Pearl Cleage’s debut novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, traces one summer in the life of the protagonist, Ava Johnson. Ava’s once independent and exciting life in Atlanta, Georgia, changes forever when she tests positive for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that can lead to AIDS. As a Black woman living in the 1990s, Ava is immediately met with social and cultural stigmas surrounding the virus. Unable to maintain her hair salon, her community, and her sex life in Atlanta because of her condition, Ava moves back home to her small hometown in Idlewild, Michigan.

The move initially feels regressive to Ava but soon proves transformative. Throughout her first months back in Idlewild, Ava reconnects with her older sister, Joyce Mitchell, welcomes a foster baby named Imani into her heart, and falls in love with Joyce’s late husband’s friend, Eddie Jefferson. These relationships change how Ava sees herself and her future. Written from Ava’s first-person point of view, the novel traces Ava’s journey out of the past and into a new life. Over the course of the novel, Ava’s time in Idlewild and her contributions to Joyce’s women’s group, the Sewing Circus, foster the novel’s explorations of the Personal and Social Impacts of Living with HIV/AIDS, the Power of Community and Family Bonds, and the Journey of Returning Home and Reclaiming One’s Identity. What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was an Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 1998 and was on the New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks.

This guide refers to the 1998 Avon Books paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text depicts life with HIV/AIDS and the associated social and cultural stigmas and references gun violence, child abuse, substance use, sexual violence and abuse, and death by suicide. The novel explores themes related to illness, community unrest and revival, and race and gender issues.

Plot Summary

The novel opens at an airport bar in Atlanta, Georgia. The protagonist and first-person narrator, Ava Johnson, drinks before boarding her flight home to Idlewild, Michigan. Ava’s life hasn’t been the same since she tested HIV positive. She left Idlewild in 1984 because she heard that Atlanta was a good place for young, driven Black people to create lives for themselves. She is giving up her community, relationships, and hair salon in the city to be with family after her diagnosis.

Ava’s sister, Joyce Mitchell, sends her late husband Mitch’s friend, Eddie Jefferson, to collect Ava from the Grand Rapids airport. Ava has known Eddie since she was little, but he looks different when they reunite. On the way home, she tries to get him to update her on his life over the past years, but Eddie reveals little.

Ava and Joyce reunite at Joyce’s house. Their parents bought the house when they first moved to Idlewild, dreaming of a new life. However, shortly thereafter, their father died from complications related to alcoholism, and their mother died by suicide. Joyce and Mitch became Ava’s guardians thereafter. In the present, Joyce lives alone because Mitch and her two children died in tragic accidents.

Ava gradually adjusts to life in Idlewild. She and Joyce reconnect, and she develops a connection with Eddie, too. Meanwhile, Joyce fosters a baby named Imani whose mother, aunt, and uncle abandoned her. Ava is unsure about the baby at first but soon falls in love with her. The family also participates in Joyce’s social activism. After Mitch died, Joyce took over New Light Baptist Church’s women’s group, the Sewing Circus. Through the Circus, Joyce seeks to teach young women how to care for themselves and their families. Ava is skeptical of the church and program but agrees to help Joyce. The more time she spends with the Sewing Circus, the more attached she becomes. Over time, she realizes that these young women are similar to her and worthy of help and care. However, the new Reverend Jonathan Anderson and his wife Gerry disagree with Joyce’s mission and methods, and eventually they tell Joyce she can no longer host the Sewing Circus at the church.

Ava still looks healthy but knows that her virus will progress. Therefore, her fears of the future resurface when she realizes that she has feelings for Eddie. He’s an active part of her family and personal life, and she’s afraid that getting involved with him will complicate their situation. She also assumes that Eddie will judge and reject her once he knows the truth. However, after Eddie tells Ava about his fraught past, including dealing drugs and killing his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, Ava tells him that she’s HIV positive. She and Eddie have sex for the first time and soon fall in love.

Ava and Eddie help Joyce when Imani’s family tries to take her away. Imani’s uncle Frank and aunt Mattie are both addicted to crack cocaine. They don’t want Imani because they love her; rather, they want to foster her for money. Ava, Eddie, and Joyce work with the state to secure custody of the baby. However, Frank’s violence and Mattie’s irresponsibility threaten Imani’s life on the day before the court custody hearing. Frank and Mattie flee town, and Imani goes into surgery for her injuries. The procedure goes well, and the doctors promise a full recovery.

Ava, Joyce, and Eddie reopen the Sewing Circus at a new location. They expand the program through the house they bought and renovated. They also discover the truth behind the reverend and his wife’s aggressive behaviors: Reverend Jonathan sexually abused young boys at his old church, and Gerry had the church bury the scandal. Ava threatens to reveal their past crimes to the papers if they don’t leave town. Once the Andersons are gone, Ava and her family feel more at peace.

Ava and Eddie get married. Ava realizes that she wants to enjoy the life she has left, even if she may not have much time before her HIV progresses. At the wedding, she celebrates with her family, friends, and community.