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    The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood
    The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood
    The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood
    Audiobook9 hours

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

    Written by Helene Cooper

    Narrated by Helene Cooper

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Journalist Helene Cooper examines the violent past of her home country Liberia and the effects of its 1980 military coup in this deeply personal memoir and finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award.

    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'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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 2, 2008
    ISBN9780743579520
    Author

    Helene Cooper

    Helene Cooper is the Pulitzer Prize–winning Pentagon correspondent for The New York Times, having previously served as White House Correspondent, diplomatic correspondent, and the assistant editorial page editor. Prior to moving to the Times, Helene spent twelve years as a reporter and foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of the bestselling memoir, The House at Sugar Beach, and Madame President, a biography of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was born in Monrovia, Liberia, and lives in the Washington, DC area.

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    Reviews for The House at Sugar Beach

    4.5/5

    29 ratings23 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I couldn't wait to read this book after hearing the author's aunt describe it and talk about how the author's reunion with her foster sister came about. Journalist Helene Cooper spent her childhood in Liberia. As a descendant of the African American founders of Liberia, Helene was part of the privileged class. Her parents drove luxury cars, her mother wore designer clothes, Helene and her sister went to a private school, and the family owned multiple homes as well as rental properties. When the family moved into the house at Sugar Beach, Helene had her own room for the first time, but she was scared to sleep there by herself. Her parents decided to foster a girl from one of the Liberian tribes, who would become a companion for Helene and her younger sister, Marlene. Helene's idyllic childhood ended with the 1980 military coup that overthrew the government. The Coopers were able to leave the country and make a new home in the U.S., but they had to leave Eunice behind.Helene attended high school and college in the U.S., then became a newspaper journalist, working her way through the ranks until she became a foreign correspondent. Meanwhile, conditions in Liberia continued to deteriorate, and most of its infrastructure was destroyed. Helene's parents and sister, Marlene, each returned to Liberia at a time of relative stability, but Helene stayed in the U.S. Helene was seriously injured while covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and this experience led to her decision to return to Liberia to find her foster sister, Eunice, after a 23-year separation.I wasn't prepared for the effect this book would have on me. After their hurried exit from Liberia, Helene, Marlene, and their mother lived in Knoxville for a year. Helene and Marlene attended local schools. I was a student in a different local high school at the same time. I couldn't help wondering if our paths had crossed at a public place like the mall or a movie theater. It distressed me that I was oblivious to the situation in Liberia at the time, and that I didn't know that there were people in my community who were affected by it. How had I missed this? I finally realized that my ignorance wasn't from not paying attention to national and international news. This was the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis, and it dominated the nightly news. I'm glad that this gap in my knowledge of world events has finally been closed, but I'm sorry that it took so long for me to learn about this.This is a well-written and well-paced memoir. It's an important story, and I wish that the book had features to match. Better quality photographs and an index would have added to the cost of production, but I think the book suffers from their absence.
    • 4/5
      A great book about growing up, political history and race and prejudice in many forms. Easy read, though you really feel the emotion of the protaganist
    • 5/5
      Helene Cooper's memoir about her family's comforatable life in Liberia. After a coup attempts to overthrow the government, the family flees to the U.S. Leaving behind Cooper's foster sister and best friend Eunice Bull. She also leaves behind her a childhood full of sweet memories until one day she decides to go back to find Eunice and hopefully gain closure of the last awful memory in the House at Sugar Beach. This was excellent book. I don't know too much about Liberia and decided to read it once I read the excerpt in Essence about a family whose ancestors were free blacks during the U.S. 19th century. I was moved to tears at the end and sorry that I missed Ms. Cooper's visit to the Central Library here in Baltimore.
    • 3/5
      This was a somewhat uneven memoir about Cooper's early life in Liberia, her expatriate status after her family fled the civil war, and her growth as a successful journalist in the US. In Liberia she was a child of privilege in which the "Congo People" ( a term used to describe the ruling class who were descended from "repatriated" American slaves) treated the indigenous Africans (called "Country People") as second class citizens. Indeed this second-class citizen treatment also extended to her adopted sister. The eruption of violence by the Country People has interesting parallels with the Black urban riots in the US, although Cooper never explores these parallels. In places, one is reminded that memoirs contain selected truths and inventions that reflect the vagaries of memory. For example Cooper recalls a vacation trip to Spain and fondly remembers the fragrance of bouganvilla - as a San Diegan with copious bouganvilla growing at my home, I can assure you the flowers are odorless. I think this could have been a better book if Cooper had explored the issues and ironies of class discrimination which existed in Liberia and from which her family benefitted.
    • 5/5
      I nabbed this book from my husband's to-read pile one afternoon, thinking I'd read a few pages. I had a hard time putting it down and had to claim it as my own for a few days.

      Ms. Cooper's memoir is gentle and wry, which is probably pretty difficult to do when you are writing about one of the most volatile areas in recent memory.

      I liked it best when she wrote about her family and her own experience, but the "history lessons" she inserted were relevant, and certainly necessary for a reader (like me) who didn't already know the horrible details of recent events in Liberia. (And it's just me calling them "history lessons" - Cooper does a nice job of weaving important details in with her family story, as her family were important figures in the founding and governing of Liberia).

      I highly recommend this book - I think it will appeal to current event buffs and folks who like personal memoirs and books about family relations.
    • 3/5
      This book is soft, tentative and predictable. It is 85% Helene Cooper and 15% Liberia. Though Cooper is a reputable journalist, this is her memoir; it lingers on her girlish crushes, her favorite dresses and the troubled marriage of her aristocratic parents. The second part is an unexceptional account of Cooper's semi-assimilation into American culture, starting midway through her high school years and tracing her deliberate mission to become an influential foreign correspondent. Throughout this book, her training as a journalist shows; everything is seen from a distance and presented with efficiency in a context made historical with a few statistics and anecdotes.Owing to Cooper's immensely privileged upbringing and her early departure form Liberia, it seems that she didn't have that much raw material to work with when trying to conjure up the realities of her motherland. Her note at the end makes it sound like she would not have shared one single sensory impression of the country if her supportive family and friends hadn't peppered the narrative with their own remembrances. Ultimately, Helene is too humorless, earnest and insecure for my tastes and while she was,in one sense, the ultimate insider, she was also extremely far removed from the pulse of her country. She rightly faults herself for "papering over seismic moment(s) in (her) life by focusing on the superficial." That tendency shows throughout the narrative. It would have been much stronger if Cooper had brought other voices into her story, if she had inhabited the perspective of anyone else in her age group or generation in order to introduce her readers to a more complex portrait of her country. Her perspective is tiring.I expected her to fill the niche of "Liberian Memoirist" and she didn't. This is an adequate autobiography with a bit of hand-wringing about how the author didn't become as aware of Liberia as she could have and didn't invest as much of herself in bettering her country as she could have. If you still read this book, know that you will be presented with a number of executions and rapes that may prove disturbing. Cooper treats them in the lightest and most sanitized way; but the reader does not escape them entirely.
    • 3/5
      This is the memoir of a Liberian woman of American descent, one of those locally known as ?Congo People,? whose ancestors were free blacks sponsored by the US Congress to return to Africa in the early 19th century. Helene Cooper had an idyllic, pampered childhood as a member of Liberia's privileged Congo class, living in a beautiful home, traveling abroad, going to the best schools. All this ends when, as a teenager, she must flee the country in the wake of the 1980 coup in which the native people finally regain control of their land (with even more disastrous results). Helen not only abandons her home and her childhood, but also leaves behind the native Liberian adopted sister who was her closest friend. As Helene completes her education in the US and becomes a successful journalist, she must find a way to come to terms with her past. This true story makes for interesting reading, rich with detail. Cooper is to be congratulated for conveying the unique sound of Liberian English, and for integrating Liberia?s historical background into her personal narrative without slowing its pace. Although it might have done with a little more fine-tooth editing, Helen?s story is worth reading.
    • 5/5
      This 2008 book by a woman born in Liberia and descended from ex-slaves who came to Liberia from the U.S. in the 1820's is a gripping memoir of the fourteen years she lived in Monrovia--in luxurious circumstances, as the descendants of American slaves tended to do before the dire events of 1980 and the Doe coup. I was especially interested since Cecil Dennis was a fellow student at Georgeton Law when I was there and since I knew him well. On April 22, 1980 he (then Foreign Minister) and the president of Liberia and 11 other officials of the Government were executed after drumhead trials on the beach in Monrovia. The author was able to escape Liberia, attended high school and college in the U.S. and went on to become an ace reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The account is gripping and extremely poignant , as she tells the ordeals that her parents underwent. I found myself eager to keep reading and the book is more touching and attention-holding than even I expected.
    • 5/5
      This tender memoir shows us a side of society that exists in many African countries but is seldom portrayed--the upper middle class. I found it refreshing to read about the lives of Africans of means who aren't embezzlers and tin-pot dictators or blood-crazed war lords bent on carving out a kingdom from the flesh of their victims. Helene Cooper's family certainly had its share of flawed characters, but their lifestyle wasn't vastly different from Americans in similar economic circumstances.Their fates, of course, were very different and her handling of the impact of the turmoil in Liberia on her family gives the book some serious drama.
    • 4/5
      An excellent book, and a memoir. I learned so much about Liberia and events that happened in my early 20s there, that I knew nothing about. The author is an excellent writer and kept me engrossed for the whole book. I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Helene grew up in Liberia, Africa. Her family are descendants of Free black Americans that came to Liberia in the 1820's to start a new American colony apart from the horrendous slave trade that was still a strong force. Her family and others like them were known as Congo and the native Liberians were called Country. The Congo became the elite. They were educated and continued to prosper for over 150 years. Helene went to a private American school and lived in a mansion on the beach, Sugar Beach. She has an adopted sister Eunice, brought into the family to keep her company and another younger sister, Marlene. Her life seems idyllic as a child rarely sees the politics surrounding their little world. In 1980 it begins to fall apart. She is 14 years old, just becoming a woman. The Country people rebel and take over the government, raping, executing and looting Monrovia. Helene's family is lucky enough to escape and travel to America. Sadly, Eunice is left behind. For no reason other than that is what people did. She went back to her village. 23 years later, Helene as a successful reporter returns to Liberia for the first time, to find her childhood and the memories she has tried so hard to leave behind. This memoir is written from the heart, it is truthful, painful, happy and sad. Ms. Cooper shares her life with the reader and gives us a moment to appreciate the land we are born to and family we have.
    • 4/5
      The memoir, The House on Sugar Beach, is written by journalist Helene Cooper, who was born and raised in Liberia until age fourteen. Her ancesters were among the free black men who opted to "return" to Africa rather than remain in America. Cooper delves into the history of Liberia's beginnings as a home for freed slaves and she gives us a snapshot of her life of priviledge as one of Liberia's elite, before the coup in 1980 that changed the balance of power in that country. Her writing style is engaging and her use of dialect helps create a real sense of place. I came away with knowledge of a country about which I had known very little. This was an interesting read.
    • 5/5
      Helene Cooper grows up in the upper classes of Liberian society. When she is 13, a coup overthrows the current government and life and family in thrown into turmoil. Cooper writes of a childhood that is much more privileged than most Americans can believe possible. As an adult, with U.S. citizenship and years of covering world hot spots for the Wall Street Journal behind her, Helene goes back to Liberia to find the "adopted" sister her family left behind.
    • 5/5
      This is Helene Cooper's memoir of growing up Congo in Liberia in the 1970's. The first part of the book is a rare glimpse of the elite and privileged in Africa. Helene grew up in a 22 room mansion with servants and exotic vacations. I really enjoyed this very different perspective on living in Africa and I felt that Helene does a commendable job of writing as honestly as possible, even when it shows herself or her family in a poor light. Much of this part of the book includes history of her family and that of Liberia. Her ancestors were freed blacks from America who returned to Liberia to start over. Then, in 1980, there was a brutal coup in Liberia and many of the wealthy elite were murdered. Helene fled the country with her mother and sister leaving behind an adopted sister. The second half of the book is a look at what its like to be an immigrant in America. Helene has to deal with an abrupt and difficult change in her status and lifestyle. Additionally she struggles with feelings of guilt and fear for her family still in Liberia, especially Eunice. Eventually she becomes a journalist and returns to Liberia. With this book Helene Cooper introduced me to Liberia. Her willingness to be honest and revel the most personal details of her childhood make this an extraordinary read. I listened to the audio version of this book which is read by Helene herself. Hearing the lyrical Liberian English really added an extra level of personal connection for me. Helene is the rare author who is also a superb reader. I hope she continues with the story of her life! I am interested to hear where she, Eunice, and Marlene end up.
    • 3/5
      Well-written memoir and enjoyed it. The first half was life in Liberia and the last half was life in the US, where she moved at 14 YOA. Amazing at the wealth of her family and elite stature they had until the coup in 1980. A bit long on the historical/political side of the country but her family really came alive for me. Perfect ending to a very good book too.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely as good as I expected from hearing her on NPR and reading the excerpt in the Times Magazine. Wonderful detail about growing up privileged in Liberia with her adopted sister, the revolution, and what happened afterwards. My only suggestion would be that she could have saved her experiences as an Iraq war correspondent for a future book - it seemed out of place, and she's such an enthralling writer it was sort of wasted in just a chaper.
    • 5/5
      Cooper, who is a successful journalist (she is currently the diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times), writes of her privileged childhood in Liberia and her new life in the United States after her family flees the Doe rebellion in 1980. Intertwined with the Cooper family story is the life of Eunice Bull, Helene's adopted sister, who remained in Liberia during the bloody, violent aftermath that followed. Like so many North Americans, I knew very little about Liberia, so, simply put, I learned a lot. Cooper writes with insight and poignancy. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      This is not a book I would normally have chosen, were it not a selection for my book club, as I'm not usually a memoir fan. I ended up transfixed by the House at Sugar Beach, and finished the whole book in two sittings. The history of Liberia, the story of class of class and rebellion, and Cooper's personal tale intermingle to create a gripping story. Recommended highly!
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent memoir/autobiography, relating a multi-generational history of Liberia and the lives of some of the descendants of the founding families that established Liberia as a modern state, through the lens of the author, who was a child when a coup overthrew the government and launched a 13 year long series of civil wars that turned a peaceful, rather modern corner of Africa into a poverty-stricken war zone run by warlords and their machete-wielding child armies.
    • 4/5
      Excellent!
    • 5/5
      An well-written, absorbing, informative book. Some books are so good, you feel sad when you reach the last page. You want to linger with the characters, to see what happens next. This is one of those books. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      While I didn't find the book to be as well-written or life-changing as the comments on the back may lead you to believe, it was still good and definitely worth my time. Without feeling sorry for herself (in fact, she realizes her own fault in running away from her problems) or bemoaning the tragedies in her life, Cooper tells a story that may not be groundbreaking, but is her own truth. She highlights the strength of certain people in her life, and speaks with honest warmth and love about her family and friends. Overall, while this isn't a book I would rave about, it was still very good, and reading it was like speaking to a friend who's just telling you her story, simply, without any pretension. I came to appreciate that writing this book was her way to come to terms with not only her childhood, but the history of her family and how her bloodlines were connected to the fate of Liberia as a whole. Writing this book was obviously very important to her, and the earlier chapters take on a whole new meaning after you've finished it. The book is not ABOUT her "search for a lost African childhood." The book IS her search.My problems with the book, to be fair, are that despite being a professional journalist, I would have liked a bit more detail in parts. She brings up a lot of relatives/servants in the beginning, yet doesn't give all of them much focus later on. In some parts, I just got a feeling of incompleteness. Nevertheless, it was a good book.
    • 1/5
      My audio version is in Spanish. Why is that? Please help.