What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage (1997, 224 pages) Pearl Cleage packed her debut novel with fierce love for community, loyalty, purposeful living, intentional mentoring, self-care, and a whole lot of Black Girl Magic before we’d given it a name. Told in the first person, the main character, Ava, who up until recently lived in Atlanta, discovers something that changes her life. She is HIV positive. Ava is a successful businesswoman, running her own salon in Atlanta. Her life may have been a bit full of sex partners, but she is a good woman and a hardworking woman. Through with the stigma of AIDs, she ends up having to shut down her business after losing customers when her status is found out. She plans to relocate to San Francisco. On the way, she stops in her hometown of Idlewild, Michigan, a decaying small town ravaged by drugs and church drama, to visit her recently retired and widowed sister, Joyce, for the summer. A former social worker, Joyce runs a ministry at her church for young mothers who need support, sisterhood, and guidance. Ava’s return is where the book truly takes off; where love is unexpectedly discovered and sisters fiercely support each other no matter what. This is a heartwarming story that finds you deeply rooting for family, love, and hope. There is a sequel, titled “I Wish I Had a Red Dress”.I have not read it, but it is now on my list to read.
Real Life of an MSW 