Four different writers introduce strong African-American women who are forced to deal with their own variations of domestic violence.
Despite of their affluence and confidence, the featured characters in this set of four novellas all struggle with insecurity and denial connected to abusive relationships. CC Smart, the popular TV talk-show host in the opener, "Breakin’ It Down," is herself a survivor of childhood trauma. Her drug-addict mother Lola abandoned her when she was 10, and she is in danger of repeating the cycle of pain by neglecting her own adopted child, Alizé. "Brotherly Love," the most harrowing episode, explores the relationship between Regina Wilson, a beleaguered young social worker, and Zana Williams, a gifted teenager. Zana’s attempt to end her own unwanted pregnancy nearly kills her, while leaving her tougher-than-thou attitude in tact. Using her professional skills, Regina slowly breaks down the girl’s considerable emotional defenses, uncovering a family history that is no less horrifying for being obvious. "Breakin’ Dishes" chucks gender stereotypes out the window as Emmy-nominated TV newscaster Monique Worthington enacts her personal rage issues out on her philandering husband, Armstrong. Denying that she has a problem (even doing on-air stories about domestic abuse), Monique has her own moment of clarity (and consequence) after a run-in with a woman claiming to have an intimate relationship with her man. Psychological violence rears its ugly head in "The Wrong Side of Mr. Right." Charmaigne Carson, a successful Detroit lawyer, is engaged to Marcus, a handsome, self-made millionaire who calls her his “princess.” Even though his controlling side emerges a few weeks into their whirlwind courtship, she ignores her own intuition about his true nature. It takes everything she has, including a bit of metaphysical assistance from some very special footwear, to walk away from this toxic dreamboat who is indeed too good to be true. Like all the heroines in this well-meaning collection, taking charge of her life is the key to finding peace, maybe even happiness.
Sober cautionary tales of smart women making bad choices.
Pub Date: March 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4165-4208-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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