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 infanthood was filled with servants, flashy cars, a villa in Spain, and a farmhouse up-country. It was also an African infanthood, filled with knock foot games and hot pepper soup, heartmen and neegee. When Helene was eight, the Coopers took in a foster infant -- 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'état, 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.
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30 yr old male
I am a 30 year old male. I got this book after an NPR review. Wow, great book, very descriptive. It paints a great picture of what it was like to be part of a country's elite. I thought I would be against the elite until I read about the coup in Monrovia and the horrible way the common man acts when he takes over. What a bunch of savages human beings really are when given a portion of power with no real possibility of consequences. Reading about the rape of the author's mother, I wanted to be there to defend her. Great read.
[Sunday, November 16, 2008]
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A good read, but lacks depth
Though a memoir is, by definition, focused on the author's life, Cooper's work is self-centered in the extreme. She never really answers the key question -- why did she and the rest of her family abandon her foster sister for so many years? And she presents nothing more than a caricature of the lives and society of the less-privileged native Liberian people and the discrimination against them by those of her own elite and wealthy class.
[Monday, November 10, 2008]
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Great read, fascinating biography
This woman's life story is fascinating, vividly told and really mmoves one to think about the power of our beginnings. Like many brilliant and little-known individuals, her past led her to become a great writer. Would recommend this book to anyone.
[Monday, November 10, 2008]
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