Overview
An exuberant return to the four unforgettable heroines of Waiting to Exhale—the novel that changed African American fiction forever.
Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale was more than just a bestselling novel—its publication was a watershed moment in literary history. McMillan's sassy and vibrant story about four African American women struggling to find love and their place in the world touched a cultural nerve, inspired a blockbuster film, and generated a devoted audience.
Now, McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin fifteen years later. Each is at her own midlife crossroads: Savannah has awakened to the fact that she's made too many concessions in her marriage, and decides to face life single again—at fifty-one. Bernadine has watched her megadivorce settlement dwindle, been swindled by her husband number two, and conned herself into thinking that a few pills will help distract her from her pain. Robin has an all-American case of shopaholism, while the big dream of her life—to wear a wedding dress— has gone unrealized. And for years, Gloria has taken happiness and security for granted. But being at the wrong place at the wrong time can change everything. All four are learning to heal past hurts and to reclaim their joy and their dreams; but they return to us full of spirit, sass, and faith in one another. They've exhaled: now they are learning to breathe.
Editorials
Dallas Morning News
The Women of Waiting to Exhale have returned…McMillan fans won't be disappointed.People
It's great to meet up with old friends again.Miami Herald
Required reading for anyone who cared about Waiting to Exhale.Raleigh News & Observer
Signature McMillan...[An] earthy, funny, personal voice.San Francisco Bay View
A phenomenal read.Lisa Page
McMillan has said she didn't plan to write a sequel, but her old characters "began to reclaim their place in my heart, and, like old friends you haven't seen since college, I wondered how they might be faring now." She fleshes them out by shifting the point of view, sometimes writing in first person, sometimes in third, resulting in a crosshatch of perspectives. Her dialogue remains superb.—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Fifteen years after Waiting to Exhale, McMillan brings back Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin--now in their 50s--for a disappointing and uninspired outing. As the story opens, Gloria is very happy, Savannah believes she might be happy, Bernadine is fighting addiction and losing ground, and single mother Robin is trying to resign herself to being alone while things at her job begin to unravel. Within the first few chapters, Gloria and Savannah are struck by disaster, and things go rapidly downhill from there for everyone. Most of the misery has to do with men who lie, steal, cheat, or disappear, or with adult children who face similar problems. Unfortunately, the beloved cast isn't given a story worthy of them; instead, this reunion reads like a catalogue of personal catastrophes annotated with very long, rambling discussions, with more emphasis on simple drama than character. (Sept.)Kirkus Reviews
McMillan's sequel to her popular Waiting To Exhale picks up 15 years later in the lives of the four Phoenix friends—Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine and Robin—still looking for love and happiness as they hit middle age.
It's 2005 and each of the women is facing a crisis. Formerly overweight Gloria has found domestic bliss until her beloved husband dies in a drive-by shooting on their anniversary. Then she learns she's about to lose the lease on her wildly successful salon, and that her son Tarik's unlikable wife turns out to be a child-abusing, law-breaking adulteress. Gloria starts packing the pounds back on. News producer Savannah is newly lonely after divorcing her husband of ten years because she's bored with him, although his addiction to Internet porn also factors in. Instead of allowing her hard-up sister's troubled son to visit, Savannah treats herself to a jaunt to Paris, but not before she has a dream blind date with a handsome retired doctor. Shopaholic Robin is the never-married mother of 15-year-old Sparrow, a nauseatingly perfect daughter. (Actually, the fact that none of these women have children who talk back or rebel or disappoint like real children may be the real fantasy wish fulfillment for readers, not the sexy romances.) How Robin's salary as an underwriter affords her the luxuries and savings she has amassed is glossed over, but then her company downsizes her out of her job. Soon after reconnecting with a "blast from the past" who has shed 40 pounds to become the love of her life, she decides to become a teacher. Bernadine is still recovering from the annulment of her second marriage six years earlier. Her "husband" was a bigamist who swindled her out of a chunk of her alimony settlement from first husband John. She's closed her café and become addicted to pills, but John and their kids support her when she goes into rehab.
Full of sitcom moments and windy dialogue—aging chick lit at its most superficial.