The House at Sugar Beach

Posted on 17 June 2018 by Helene Cooper

Journalist Helene Cooper examines the violent past of her home country Liberia and the effects of its 1980 military coup in this deeply personal memoir and finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award.Helene Cooper is Congo, a descendant of two Liberian dynasties traced back to the first ship of freemen that set sail from New York in 1820 to found Monrovia Helene grew up at Sugar Beach, a twenty two room mansion by the sea Her childhood was filled with servants, flashy cars, a villa in Spain, and a farmhouse up country It was also an African childhood, filled with knock foot games and hot pepper soup, heartmen and neegee When Helene was eight, the Coopers took in a foster child a common custom among the Liberian elite Eunice, a Bassa girl, suddenly became known as Mrs Cooper s daughter For years the Cooper daughters Helene, her sister Marlene, and Eunice blissfully enjoyed the trappings of wealth and advantage But Liberia was like an unwatched pot of water left boiling on the stove And on April 12, 1980, a group of soldiers staged a coup d tat, assassinating President William Tolbert and executing his cabinet The Coopers and the entire Congo class were now the hunted, being imprisoned, shot, tortured, and raped After a brutal daylight attack by a ragtag crew of soldiers, Helene, Marlene, and their mother fled Sugar Beach, and then Liberia, for America They left Eunice behind.A world away, Helene tried to assimilate as an American teenager At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill she found her passion in journalism, eventually becoming a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times She reported from every part of the globe except Africa as Liberia descended into war torn, third world hell.In 2003, a near death experience in Iraq convinced Helene that Liberia and Eunice could wait no longer At once a deeply personal memoir and an examination of a violent and stratified country, The House at Sugar Beach tells of tragedy, forgiveness, and transcendence with unflinching honesty and a survivor s gentle humor And at its heart, it is a story of Helene Cooper s long voyage home. Free Read The House at Sugar Beach Author Helene Cooper For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This book is soft, tentative and predictable It is 85% Helene Cooper and 15% Liberia Though Cooper is a reputable journalist, this is her memoir it lingers on her girlish crushes, her favorite dresses and the troubled marriage of her aristocratic parents The second part is an unexceptional account of Cooper s semi assimilation into American culture, starting midway through her high school years and tracing her deliberate mission to become an influential foreign correspondent Throughout this This book is soft, tentative and predictable It is 85% Helene Cooper and 15% Liberia Though Cooper is a reputable journalist, this is her memoir it lingers on her girlish crushes, her favorite dresses and the troubled marriage of her aristocratic parents The second part is an unexceptional account of Cooper s semi assimilation into American culture, starting midway through her high school years and tracing her deliberate mission to become an influential foreign correspondent Throughout this book, her training a...If you enjoyed this book, you should check out My Colombian War by Silvana Paternostro Their stories are remarkably similar a the narrator is part of the rich, privileged class in a predominantly poor country b Her ancestors are important founders of her country and she lives a charmed childhood up until increasing violence forces her to flee the country in her teens c leaving behind the lower class girl her parents had semi adopted to be her friend d She immerses herself in the Am If you enjoyed this book, you should check out My Colombian War by Silvana Paternostro Their stories are remarkably similar a the narrator is part of the rich, privileged class in a predominantly poor country b Her ancestors are important founders of her country and she lives a charmed childhood up until increasing violence forces her to flee the country in her teens c leaving behind the lower class girl her parents had semi adopted to be her friend d She immerses herself in the American culture and largely ignores the deteriorating conditions in her birth country e Once she becomes an journalist covering international stories, she decides to revisit her birth country despite the dangers and rediscovers herself It is literally the same story just change the setting to Colombia instead of Liberia.Yet, Cooper s writing is far easier andenjoyable to read than Paternostro s And despite her lavish up bringing, she miraculously does not come off as a spoiled brat I also loved that she expanded her...I loved reading this book It s a memoir of the author s privileged childhood in Liberia, the early days of civil war there and her family s flight, and her journey of building a life in another country and ultimately coming to terms with her homeland Helene Cooper is an award winning journalist, and you can see that clearly in her writing, which is compelling, informative, and relatable She builds scenes from her childhood in an almost novelistic way, and explores the dynamics of her complica I loved reading this book It s a memoir of the author s privileged childhood in Liberia, the early days of civil war there and her family s flight, and her journey of building a life in another country and ultimately coming to terms with her homeland Helene Cooper is an award winning journalist, and you can see that clearly in her writing, which is compelling, inform...If you are interested in learning a thing or two about Liberia, definitely pick up this book Helene Cooper does a wonderful job of telling her family s very interesting story while putting everything into a historical context I learned a lotabout Liberia by readin...Helene Cooper s compelling memoir of her childhood in Liberia and immigration to the US following the coup in 1980 is one of my all time favorite books I read it a number of years ago, and still remember it vividly I listened to the audiobook version.Liberia, if you didn t know, and I sure didn t, was founded by free slaves in the 1800 s Like most civilizations, they immediately divided the country into a caste system, the cultivated American born and the native, country people According to history, this eventually resulted in a coup, no real surprise.This memoir is written by one of the little girls that grew up in the upper class of this society until she was a teen Her family hador less adopted a country girl, and they became Liberia, if you didn t know, and I sure didn t, was founded by free slaves in the 1800 s Like most civilizations, they immediately divided the country into a caste system, the cultivated American born and the native, country people According to history, this eventually resulted in a coup, no real surprise.This memoir is written by one of the little girls that grew up in the upper class of this society until she was a teen Her family hador less adopted a country girl, and they became like family Only the Coopers moved when the civil war happened and left their adopted daughter behind Lives were lived and Helene, the former rich girl in a poor country, decided it was time to go back The book is expertly written, utilizing the reporting of facts with a conversational style that spares no feelings, especially on her own part It illuminates Liberian culture and touches upon its history and speaks of the tragedy that befell it It is a story about gro...I d like to excuse Cooper s failure to grapple meaningfully with the themes that should be all over a book about a girl growing up in pre war Liberia as a character weakness, which is how she presents it, but I can t To constantly focus on the superficial as a defense mechanism against disparity and atrocity makes for a poor memoir The Acknowledgments section is full of thanks to people who encouraged her to delve deeper and talk about the big picture I can only imagine what a disaster an I d like to excuse Cooper s failure to grapple meaningfully with the themes that should be all over a book about a girl growing up in pre war Liberia as a character weakness, which is how she presents it, but I can t To constantly focus on the superficial as a defense mechanism against disparity and atrocity makes for a poor memoir The Acknowledgments section is full of thanks to people who encouraged her to de...I nabbed this book from my husband s to read pile one afternoon, thinking I d read a few pages I had a hard time putting it down and had to claim it as my own for a few days Ms Cooper s memoir is gentle and wry, which is probably pretty difficult to do when you are writing about one of the most volatile areas in recent memory.I liked it best when she wrote about her family and her own experience, but the history lessons she inserted were relevant, and certainly necessary for a reader like I nabbed this book from my husband s to read pile one afternoon, thinking I d read a few pages I had a hard time putting it down and had to claim it as my own for a few days Ms Cooper s memoir is gentle and wry, which is probably pretty difficult to do when you are writing about one of the most volatile areas in recent memory.I lik...I am going to respectfully give this book a miss for now I started reading the book and just could not connect to it Not the right moment to read it The violence and journalistic approach to the story is getting me down.Will try again later.4.5 stars, rounding up to 5 Sometimes books make you confront uncomfortable truths about yourself, such as how impossibly narrow your world view might be I m ashamed to admit I knew little of Liberia and its history other than Scary place I think you get murdered there I had no idea it began with freed slaves from America, that it was contemplated as an American colony No clue The author is a well respected journalist who grew up in Liberia s upper class, her origins a self described one 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5 Sometimes books make you confront uncomfortable truths about yourself, such as how impossibly narrow your world view might be I m ashamed to admit I knew little of Liberia and its history other than Scary place I think you get murdered there I had no idea it began with freed slaves from America, that it was contemplated as an American colony No clue The author is a well respected journalist who grew up in Liberia s upper class, her origins a self described one in a million lottery ticket b...

English
17 June 2018

Helene Cooper