So Good

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

For African American sisters Lisa Allen and Danielle Mead, and their best friend Sundi Karif, their mid- to latter 30s in Washington, D.C., is a time of fundamental life change. As Berry's debut novel opens, the extremely independent Sundi is marrying Chris, a Nigerian with traditional ideas of a woman's role; Lisa, single and rebounding from a broken engagement, is finishing her doctoral program; and Danielle, restless in her solid but uneventful marriage, is considering an affair with her young executive assistant. Soon, Sundi, now married, finds herself alienated from Chris; Danielle leaves her husband for the thrilling but superficial younger man; and Lisa meets and impulsively weds a romantic with a dark side. As the women struggle to maintain their balance in the conflict between reality and what they had intended for themselves, their history and love for one another, along with a scathing honesty, serves as a constant amid the turmoil. Berry has recreated the subtle complexity of the contemporary African American professional woman's world, flavored with motherwit and home truths from preceding generations of family. The elasticity and forgiveness of the African American culture is evident in the friends' disagreements, their response to crisis and their ultimate taking of responsibility for their actions. The prose can be flat and impersonal, reading more like reportage than fiction. But even so, Berry's novel opens the front door and greets the reader with a genuine smile of welcome. Hopefully, Berry will learn to liven up her prose, for she traces characters who are real and appealing enough to demand a sequel. Literary Guild alternate selection. (Aug.)

Library Journal

This first novel opens as Sundiata, a successful basketmaker, is getting married. Lisa Allen, a teacher who is working on a Ph.D. in communications, meets the romantic and persuasive Walter at the reception. Lisa's older sister, Danielle, has it all: a daughter, a near-perfect husband, and a high-powered career. Life should be good for these three independent and successful African American women. But Walter's risky behavior dooms his and Lisa's marriage, Danielle is swept away by an attraction to a younger co-worker, and Sundi must cope with the fact that her marriage expectations are not the same as her husband's. This intense novel follows the best friends for some months as they chide, goad, and support one another through crises and decisions. While not as evenly written as such genre titles as Terry McMillan's Waiting To Exhale (LJ 5/1/92), this is a worthwhile purchase for most popular fiction collections.V. Louise Saylor, formerly with Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney

Lillian Lewis

The proliferation of fiction by and about African American women has been heightened by the commercial success of Terry McMillan's "Waiting to Exhale" (1992). Berry looks closely at the relationship between three Washington, D.C., women: Sundi, the independent entrepreneur recently married to a Nigerian man who personifies many of the myths about native African men; Danielle, a wife and mother who is unhappy and attempts to regain her happiness by having an affair with a younger coworker; and Lisa, Danielle's younger sister, who is single and always on the lookout for a suitable mate. This novel stresses the friendship between these women, the relationships they have with the men in their lives, and how each handles her unique situation with humor, wit, and compassion. All three women struggle with the issues of love, commitment, family, and career and grow to recognize that friendships and relationships are "so good "to have, but they require work to maintain. Berry will undoubtedly be recognized for her contribution to the African American fiction writers' library shelf and for "good "reason!

Kirkus Reviews

A fast-moving, plot-rich, slapdash but entertaining first novel aimed at the audience that inhaled Waiting to Exhale.

The story is set among Washington, D.C.'s middle-class black community and follows the romantic trials of three thirtysomething African-American friends. It opens with Lisa, a bubbly Ph.D. candidate, attending the wedding of pal Sundi and falling head- over-heels for handsome fellow guest Walter—a slightly shady, divorced accountant. Sundi, shrugging off the worries of Lisa and the third friend, Lisa's married sister, Danielle, is wedding a conservative Nigerian named Chris in a ceremony combining African and African Methodist Episcopal rituals—a combination of cultures that becomes a running theme. But while Lisa doubts whether Sundi, a successful entrepreneur, will be able to maintain her independence once hitched to dogmatic Chris, she has no doubts about marriage itself—she craves it. So, rapidly, she dates and marries Walter—and that's when her real troubles start. Walter, rumored to be bisexual, turns out to be a drug addict and is soon suspended from his job. When Lisa throws away his dope stash, he beats her, and she flees. Meanwhile, sister Danielle moves out of her house—the one she shares with kind, considerate husband Roger and their four-year-old daughter—and rushes into a hot affair with a young black stud in her advertising office. And Sundi's marriage is quickly deteriorating as Chris becomes ever more domineering. But there's good news in store for each of them: After many twists of plot, Sundi teaches Chris to compromise; Danielle returns to wonderful Roger; and Lisa—after much soul-searching and waffling—divorces Walter, then happily finds a new love, a "black Tootsie Roll" in a well-cut suit.

Characters, including Lisa, remain shallow, and the plot is full of lapses. But the depiction of issues, fast pace, and tone of enlightened self-help will have wide appeal. A sure-to-be-read debut.