by Terry McMillan
Book of the week
STARS "1"
Terry McMillan has built a formidable rep for Hollywood-ready fiction with her tales of African-American women who look long and hard for a knight in a three-piece suit (Waiting to Exhale) but will settle for a chiseled hunk in a sarong (How Stella Got Her Groove Back). Now she's back with this touching and often funny portrait of a feuding clan that needs to take the "dys" out of dysfunction, in the words of family matriarch Viola Price. When we meet her, Viola, 54, is reassessing her relationship with her philandering husband of 38 years, Cecil, and their four children, each of whom faces some unhappiness: Oldest girl Paris is an overachieving loner; only son Lewis is the alcoholic bad seed; middle daughter Charlotte is angry at the universe; and the youngest, Janelle, has been going to college on and off for 15 years. What emerges is a realistic story of loving kin trying to find the courage to move beyond their grievances to achieve reconciliation. (Viking, $25.95)
Bottom Line: On time and on the money
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