The Flip Side of Sin

From bestselling African-American writer Rosalyn McMillan comes this extraordinary novel of how love can bring redemption and the ultimate salvation to any circumstance. The Flip Side of Sin takes readers on a journey through the lives of a group of unforgettable characters who must overcome life's toughest challenges to find true happiness.

It is a book in which worlds collide and people are forever transformed by the tumultuous changes that occur in one man's life. The story begins with Isaac Coleman, a man whose tragic mistakes cost him years away from everyone and everything that mattered to him -- especially his wife and son. Alone, confused, and bitter, Isaac can only become whole by learning to love again. But when he re-enters the world he left and attempts to get reacquainted with his now teenage son, Peyton, he finds heartbreaking rejection.

As Isaac struggles to understand and change his plight, his only form of self-expression is found in the keys of his saxophone. When he later meets up with Miracall Lake, a woman with whom he shares a painful past, she surprisingly helps him to face his fears and reach for his dreams. In this case, love indeed conquers all -- or so it tries to in this tale of good versus evil and love versus hate. The Flip Side of Sin is a poignant and memorable work from a writer of immense talent.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Hated It, 2005-03-23
Just like the two gay movie/book critics from "In Living Color" ----- Hated it!

The Flip Side of Sin opened with great interest of Isaac sitting in a jailcell for 12 years for killing a white girl while driving drunk. His sister, the Pastor Rosemary, comes to pick him up upon his release to live with her and her handicap husband. Isaac is really only interested in getting back with his wife and reconciling with his teenage son. But Isaac's wife, Kennedy, has moved on to bigger and better things by becoming a police woman. Unfortunately, their son, Peyton, becomes involved in a gang. Neither Kennedy nor Peyton wants to have anything to do with Isaac. Therefore, Isaac finds solace in playing his saxophone.

Isaac's sister, Rosemary, on the other hand is very concerned about her brother and tries everything within her power to help him to mainstream back into society. He rebels against his sister's assistance and finds himself meeting a white woman named Miracall who happens to be the aunt of the little girl he killed. It was unclear as to whether or not they were storing personal feelings for each other.

The story veers off in several directions and is overburdened with a pastor that has political aspirations, mixed with religious motivations. Isaac's wife, Kennedy, is having an affair with her partner; Isaac finds out that his mother was a white jew that was brutally murdered by her husband; Isaac was arrested, yet acquitted on drug trafficking; he got into a fight with his son's gang members and ended up in a coma with a fractured skull. His sister, Rosmary, preaches several sermons on drugs, relationships, politics, forgiveness, etc.

The story is well written, however, very confusing. Too much is happening in this novel. It is often difficult to figure out what direction the author is moving towards. One minute she's talking about politics and history, extensively, so much until it becomes extremely boring. Then she moves towards religion and preaching.

A preachy novel that is very unorganized and shifty. But we agree that it would have been an excellent novel without so MUCH politics and history of Detroit, and delete the many stories and plots within the story itself. We would like to see this manuscript rewritten and this novel re-released because it definitely has potential to be a great novel.

We didn't actually "hate" it, it's just that it wasn't well received by our bookclub members. There were just too many things going on in the book and it lacked interesting twists and turns that offered no direct focus which caused frustration.

AFTERWORDS BOOKCLUB
Denver, Colorado Chapter





1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

basically political quotes and bible scriptures, 2004-04-27
i thought that the story was plagued with too much long and boring political dialogue. i found myself skimming through the pages to avoid this part. hopefully nothing "sizzling" was missed during my skimming


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

The Flip Side of Sin, 2004-01-06
The Flip Side of Sin is the first novel I've had the pleasure of reading by Rosalyn McMillan. I found her characters to be beleivable and strong. Her book had me laughing at times and crying at others. Being from a relativly meager background I identified with both her female characters Rosemary and Kennedy. I found her chosen themes of forgiveness, family and spirituality to be very inspiring. As a writer I beleive Ms.McMilian touched on every subject of interset to anyone in the 21st century, Religion, spirituality, gang violence, police corruption, drugs, prison, homelessness, abused women, drunk driving, politics, love, betrayal, freindship, marriage, lovers and family relationships. I look foward to reading the rest of this authors work.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

"Don't give up on Faith...Just Worldly People...", 2002-11-01
Rosalyn McMillan truelly an artistic Author. Outstanding job with this novel. This one is a page turner. Isaac is just a man down on his luck with a wife and son, after a argument at home,he leaves and this night will change his life forever. After 12 years he is back in familiar surroundings, but quickly realizes how different things are, even though some things are still the same, just more complicated like love. Out of love the truth has been with held from Isaac, Peyton, Kennedy, Rosemary, Jesse and many others. It may not have been the right thing to do, but I was only protecting you, is the situation. As time is moving on, Isaac proves that he is a gifted saxophone player and not a vicious criminal. Rosemary is a woman with a strong faith, but even she shows us that Christians still can make bad decisions, but in order to stay in good grace, you have to have Forgiveness and Faith. Rosemary shows this with Paps and the church folks. They all learn that your friends can be your enemy and your enemy your friend. This story also shows the corruption in politics and in the police department. This book is written with very vivid and understandable situations and teaches us to strive, continue to dream, Forgiveness and family and friendship does not have a price tag on it. The soup kitchen scene is one of my favorites in this book and Peyton and Isaac on New Years Eve. Roslyn McMillan excellent job.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

So disappointed!!!, 2002-05-02
This book was awfull. I read One Better and Knowing and liked them both. I don't know what happened here. This book made no sense. There we too many discrepencies. I read the entire book and can't figure out what exactly it was about. I couldn't relate to any of the character. I would not recommend this book. I am totally disapponted!!

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