Synopses & Reviews
Las Vegas, 1994.
The Prices are introduced by Viola, the family's outspoken matriarch: Her husband, Cecil, has shut the door behind him for the last time; and their four adult kids, scattered across the country, seem determined to send her to her grave, or at least to the hospital with worrying. Paris is divorced, mother to a nearly seventeen-year-old son and the one who always comes to everybody's rescuealthough she doesn't have a clue as to how to save herself. Lewis is the scapegoat, and his troubles keep landing him in jail, which only seems to confirm what his family thinks he is. Out in Chicago, Charlotte knows she's gotten the short end of the stick for years, has "nothing in common except blood" with her parents and siblings and would just as soon divorce them all. Janelle, the baby of the family, is not only on the defensive about the course of her own life but she's facing a new crisis, a fast-brewing storm with her teenage daughter that threatens more than she's willing to admit. And don't even ask Viola about Cecil: "He's a bad habit I've had for thirty-eight years which would make him my husband." But Cecil has some ideas for taking his hardworking life into his own hands, regardless of what his wife and kids think about it.
With her hallmark exuberance and a cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page, Terry McMillan has given us a tour-de-force novel of family, healing and redemption. A Day Late and a Dollar Short takes us deep into the hearts, minds, and souls of Americaand gives us six more friends we never want to leave.
Review
"A glorious novel...without question, this is McMillan's best."
The Washington Post "McMillan has the uncanny ability to render family conflict with both humor and compassion...a life-affirming read...a triumph." The Los Angeles Times
"Touching and funny." People
"[McMillan] in top form." The New York Times Book Review
Review
Praise for Who Asked You? “McMillan writes jauntily and with customary good humor. . . . Her story affirms the value of love and family, to say nothing of the strength of resolute women in the absence of much strength on the part of those few men who happen to be in the vicinity. . . . A solid, well-told story.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Much-heralded and long awaited, Terry McMillan's tour-de-force novel introduces the Price family-matriarch Viola, her sometimes-husband Cecil, and their four adult kids, each of whom sees life-and one another-through thick and thin, and entirely on their own terms. With her hallmark exuberance and cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page.
Synopsis
Family ties are tested and transformed in the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back With her wise, wry, and poignant novels of families and friendshipsWaiting to Exhale, Getting to Happy, and A Day Late and a Dollar Short among themTerry McMillan has touched millions of readers. Now, in her eighth novel, McMillan gives exuberant voice to characters who reveal how we live nowat least as lived in a racially diverse Los Angeles neighborhood.
Kaleidoscopic, fast-paced, and filled with McMillans inimitable humor, Who Asked You? opens as Trinetta leaves her two young sons with her mother, Betty Jean, and promptly disappears. BJ, a trademark McMillan heroine, already has her hands full dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreamsall while holding down a job as a hotel maid. Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, cant be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. The drama unfolds through the perspectives of a rotating cast of characters, pitch-perfect, each playing a part, and full of surprises.
Who Asked You? casts an intimate look at the burdens and blessings of family and speaks to trusting your own judgment even when others dont agree. McMillans signature voice and unforgettable characters bring universal issues to brilliant, vivid life.
Synopsis
Family ties are tested and transformed in the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back
With her wise, wry, and poignant novels of families and friendshipsWaiting to Exhale, Getting to Happy, and A Day Late and a Dollar Short among themTerry McMillan has touched millions of readers. Now, in her eighth novel, McMillan gives exuberant voice to characters who reveal how we live nowat least as lived in a racially diverse Los Angeles neighborhood.
Kaleidoscopic, fast-paced, and filled with McMillans inimitable humor, Who Asked You? opens as Trinetta leaves her two young sons with her mother, Betty Jean, and promptly disappears. BJ, a trademark McMillan heroine, already has her hands full dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreamsall while holding down a job delivering room service at a hotel. Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, cant be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. The drama unfolds through the perspectives of a rotating cast of characters, pitch-perfect, each playing a part, and full of surprises.
Who Asked You? casts an intimate look at the burdens and blessings of family and speaks to trusting your own judgment even when others dont agree. McMillans signature voice and unforgettable characters bring universal issues to brilliant, vivid life.
About the Author
Terry McMillans debut, Mama, won the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction and American Book awards. McMillan has been honored by the NEA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the NAACP, and Essence. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit terrymcmillan.com.