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The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood
 
 
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The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood [Paperback]

Helene Cooper (Author)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (20 Aug 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0743266250
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743266253
  • Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 107,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Helene Cooper
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Product Description

Review

"The tragedy of Liberia -- the most American of all the African tragedies -- is brought painfully to life in Helene Cooper's memoir. Her work is an antidote to statistics and headlines and the blur of Africa's sorrows, a reminder that history and war proceed one family at a time, one person at a time. They are never abstract, always personal." -- Arthur Phillips, author of "Prague", "The Egyptologist", and "Angelica"

Product Description

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'etat, 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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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
We lived in Liberia throughout the 1970's (our older daughter was in the same year at school as Helene), and this book brought back many, many memories. I was amazed at how calmly Helene could write about terrible events, and at her lack of bitterness - indeed, her understanding and compassion - towards those who murdered members of her family and tore apart a way of life. Many foreigners have found it easy to be rude about Liberia but, for Helene (and our children) it was home, and she clearly loves her home country and its people. I'm not sure how much Helene's book would mean to anyone who has not been to, or lived in Liberia, but we and friends from those far-off days loved it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Liberians drive you mad one minute & have you in stitches the next. I asked my wife about "knock-foot" & laughing she gave an unforgettable demonstration of hand claps with hops, skips & kicks that she hadn't done since she was 10 years old, before Taylor destroyed her family's happy Monrovia life. A great read with pages of sharply observed anecdotes, laughter & tears.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Great Story 25 April 2010
By Kmm30
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bought as a christmas present for my wife, she loved it. if you are looking for a romantic present then i suggest this will not fault you.
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