DISAPPEARING ACTS

by Terry McMillan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 21, 1989

As in her affecting first novel, Mama (1986), McMillan once again takes her strong and likable black characters through an obstacle course of booze and bad luck--and has them emerge scathed, but hopeful. Zora Banks, a music teacher and would-be singer, meets tall, handsome Franklin Swift, a construction worker, as she is moving into her new apartment in Brooklyn. The attraction is instantaneous--and mutual. Before they quite know how it happened, they're living together and trying to work out the separate pieces of their lives. Franklin has been separated from his wife for six years, but he's still not divorced. Zora is recovering from a series of bad romances. Franklin can't keep a job. Zora wants to quit teaching and start singing. Franklin drinks too much. Zora has epilepsy, which she regards as a shameful secret. Tensions mount when money runs short. Franklin's self-confidence plummets. And Zora finds herself pregnant--for the second time--with Franklin's child. In alternating chapters, McMillan lets her characters tell their own stories, and their voices ring strikingly true--although Franklin's raunchy opening monologue does the book no favors. What comes across loud and clear is the strength of the bond between these two characters, no matter how ragged it gets from the friction of everyday life. And things do get ragged before they get better. Zora, fearing for her physical safety, has to sleep with a butcher knife under her pillow and get a court order against her lover. Franklin has to leave home and hit bottom--hard--before he can work his way back up. A tad heavy on the pop-psych (Franklin's mom never loved him, so he has a hard time with women, etc.), but, overall, an honest and stirring story about two people who win every inch of their happy ending--the hard way.

Pub Date: Aug. 21, 1989

ISBN: 0451209133

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION