What do you think?
Rate this book
Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven
In 1975, Tempestt Saville and her family are chosen by lottery to "move on up" to Lakeland: one square mile of sparkling apartment towers and emerald lawns where the Black elite live sheltered from the ghetto by a ten-foot-tall, ivy-covered wrought-iron fence.Eleven-year-old Temmy doesn't enjoy the privilege, however, and thinks Lakeland is the "kingdom of the drab."Instead, she is drawn to the vivid world outside the fence: to 35th Street, where the saved and the sinners are both so "done up" you can't tell one from the other.Tempestt's curiosity soon leads her down a dangerous path, however, and after witnessing the death of a friend, she sets into motion a chain of events that will send 35th Street up in flames.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
10 people are currently reading
409 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 6, 2014
There is a long story (and friendship) that goes behind my reading this novel. More importantly, this is the only novel to date that has ever made me cry.
I saw this novel when it was released on the new book shelf at my library. Something about it seemed familiar, so I read the book jacket. I remembered the book had been reviewed in the Chicago Tribune, but not that it's author was one of their editors. I decided to read the book to see if it was justifiably well reviewed.
I was drawn into the story during the first page. I fell in love with the two main characters (Temmy and Miss Jonetta). Miss Jonetta reminded me of my grandmother in her love and understanding of a young soul needing some direction.
I had so many patrons read the book and spoke about it so much that two of them actually contact Ms. Trice at the Tribune to tell her about this library guy who was recommending her book to all of his patrons. 10 years later, we still keep in touch and I am glad that we were able to become friends.
I saw this novel when it was released on the new book shelf at my library. Something about it seemed familiar, so I read the book jacket. I remembered the book had been reviewed in the Chicago Tribune, but not that it's author was one of their editors. I decided to read the book to see if it was justifiably well reviewed.
I was drawn into the story during the first page. I fell in love with the two main characters (Temmy and Miss Jonetta). Miss Jonetta reminded me of my grandmother in her love and understanding of a young soul needing some direction.
I had so many patrons read the book and spoke about it so much that two of them actually contact Ms. Trice at the Tribune to tell her about this library guy who was recommending her book to all of his patrons. 10 years later, we still keep in touch and I am glad that we were able to become friends.
December 4, 2013
I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's something about African American writing that makes me like it more than anything else I'll ever read. It has more soul, somehow. Grit. Heart. Verve. It stands up and shouts heartache and hard times and scars and suffering, and then it shouts healing just as loudly and keeps on shouting long after you close the book. This was no exception. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me angry. It made me hopeful. Then it made me laugh and cry again. Valerie and Child, Johnie and Fat Daddy and Chitlin and Ruth and Hump, they're the kind of characters that stick to your ribs like good food. Characters so real they come up out of the book and walk around in the world awhile. And characters like that only come out of books like this.
December 21, 2022
Such an amazing book! Trice is such an excellent writer! I fell in love with her style of writing. She did such a great job of combining humor and drama!
I’m going to miss the adventures of Tempestt and Miss Jonetta. 😢
There’s so much desperation, pain, and sadness on Thirty Fifth Street that I was so happy to see Jonetta, Hump, Mr. Chitney, Judd, and Fat Daddy make it out alive. ❤️ They deserved to after trying their hardest to actually save all the lost souls like (Lil Beaver) unlike the New Saveds.
I especially loved Judd singing at Valerie’s funeral. It made sense for him to. In the beginning, Jonetta explained to Temp that she didn’t want to hear Judd singing because he only does so out of great sorrow. Once he started to sing at the funeral, I found myself tearing up. 🥲
I will definitely read again!!
I’m going to miss the adventures of Tempestt and Miss Jonetta. 😢
There’s so much desperation, pain, and sadness on Thirty Fifth Street that I was so happy to see Jonetta, Hump, Mr. Chitney, Judd, and Fat Daddy make it out alive. ❤️ They deserved to after trying their hardest to actually save all the lost souls like (Lil Beaver) unlike the New Saveds.
I especially loved Judd singing at Valerie’s funeral. It made sense for him to. In the beginning, Jonetta explained to Temp that she didn’t want to hear Judd singing because he only does so out of great sorrow. Once he started to sing at the funeral, I found myself tearing up. 🥲
I will definitely read again!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2023
The bleakest book I’ve read in a long time.
May 30, 2015
Not the happiest of stories, but I loved it anyway. I also fell in love with several of the characters. Just as I thought I had gotten through this heart wrenching story without shedding a tear, I turned to the last page, read the last few lines, and burst into tears, unable to even read them aloud so those around me would understand why I was crying. Rarely has a book touched me the way this book has, and I rate it in the same category as my favorite read, The Color Purple. I hope a talented screenwriter adapts this story and a movie is made from this masterpiece.
August 3, 2012
A tough story to follow in bits & pieces, but made perfect sense reading all at once. Set in Chicago in 1975, Tempestt moves with her parents to a fashionable new development, but spends all the time she can back in a "bad" part of town. She feels as if she doesn't belong in her new home, and makes friends with another girl in her class at school who's clearly an outsider, too. With time, Tempestt becomes part of the multi-generational story that wraps around her new friends, and learns some rough lessons in the process.
September 11, 2007
This a heart-wrenching coming of age story, extremely well written and definitely one that I would read over and over again. The pain and struggle of the characters explode onto the pages pulling you intimately deeper within their circumstances with each page read. A must read!
July 27, 2012
This books tells about the friendship between Tempestt and Valerie, two young girls living in a Chicago housing project. Tempestt also interacts with a variety of colorful adult characters. It was a sad story that did have a hopeful ending.
June 18, 2013
This had to be the saddest book I've ever read. I felt wore out afterward almost like I was haunted by the characters. Really good read
April 21, 2015
Held my attention. The story was sad and the ending wasn't redemptive. It left me wanting a sequel.
February 2, 2023
In 1975, Tempestt Saville and her family are chosen by lottery to "move on up" to Lakeland: one square mile of sparkling apartment towers and emerald lawns where the Black elite live sheltered from the ghetto by a ten-foot-tall, ivy-covered wrought-iron fence in Chicago. Eleven-year-old Tempest doesn't enjoy the privilege, however, and thinks Lakeland is the "kingdom of the drab." Instead, she is drawn to the vivid world outside the fence: to 35th Street, where the saved and the sinners are both so "done up" you can't tell one from the other. Tempest's curiosity soon leads her down a dangerous path, however, and after witnessing the death of a friend, that sets into motion a chain of events that will tear down 35th Street.
Turner's ability to make us fall in love with her characters, and adjust our thinking is remarkable. As Tempest makes friends, both young and old, her life is changed, both for the better and worse. There are situations that are difficult to read, often because we care so much about the characters, but there is redemption to celebrate.
This is the second novel of Dawn Turner that I've read and there will be more!
Turner's ability to make us fall in love with her characters, and adjust our thinking is remarkable. As Tempest makes friends, both young and old, her life is changed, both for the better and worse. There are situations that are difficult to read, often because we care so much about the characters, but there is redemption to celebrate.
This is the second novel of Dawn Turner that I've read and there will be more!
March 8, 2025
This is a tough read because of the situations and subjects it covers (check content warnings if you're one to do so), but it's also such a beautiful work that I'm thankful to have stumbled on it. Something like a mix of Gloria Naylor, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker, the story revolves around a chance friendship between an older woman and a young girl. We learn of one's past while seeing the other's heartbreaking present unfold, and there are moments when, despite the uselessness, a reader can't help but be tempted to shout 'It's not fair' in the way of a child. And yet, there is so much joy and wonder, and so many beautifully drawn characters, and so much humor and gorgeous writing alongside the heartbreak and trauma detailed in this book. And there's hope, which makes it all the more powerful.
I'm not sure how this book ended up on my shelf, but I'm glad it did, and I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone interested. (But do check content warnings, particularly if certain content centered on/around children bothers you.)
I'm not sure how this book ended up on my shelf, but I'm glad it did, and I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone interested. (But do check content warnings, particularly if certain content centered on/around children bothers you.)
December 14, 2018
I enjoyed the read, it kept me entertained during a flight. Like another reviewer, the ending left me blank. *spoiler alert* I needed the writer to tie everyone together. The ending seem like she was setting up a sequel. Was Ruth Miss Jonetta's daughter and her aunt lied, having her sister raise the baby since they believe she was a sinner? After Valerie's death, was John revealed as her older brother. Did Tempestt tell her parents that she was there when Valerie died. Even though Alfred Mayes did wrong, did he pay for Valerie's death? So many questions and the ending leaving me confused wanting answers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2019
Loved the book. Set in Chicago of the 1970s with a look back to the 1930s when there was a large migration of blacks from the southern states to cities like Chicago.
The language and the style of writing is superb and the story is very well told.
In a nutshell:
In the 1930s � down south we worried about white folks with their shot guns and Lynch ropes which made them god�, but in the 1970s north, they had to worry about “black folks and their guns and lynch ropes and drugs shooting all kinds of blues in their veins� and the nasty men who preyed on little girls and on and on..
In this setting, there is a gated black community “Lakeland� created right next to the ghettos for the professional and well heeled, and the intention was to keep the 2 worlds separate.. more to come.,,
The language and the style of writing is superb and the story is very well told.
In a nutshell:
In the 1930s � down south we worried about white folks with their shot guns and Lynch ropes which made them god�, but in the 1970s north, they had to worry about “black folks and their guns and lynch ropes and drugs shooting all kinds of blues in their veins� and the nasty men who preyed on little girls and on and on..
In this setting, there is a gated black community “Lakeland� created right next to the ghettos for the professional and well heeled, and the intention was to keep the 2 worlds separate.. more to come.,,
June 8, 2020
Great characters with the interesting perspective of the 11-year old Tempesst leading the way through a world of pain, friendship, and evil lurking beneath the appearance of street preachers, landscaped yards and prosperity. This book is: beautiful, horrifying, and revealing.
March 14, 2021
wonderful wonderful story, writing, themes, experience <3
April 1, 2021
Excellent portrayal of a utopia built around slums. The utopians are not all that they could be, not nice.
February 26, 2023
I love it when a book causes you to escape from reality then fall in love with the story line and characters. 😊
March 28, 2023
I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was sad, but engaging. The title is what caught my attention. GREAT characters in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely refer it to others.
April 24, 2008
Absorbing novel about the Saville family who move from the Chicago ghetto to Lakeland, an upscale gated community. The main characters are 12 year old Tempest Saville who is drawn to the street just outside Lakeland; 35th Street filled with bars, street preachers, and an assortment of characters not allowed in her exclusive residence; And Miss Jonetta, a former lady of the street who takes to Temmy; and Valerie, Temmy's friend who lives in both worlds. A powerful novel that while it is based on a tragedy,it also explores parental responsibility, child abuse, and class differences.
May 22, 2008
Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven is about a young black girl coming to terms with her race and with the absolute cruelty that can happen in a world of poverty. She becomes friends with another black young girl only to learn the horror and abuse that has been this girl's life. You are drawn into this book by the characters but I did not appreciate the graphic details of the abuse that is such a part of this book.
October 19, 2007
i have never read a book from a child's point of view that held so much pain, confusion, and decisiveness...the ending was unforgetting and thought-provoking. it gives parents something to think about: kids are much smarter than we think and we have an obligation to protect, teach and nurture our children. Great Book!
September 18, 2009
This book pissed me off. I liked her writing style a lot. I didn't like the story. It was predictable and somewhat disturbing. I don't mind a story that is disturbing, if I feel like i have gained something in the end. This just seemed typical. Nothing special.
January 4, 2009
Poignant girl-coming-of-age story set in Chicago public housing, by a Chicago Tribune columnist
August 22, 2009
I couldn't put this book down, and I will be haunted by its story for a long long time. I highly recommend it.
October 6, 2010
A riveting tale with an amazing end.
January 25, 2011
Sad but a great read!
March 6, 2012
Just started
FINISHED!!!
FINISHED!!!
May 16, 2013
Excellent read.
February 4, 2015
I absolutely loved this book! I devoured it in one day.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.