I love it. That being said, the plot WAS really well thought out. "I...more
It took me a couple of chapters to really "get into" this book. Each chapter switches between current times and the 1940's/1950's. Once I got Understood the format, I liked it. the writing was very well done, even though it had a lot more sensory detail than I usually like in a story. I am a "meat and potatoes" girl- give me good characters and a great plot and I love it. That being said, the plot WAS really well thought out. "I...more
Picked this on a whim at the Library. It's a story about a woman who travels to Paris as part of a promise to a friend. While there, a chance encounter leads her to discover some things about herself and her family's past. The story goes back and forth between contemporary Paris and the jazz-scene in post World-War II. There's some interesting history about African Americans in this storied city. The characters were well developed and I found myself rooting for each one of them, which is sometim...more
I went back and forth between loving this book and then not wanting to read any more of it because it was too sad. But in that sadness, it was amazing. It only lost a star because of that difficulty, for me, to get through some parts, but I think that's the mark of how great the writing is.
A couple of my favorite things, as a reader and as a writer -- the way and the fact that Ruby is a tragic hero, someone you're routing for even as you're angry with her for her choices and sorry for her when...more
A couple of my favorite things, as a reader and as a writer -- the way and the fact that Ruby is a tragic hero, someone you're routing for even as you're angry with her for her choices and sorry for her when...more
This was a perfect Memorial Day weekend read for me. I knew Jacqueline Luckett's name was familiar - she was interviewed for her role in The Finish Party, a group of black women writers, in O Magazine years ago. I liked the use of epistolary correspondence to move the narrative forward, and I have convinced myself that the French lessons that open most of the chapters is a sign that I should not be the last black person in America to learn French. Just like Shay Youngblood's book (though more so...more
3.5/5
Nicole-Marie Handy has always longed to go to Paris, ever since she was a little girl and she found a blue French dictionary hidden in her parents bedroom.
Now she is in her late 50s, with a broken marriage behind her, has worked in the same job for years, her parents are aging and unwell, and she is involved in a relationship that is going nowhere. She had planned to travel to Paris with her friend, but when she dies from cancer, Nicole is determined to honour the deathbed promise that she...more
Nicole-Marie Handy has always longed to go to Paris, ever since she was a little girl and she found a blue French dictionary hidden in her parents bedroom.
Now she is in her late 50s, with a broken marriage behind her, has worked in the same job for years, her parents are aging and unwell, and she is involved in a relationship that is going nowhere. She had planned to travel to Paris with her friend, but when she dies from cancer, Nicole is determined to honour the deathbed promise that she...more
I wish we were in a postracial place in the US - but we are not. Race relations still color everything here. This book centers on the present and also post WWII in Paris, where there was simply no racial differentiation. This book helped me imagine the freedom black Americans (mostly soldiers) must have felt (or still feel) there and makes me long for that in the US.
With that said, I had trouble finishing this book as one of the main characters is very unlikable and it took a long while for the...more
With that said, I had trouble finishing this book as one of the main characters is very unlikable and it took a long while for the...more
Going to Paris was a dream Nicole-Marie Handy envisioned all of her life – or at least since age nine, when she’d secretly opened the cedar trunk in her parent’s bedroom and discovered an old French dictionary along with other keepsakes from her father’s stint in World War II. Now, at 56, she’s decided to make the dream come true.
Even though Tamara, the friend whom she’d wanted to accompany her, has died.
Even the man with whom she’d been in love with for years has finally proposed.
Even though s...more
Even though Tamara, the friend whom she’d wanted to accompany her, has died.
Even the man with whom she’d been in love with for years has finally proposed.
Even though s...more
I won a copy of this book as a First Reads giveaway.
Passing Love is the story of two women, Nicole and Ruby, who go to Paris more than 50 years apart. Nicole has wanted to see Paris ever since she was a girl, but it has taken 56 years and the death of her best friend for her to finally decide to go. Ruby moves to Paris in the 1950s, when it is a city filled with jazz and African-American expats looking for a better life and better opportunities than they could have in their home country. At the...more
Passing Love is the story of two women, Nicole and Ruby, who go to Paris more than 50 years apart. Nicole has wanted to see Paris ever since she was a girl, but it has taken 56 years and the death of her best friend for her to finally decide to go. Ruby moves to Paris in the 1950s, when it is a city filled with jazz and African-American expats looking for a better life and better opportunities than they could have in their home country. At the...more
FINALLY a great read! It's been awhile.
IQ "But I will tell you this-adventure is only a word. Don't be so fixed on findng, live and in that the adventure will come." Ruby, pg. 296
We learn that the young woman is Ruby and she alternates chapters with Nicole. Ruby lived in Paris in the 1950s and my-oh-my it was a glorious time. Jazz clubs were beginning to open and there was a solid community of Black Americans. Towards the end the book does drag a bit. But it's ok because I wasn't ready to leav...more
IQ "But I will tell you this-adventure is only a word. Don't be so fixed on findng, live and in that the adventure will come." Ruby, pg. 296
We learn that the young woman is Ruby and she alternates chapters with Nicole. Ruby lived in Paris in the 1950s and my-oh-my it was a glorious time. Jazz clubs were beginning to open and there was a solid community of Black Americans. Towards the end the book does drag a bit. But it's ok because I wasn't ready to leav...more
Before passing away from cancer, Nicole's best friend makes her promise to take the trip the two planned together, and at 56, she finds herself alone in Paris for a month. When she unexpectedly stumbles across an old photo of her soldier father inscribed to a woman she doesn't know, Nicole goes looking for answers.
I would give this 3.5 stars as I found it a bit difficult to get into the story and identify with the characters in the first half of the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book for its ab...more
I would give this 3.5 stars as I found it a bit difficult to get into the story and identify with the characters in the first half of the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book for its ab...more
I have no idea why I picked this book up - probably because it takes place in Paris. It ended up being a very likable quick-read. The story bounces between the post World War II years and present day. We follow a young black girl who escapes the segregation of the deep south to start a new life in a liberated Paris. Fifty years later, Nicole finally visits Paris after feeling a deep connection with the City of Light her whole life. There, she discovers a secret that sends her on a personal quest...more
The main character is a paralegal in her mid-fifties who has lived in the Bay Area all of her life. Inspired by her late friend and frustrated with her stalled life, she fulfills a lifelong dream by renting an apartment in Paris for a month. While there, she learns about her family and herself. The story goes back and forth between the present and late 1940s Mississippi and Paris. The book explores race and identity issues in the present and the past, as well as the Jazz scene of Paris.
I absolutely adored this book! I’m a big fan of the Jazz Age and post~World War II African American culture, but those two topics are usually only covered within the confines of American society. Taking the concepts of racism, black womanhood, poverty and expectation across the Atlantic and intertwining it with romance, mystery, secrets and lies made for a delightful read.
This novel is part history lesson, part fantasy and a whole lot of “oh no she didn’t”. The sometimes antagonistic mother~daug...more
This novel is part history lesson, part fantasy and a whole lot of “oh no she didn’t”. The sometimes antagonistic mother~daug...more
This is the April selection for my book club. This book was very difficult for me to get into at first. Eventually I did become engaged with the story and was curious to see what would happen. The story is told from the perspective of 2 different women in Paris. I liked one story much better than the other and would probably have preferred the story if it had been told compeletely from the post-War character's perspective.
The book was mostly well written but there are many awkward sentences. I...more
The book was mostly well written but there are many awkward sentences. I...more
Passing love is everything a novel should be. It is a story as complex, multilayered and rich as a French pastry and just as deceptively simple...until you take a bite. Settle back, get comfy and enjoy the journey Nicole, Malvina and Ruby (and their men) take you on through Post WWII and contemporary Paris. You will feel like you were there...you will wish you were there...then and now.
Passing Love & Paris on t'aime!
Passing Love & Paris on t'aime!
Overall I appreciated the authors sense of place (Paris) and her character development. My issue is with her sentence structure which at times felt awkward. I caught myself rereading sentences and paragraphs to discern the meaning. I have caught myself thinking about the characters in the days since I finished the book which says a lot about how embedded they were in my mind. In summary, an enjoyable read.
What would you do if you found that the family history you grew up with was not absolutely accurate? this is a story cuttered with names and events from 1950's Paris that evoke the burgeoning artistic changes happening there. In that period, the family the main character never knew struggled. It certainly made me want to visit Paris again.
I am not sure how to rate this book, without sounding like a total prick. It was one of those books that seem intriguing, based on the cover alone but as the famous saying goes "Never judge a book by it's cover." Nicole Marie Handy love all things French, since she was a child and after promising her love ones that she will go there, she finds love in the wrong places. Yep that is about it I got from the book, the consistency was lacking, character development was weak and it failed to hold my i...more
I loved this novel because it pulled together so many things about which I have been learning this summer: the rise of jazz, the way African-Americans were treated back home after having served in WWII, etc. I almost cheered for Nicole at the end :)
I am in agreement with most on this book. It was a bit slow in the beginning but picked up and was a page turner. I could have loved without the French at the beginning of every chapter though. Overall a, good book. I gave it 4 stars since it was a bit slow in the beginning.
This book was suggested reading in a Facebook group "Women Who Rock, Read" http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/139.... It was a slow start for me, but I kept at it because I knew the others who were reading it were really enjoying it as they got further along. And I was not disappointed!
An extremely enjoyable read. The unlikely coincidences that occur were my only real problem with this book. I liked the author's style ans the alternating voices of the chapters. I will definitely read this author's next book.
It took me a while to get into this book, but when I did, I read it right through. I think 3.5 stars would be more appropriate. I liked how the writer moved between times and had the story of two people Ruby and Nicole.
Passing Love tells the story of Nicole-Marie Handy who has loved French and wanted to visit Paris for as long as she could remember. The death of her close friend and unwanted marriage proposal send her on an adventure to Paris where she discovers new things about herself and her family. Passing Love goes back and forth between the late 40's and early 50's and present day. Luckett weaves the story very well. In the beginning, I cared more about RubyMae's story than Nicole's; however, by the end...more
Romantic love story where to two women have the same man in common but they are decades apart. I got lost in the French lessons and took me a while to see the connection between the characters. The character development was awesome but it was the slow storyline that made this a 3-star read.
This was such a slow read. I did not get truly engaged in the book until around page 150. Great story overall.
3.5 is my truer rating for this book. It was a slow start but it eventually got and held my interest. For me it ended short of answers. It's a sad love story on multiple accounts. Its lessons are very real, which is what I liked most about this book.
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Jacqueline Luckett is a former sales representative for Xerox and, after leaving the corporate world, dared herself to take a creative writing class. She began writing short stories and poetry and never looked back. The San Francisco Bay Area native loves living in Oakland, but travels frequently to nurture her passion for photography and learning to cook exotic foods. She is currently hard at wor...more
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