The House at Sugar Beach #2

The more I read into this book the more interesting it becomes. At first the idea of having her own room had drawn Helene to the Sugar Beach house but after moving in, she realized that maybe that wasn’t the best thing for her. The seclusion from society at Sugar Beach made their house very prone to being burglarized. Within the first few nights of them being there, many of their possessions were stolen including an ivory tusk and her mother’s favorite painting. On the fourth night as Helene lay in bed “heartmen” snuck into her room; “Heartmen are witch doctors who kidnap people and cut out their hearts while they’re still alive to make medicine” (Cooper 24). Luckily she was able to scare them off be screaming but after that incident her parents decided to get her a “live-in friend”. The girls name was Eunice and she was a Bassa girl. Bassas were another tribe that resided in Liberia and young Bassa children were often sent to live with Congo people in order to receive better care and a better education.
At first Eunice and Helene don’t hit it off very well. Eunice runs away three times before she finally becomes comfortable in the house. She begins to bond with Marlene, Helene’s younger sister, until she and Helene solve their differences. After they talk Helene moves into the room with Marlene and Eunice and they become very close. This is a turning point for Helene because she is learning how to interact and reach out to other people. Before Helene tried to act like she didn’t care at all and putting down that front is a big step.

The House at Sugar Beach

For my quarter three outside reading assignment I chose to read The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper off of the New York Times “100 Notable Books of 2008”. The book is a memoir written about Helene’s childhood as a privileged member of the Congo society in Liberia. Her ancestors were some of the first freed slaves to come back to Africa from the US in the early 1800’s. This enables them to be a part of the upper class in Africa. When people think of Africa they often picture wild people in the bushes but her situation was very different. They had cars, three houses, a generous staff, expensive schooling, and much more.
The book starts with Helene and her family moving from their house in the city to their new custom built house on Sugar Beach. Just the upper level had, “five bedrooms and three bathrooms and a TV lounge and an indoor balcony that looked down onto the children’s toy room on the first floor” (Cooper 9). The first floor had two more bedrooms, three more bathrooms, a music room, recreations room, dining room, living room and more. This shows the wealth that Helene was surrounded by all throughout her childhood. Its really eye-opening to see the other side of Africa. I am so used to hearing of the wars and brutalities over there that this is refreshing.