Bebe's by Golly Wow!

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Joe follows the commercial success of He Say, She Say with an exuberant if unambitious tale of love discovered in the nick of time by two lonely, 40-something African Americans living in Chicago. While attending graduation ceremonies at a local college, fireman Isaac Sizemore spies mature Bebe triumphantly accepting her diploma, taps her on the shoulder and makes a date. Isaac is single in one sensehis wife left him several years ago. But there is a jealous woman in his lifeIsaac's 13-year-old daughter, Dashay, an aspiring rap artist who isn't looking for a new mom. As Isaac and Bebe try to make their love work, they suffer through several comically horrific dates, as well as Dashay's attempts to thwart their developing romance, all of which Joe relates in the alternating voices of the three principals and Bebe's best friend, Sandy (who faces love and career troubles of her own). These voices are crisp and full of fun, even if most of the characters share Isaac's confessed inability to tell the difference between "meaningful conversation and talking shit." Underneath all the jive (e.g., "I'm divorced by force, think love is from above, like my books long and my brewskis in a short glass"), there's a sweet core of sentimentality that will no doubt strike a chord with many readers who have hoped for a second chance at love. (June)

Kirkus Reviews

A lightweight follow-up to He Say, She Say (1997) provides a realistic, if uninspired, portrayal of remarriage in an urban middle-class African-American community. Bebe, a middle-aged bank supervisor, is looking for love, as is Sandy, an employee at a popular Chicago radio station. Sandy, though young enough to be Bebe's daughter, is actually her best friend. Both women have been burned in the past, so when Bebe meets Isaac Sizemore, a well-read, thoughtful fireman who's raising his daughter on his own, it's hard for her to accept that he's the real thing. Complicating matters is 13-year-old Dash, Isaac's daughter by Alicia, the woman who left him to "see the world" when Dash was only ten. Isaac finds himself caught in the opposed agendas of two strong-willed females, and it takes nearly losing everything before he wakes up and faces his responsibility both to Dash and the woman he loves. Meanwhile, in a subplot that gets short shrift, Isaac is also dealing with his irresponsible friend L.A., who's deep in gambling troubles and looking out for his elderly Uncle Lucius (Lucius manages to dispense more wisdom than all the other characters combined). While Bebe struggles with Dash—whose antics include pouring Tabasco into her food when she's not looking—Sandy's career is on the line: Her boss brings in a white consultant named Richard Belder, who intends to put his own stamp on the station. The most refreshing aspect of Joe's take on these two women's lives is that Bebe, older by 20 years, is rewarded for her experience by finding what she's been seeking, while Sandy learns from Bebe's patience and sustaining self-respect. A pedestrian story line, but as before, with livelydialogue and smart-as-a-whip female protagonists.