Brothers and Sisters

BROTHERS AND SISTERS is an excellent book with a beautiful, thought-provoking cover. The main character, Esther, walks a fine line to maintain respect and professionism as an African American bank manager, working in a predominantly white bank. She must must make several choices between colorless friendship and Black loyalty and between haves and have nots. In her personal life, she must make the choice between white-collar and blue-collar love. BROTHERS AND SISTERS shows the deceitful routes some people will take to reach their goal, not caring who is run over. This book also looks at how little things have changed between the races and the sexes, but in contrast, it shows rarely-seen truiumph over injustice. The well-rounded cast of characters make this book realistic and believable. Bebe Moore Campbell is a very good writer.

I regret it took me so long to finally read this book, as it has been out for some time. The author is nearly a master when it comes to keeping the reader's attention. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! Brothers and Sisters is a national African american treasure! When all the smoke clears, we are still able to overcome whatever obstacles are put in front of us and still triumph. Yes, this is a story of a female bank representative who happens to be African-American who forges an unlikely relationship with a white female co-worker. It is interesting to see how the author writes about their relationship. I commend the author for not being explicit in the sexual encounters these characters experienced. It was also interesting how she got in the head of white male bosses and explored their racial/sexual predudices. I love how in the end all the black characters who were fired for one reason or another we vendicated and accepted by an African-american bank established by an African-American church. The authors shows us we can make it together no matter what our strengths or weaknesses. That is why we are Brothers and Sisters. I also like the relationship between Esther the black female bank rep and the mail delivery person, Tyrone. He was a good brother who just adored Esther and I found that refreshing. I will read it again.

Although we live in a so-called modern world, the prejudices that existed years ago are still prevalent today. It seems that the more updated society becomes, the more degraded become our morals. In this present situation that the world finds themselves in there must be an escape. There has to be a common ground between sanity and anarchy. Although this book will not revolutionize the entire world or bring it to immediate reconstruction, it provides a path which can lead society into making sounder decisions. Campbell uses modern day language to convey the sense of parallelism with present society. That parallelism acts as a link to the yin and yang causing the mind to react. The soulfulness and the validity of the truths spoken in this book trigger emotions as well as anger. The conventional family picture is shattered in some chapters, allowing one to relate to the imperfection in one's life. The individual characters each portray the extent of how society molds actual "real world" characters. Each individual character approaches life in need of some reason or direction. However, each character some where along the pains and triumphs of life, has lost some sense of self, thereby losing their identity. The depths in which the contents of this novel delve are intriguingly realistic. Why don't you join Campbell into the waters and drown yourself in the sea of truth.

Bebe Moore Campbell is definitely the most underated author of our time. Bebe writes books about characters that many of us know (or are) in real life. She writes books that you can step into and feel like you are a part of these people's lives. But I have to say, of all of her books, Brothers and Sisters is by far my favorite! Get this book!!!!

This one hits all the dilemmas of an African-American woman in middle management in corporate America - developing white friendships, being torn in those friendships when race becomes a factor, the fine-line definitions of sexual harassment, trying to help and hire other African-Americans, trying to support other African-Americans who have "made it" and may have forgotten how to help others, develpong romantic relationships with men with lesser educational backgrounds, trying to understand the African-American male preference for the white women, dealing with how much power one doesn't have in the final analysis - it's all there. A great book!