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Back to Life
1989. Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. An Italian mob murders a black teenager named Yusuf Hawkins. That same night, across the Hudson River in New Jersey, Lisa and Marc meet at a party. Lisa’s black. Marc’s Italian.They eventually hook up. But interpersonal conflict, racist family and friends, and previous relationships loom. Their lives also play out in the charged political context of New York City’s mayoral race, which pits David Dinkins, African-American Democrat, against Rudolph Giuliani, law-and-order Republican.Back to Life is a heady mix of taboo relationships, racial politics, and social commentary that begs the Can love really conquer all?
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
13 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Coakley-Thompson
8 books12 followersWendy Coakley-Thompson is the author of the novels Back to Life (2004 Romantic Times Award nominee) and What You Won't Do For Love (recently optioned for cable television). She has also written articles and fiction for music and fashion/lifestyle magazines in New Jersey, her adopted home state, and in Nassau, Bahamas, where she was raised. She graduated from Syracuse University with a Ph.D. in Education. Coakley-Thompson, with fellow author Karyn Langhorne, has co-hosted The Book Squad, a Washington D.C.-area radio show. No stranger to radio, her work as a commentator for Metro Connection on WAMU, a Washington D.C. National Public Radio affiliate, earned a 2003 Associated Press/Chesapeake Award in the Editorial category. Coakley-Thompson's scholarly work includes the dissertation entitled "The Use of Popular Media in Multicultural Education: Stressing Implications for the Black/Non-Black Biracial Student." For more on Wendy Coakley-Thompson, visit her web site at www.wendycoakley-thompson.com and her blog at http://wendycoakley-thompson.blogspot.... She is also on MySpace.com (http://www.myspace.com/wendycoakleyth...) and Facebook."
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 7, 2017
Exceptional
The story is still relevant today in 2017. The racial tension is at an all time high again and there is still a lot of intolerance in our world.
The story is still relevant today in 2017. The racial tension is at an all time high again and there is still a lot of intolerance in our world.
December 9, 2017
Not My Usual Fare, But So Satisfying!
I was referred to this book by a interracial relationship Vloggers name Christelyn Karazin of Beyond Black & White. And Wow, am I ever so glad she shared!
Initially, I did not like the tone of the story. However, the subjects were so compelling that I continued to read. And I learned something - about myself. I find it a true hallmark of an AMAZING writer when the reader learned about themselves through reading their work.
I learned that I, as a lover of science fiction and fantasy, have a bias. Even though, I am an African American female, and one naturally prone to participate in the type of relationships explored in this story, I have a bias AGAINST viewing reality.
The facts are the facts. We can dream about a world that looks like Star Trek and a universe built like Firefly. But we actually live on the 21st century and in the still VERY racially divided United States of America.
Wendy's book took me back to my childhood and showed it to me through a grownup's lens. No kid gloves here, and I thank her for that. This oddly serious, and yet super sexy story, brought me full circle with my own presumptions and belief.
My fears and failures and unrealistic expectations felt like they were on display. This was just SUCH a human story! I kept wanting to deny my connect to it, and totally unable to do so.
I feel enriched by having read it. And emboldened to imagine myself connecting with someone again. After, perhaps feeling like I needed to give up on my chances of having a relationship, this story refreshed me. I'm beginning to have faith in my value after reading the struggle of both Lisa and Marc in that area.
They were both inherently amazing catches, that had experienced the storms of life and felt dirty and hollow from it. But they were brave enough to try again and sharp enough to know a super good thing when they found it. Plus their friends....
I'm so happy with the way she wrote their friends! And the pseudo-friends - the little $@€&s! All of this artfully played against the very real and intensely relevant backdrop of racial hate crimes from the late 1980s. But it could have been a story from lady year. It felt timeless, yet historical. I really loved it!
Thank you Wendy. Write us more love stories!
I was referred to this book by a interracial relationship Vloggers name Christelyn Karazin of Beyond Black & White. And Wow, am I ever so glad she shared!
Initially, I did not like the tone of the story. However, the subjects were so compelling that I continued to read. And I learned something - about myself. I find it a true hallmark of an AMAZING writer when the reader learned about themselves through reading their work.
I learned that I, as a lover of science fiction and fantasy, have a bias. Even though, I am an African American female, and one naturally prone to participate in the type of relationships explored in this story, I have a bias AGAINST viewing reality.
The facts are the facts. We can dream about a world that looks like Star Trek and a universe built like Firefly. But we actually live on the 21st century and in the still VERY racially divided United States of America.
Wendy's book took me back to my childhood and showed it to me through a grownup's lens. No kid gloves here, and I thank her for that. This oddly serious, and yet super sexy story, brought me full circle with my own presumptions and belief.
My fears and failures and unrealistic expectations felt like they were on display. This was just SUCH a human story! I kept wanting to deny my connect to it, and totally unable to do so.
I feel enriched by having read it. And emboldened to imagine myself connecting with someone again. After, perhaps feeling like I needed to give up on my chances of having a relationship, this story refreshed me. I'm beginning to have faith in my value after reading the struggle of both Lisa and Marc in that area.
They were both inherently amazing catches, that had experienced the storms of life and felt dirty and hollow from it. But they were brave enough to try again and sharp enough to know a super good thing when they found it. Plus their friends....
I'm so happy with the way she wrote their friends! And the pseudo-friends - the little $@€&s! All of this artfully played against the very real and intensely relevant backdrop of racial hate crimes from the late 1980s. But it could have been a story from lady year. It felt timeless, yet historical. I really loved it!
Thank you Wendy. Write us more love stories!
March 5, 2018
It felt like a black/Italian version of West Side Story and it was an ok read.
July 13, 2013
Nove Meses De Amor... E Muito Mais!
Wendy Thompson
Sabrina 1513
2008
Antes de qualquer coisa, alguém me confirma que pessoas como a Nina, realmente só existem na imaginação de românticas autoras, certo?
Ninguém é tão boa e generosa como essa mocinha. Tudo bem ela é apaixonada pelo mocinho Joe, mesmo que ela nunca admita, mas, até aí tudo bem.
O que me incomoda é ela ser tão magnânima ao ponto de aceitar dar a luz ao um bebê, que seria só de Joe, e que depois de nove meses ela iria embora, viver uma aventura, dando a volta ao mundo, sem tempo determinado pra voltar.
Até parece que ima descendente de italianos católicos, que passou a adolescência e a vida adulta cuidando dos irmãos menores, conseguiria deixar o próprio bebê por uma aventura, pra mim é incabível.
E outra coisa, não dá para acreditar que ela sendo amiga do mocinho, transa com ele e permanece amiga do mesmo durante os próximos 15 anos sem alterar nada no relacionamento, é loucura...
Pra mim é impossível essa história, por isso vou dar 3 estrelas...
Acredito que há pessoas que vão amar essa estória...
mas, meu humor não tá pra brincadeira, tô com dor de dente e ouvido, não dá pra ser legal com uma comédia romântica, sorry!!!
Mesmo assim recomendo pra quem tá numa boa e feliz...
Wendy Thompson
Sabrina 1513
2008
Antes de qualquer coisa, alguém me confirma que pessoas como a Nina, realmente só existem na imaginação de românticas autoras, certo?
Ninguém é tão boa e generosa como essa mocinha. Tudo bem ela é apaixonada pelo mocinho Joe, mesmo que ela nunca admita, mas, até aí tudo bem.
O que me incomoda é ela ser tão magnânima ao ponto de aceitar dar a luz ao um bebê, que seria só de Joe, e que depois de nove meses ela iria embora, viver uma aventura, dando a volta ao mundo, sem tempo determinado pra voltar.
Até parece que ima descendente de italianos católicos, que passou a adolescência e a vida adulta cuidando dos irmãos menores, conseguiria deixar o próprio bebê por uma aventura, pra mim é incabível.
E outra coisa, não dá para acreditar que ela sendo amiga do mocinho, transa com ele e permanece amiga do mesmo durante os próximos 15 anos sem alterar nada no relacionamento, é loucura...
Pra mim é impossível essa história, por isso vou dar 3 estrelas...
Acredito que há pessoas que vão amar essa estória...
mas, meu humor não tá pra brincadeira, tô com dor de dente e ouvido, não dá pra ser legal com uma comédia romântica, sorry!!!
Mesmo assim recomendo pra quem tá numa boa e feliz...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews