Rating: 
Summary: How Lena got her groove back
Review: "The Hand I Fan With" is an outstanding example of why publishing houses hire editors. It's a good 450-page book, but it could have been an extraordinary 300-page book.For those unfamiliar with the book, it's an odd blend of romance and science fiction. Lena McPherson is successful in business but lonely, until Herman -- a smart, kind, handsome, sexy man -- enters her life. Herman and Lena's story (interspersed with flashbacks) unfolds one summer in Lena's hometown of Mulberry, Georgia. This could have been a lovely book -- in fact, it *is* a lovely book. Herman is darling, though a little too good to be true. The story of the budding relationship is touching and lyrically written, and Ms. Ansa's descriptions of love, sex, landscapes -- even food -- are lush, sensual, and immediate. But like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, when Ms. Ansa is bad, she's horrid. Stream of consciousness didn't even work for Faulkner. At one point, a character won't follow a recipe because, "She disdained them. She would look at a recipe as though it were written in Venusian, and she didn't read the language. What she meant was that she refused to follow a recipe". This is exactly the sort of passage that editors are paid to keep off the finished page. It's not only awkward and overwritten, it's almost nonsensical -- are there people who *can* read Venusian? The last sentence is also redundant -- saying "she disdained them" was sufficient for most of us to have figured out her opinion. In a flashback, one of Lena's Catholic school classmates slaps a nun for looking at her while saying, "Everybody's mother can't be counted on to dress them like virgins in Mary-like dresses". Aside from the awkward, stilted dialogue ("Mary-like dresses"? Does anybody actually talk that way?), I don't even understand the insult: That she isn't a virgin? That she doesn't dress like a virgin (whatever that means)? That her mother doesn't know enough to help her pretend to be a virgin? Granted, the book is partly fantasy, but it should be *believable*. The insult, to the extent that it's even comprehensible, is slight -- certainly not enough for an eighth-grade girl to strike a teacher and risk expulsion right before graduation. Another drawback is the author's depiction of Lena. Since she's the main character, that's difficult to overlook. I'm borrowing from Dorothy Parker here, but it's my observation that when an author informs the reader, in blazing neon letters, that a character is too wonderful for words, the effect on the reader is usually counterproductive. We're repeatedly bludgeoned with exaggeratedly flattering descriptions of Lena's fabulousness in every particular. Lena is gorgeous. Lena has an incredible body. Lena looks years younger than her age. Lena is loved by everyone (except her romantic rival, who's jealous anyway) -- when an anonymous truck driver blows his horn at her for almost hitting him head-on, *he's* the villain. Lena is so brilliant that her college professors fantasized the Nobel Prize for her -- not for *themselves*, mind you -- for *her*. Lena has astounding success with every business venture she tries. Lena cares nothing about money, yet is still rolling in dough. Sometimes, this praise is sappy, fawning, and/or dull (since I don't care how much younger than her age Lena looks). Other times, it's so inappropriate as to be jarring, e.g., when Lena is in the shower and hears someone breaking into her house, but "no matter how she wrapped the towel around herself, she still managed to look cute". It also suggests that you can get a good man -- provided you're rich, beautiful, and look at least ten years younger than your age. How about a book where the heroine is loved and has a happy, fulfilled life, even though she's only averagely attractive instead of a supermodel? Then there are overwrought -- and far too frequent -- descriptions of Lena's clothes. She overdresses ludicrously for every occasion, e.g., white silk slacks over a black teddy for a picnic in a barn. Silk slacks for a cocktail party or elegant restaurant, fine -- but a picnic? Who wears white anything in a barn? Didn't the bottom half of the black teddy show through the white slacks? Doesn't the woman own a pair of jeans? Another flashback describes Lena's college shoe wardrobe, which wouldn't have fit in any dormitory *room* I've ever seen, let alone any dormitory *closet*. These overly elaborate desciptions of Lena's overly elaborate clothes eventually result in the book's low point. Lena is ready to board the train to college, wearing a wool suit, stockings, and high heels; and her mother makes a comment so silly that it made me laugh out loud. She says that Lena's outfit is "perfect for traveling". A wool suit, nylons, and high heels are perfect for a thousand mile ride' across the Deep South' on a non-air-conditioned train' in AUGUST? I'd bet money that neither the temperature nor the humidity went below 95 throughout the entire trip -- anybody crazy enough to wear that outfit would have roasted alive -- never mind the fact that you might as well show up on a college campus in a Victorian gown and parasol as a suit and high heels. The only thing that outfit is perfect for is somebody's retro fantasy of travel -- it's about as well suited to actual travel as a hoopskirt. A certain amount of desciption enhances a book -- the glimpses of family and small-town life are heartwarming, and the romance is lovely -- but this goes beyond the point of diminishing returns. Ms. Ansa takes a sweet, imaginative story and smothers it in Martha Stewart-esque details. A bad book is simply bad. A good book that got semi-ruined by annoying plunges into soap-opera is far more disappointing. It's still a good book, but I wish I'd read the book it *could* have been.
Rating: 
Summary: too many descriptions -
Review: I know some books take some time to develop and i enjoy lengthy descriptions, but unfortunately every page is a lengthy description of every possible thing. I was reallly looking forward to a nice read - but had to stop after 70 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Passionate, Erotic Love Story!
Review: The Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa is a fascinating and entertaining novel. Lena McPherson, the protagonist of the story, is the hand that everyone in Mulberry, GA depends on physically, financially, emotionally and socially. Lena seems to have it all-the latest car, a thriving business, beautiful clothes, a fancy home, community status and so many people who depend on her call her "the hand I fan with". But Lena's life is strangely empty. Lena lacks the love, comfort, support and companionship of a man, and so Lena and a friend perform a magic ritual designed to "call her up a man". And a man Lena receives in the form of Herman(ie Her-Man) a ghost over 100 years old. Herman is the perfect man and helps Lena to understand/learn that she can give all she has to give and still have love left over for others. But do the townsfolk appreciate the new Lena or are they put off by the makeover and to what extent will they go to show Lena how they feel about the changes that she has made. Due to mixed reviews, this book sat on my bookshelf for two years before I finally decided to read it. Aside from some parts of the story which were overwritten/too overly descriptive(i.e. Lena's house, Lena's clothes, Lena's shoes..et al) I really enjoyed this story. While Lena was the subject of the story, Ansa was really speaking to all women. In The Hand I Fan With, Ansa teaches us that as women it is important to explore the issue of how one lives as well as how one loves. She wants the reader to see beyond the clothes Lena wears or the car Lena drives, and see how women, can live a full life on this planet. How we live a spiritual life in the midst of plenty or in the midst of deprivation. How we reach the balance of duty to others and self-fulfillment. How attachment to things and fixing and doing saps us of the joy of living. How it is possible to be a mother without giving birth or without formal adoption. For this is a woman's story of giving too much to others without thought for self. It is the story of how many women live our lives in a rush of accumulating and sacrificing. It's a story of self-realization and the journey to change. I must admit I'm sorry I listened to others as I missed out too long on an intriguing and delightful read. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It was a story that I wanted to read in one sitting, but the story was so erotic and delectable that I decided to read it slowly and savor it for as long as I could because this was one story I really didn't want to end. Sometimes you can't believe what you hear or read you just have to pick up a book for yourself and see if you like it. The Hand I Fan With was that book for me. I'm glad I finally indulged myself as this book was worth the read and is one of my Top 10 reads for 2001.
Rating:
Summary: The Man of Every Womans Dreams
Review: This book was a must read for myself and all of my sister friends. If I recommend it to every woman that I know. I started reading the book one Sunday evening. It was such a wonderful read I found myself sitting at the traffic light trying to get snippets of the book in. I read it every chance I could get and was so disappointed when it ended. I can't wait until Miss Ansa writes a sequel to this book. My girlfriends and I would love to see this book made into a movie. Ving Rhames would be the perfect man. All I can say is that every one needs herself an "H" man.
Rating:
Summary: All parts of the book
Review: This book is good and the author IS a gifted writer and the story is good. That story had so much realness in terms of emotions. Like, We all want those thing she had and received from Herman. The love story is good and the reminiscences are good. It is kind of long-winded, though. Like I could relate to the love and I gave it to my man cuz it reminded me of our relationship. But I knew he probably didn't read it because it took so long to get into it. Lot of details But overall good. If you really like to read a lot then get it. If not skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Closer to 3 and a half but it feels right
Review: African-American fiction is difficult to hold, slippery and new to identify, like fresh fish slapping into a boat with no ones hands on it. Will it flop right on out the boat or will it lay long enough for someone to grab it? I'm on vacation so I'm tearing through about 6 books a week, whatever my hand lands on I read and I finished Ugly Ways---laughing to myself and nodding with an Umm hmm--y'all know what I mean and discovered that I had another Ansa novel in a box so I dove in. Is it a good book? Would I give it to someone as a gift and say "Here, baby, read this, it'll help your heart." Yeah, I would and will. For awhile the love that everyone had for the spiritually in tune Lena was getting on my nerves, it was smothering but that was what it was meant to show and Her-Man showed up (anyone catch that play on words?) and Lord it got hot! There are a couple of chapters that start out with what Lena likes that I can't even type up in here but it was a true-true graphic---not hard and trying to be all hot to itself but simply the naked, sex true-true of the matter. Into the book I was trying to figure out where this could go, how this was gonna end and then I realized it wasn't so much about Lena and Herman and her coming to accept her gifts and be at peace but it was about the Disease to Please. I've had it and got the cure (comes in a small bottle labelled NO!) and that's what this book is really about. Lena wasn't responsible for everyone liking her, being okay in their own lives, doing well, listening to their stupid problems, making sure they took care of themselves---it was about Lena, 45 yrs. old standing up into fully of who she was and who she was suppose to be and not spending her life tending other people's gardens. She grew up, folks. That's what this book is about aside from all the ghosts and hoodoo, it's about accepting folk but not prostrating yourself for them and when I realized that, this little fish of a book sat right on up in my boat, let me put my hands around it and I smiled. Yeah, I guess this is a 4 star book. P.S. What's so wrong with a book being about a respectable woman getting herself well done? Be a lot happier people if there was less time judging and more time pleasuring each other....One word. Period.
Rating:
Summary: Blistering!!
Review: When I heard this book was about ghosts I thought nah! But I couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity to get better aquainted with Lena. She'd captivated me in 'The Baby of the Family' and I was ready for more. I am really glad I persevered. The plot is tight and you find yourself rooting for an improbable ending. As a bonus the love scenes are scorching!
Rating:
Summary: IS HE REAL?
Review: THE HAND I FAN WITH is one of the most enjoyable and memorable books I've read in years. It has the perfect mix of humor, passion, and mysticism for everyday life situations. It's the story of Lena, the "IT" woman in her small town. She has the best of everything that a successful and generous woman could want - except a good man. Unbeknownst to her, her special powers summon up Herman, a man perfect in every way, except one ... he's a ghost. THE HAND I FAN WITH also looks at how people really feel when someone else is successful. It's a hilarious and touching race through independence, passion, love, loss, and back to independence and contentment. This one was really hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: the hand i fan with
Review: I have this book in audio form it was the best way for me. With Sheryl Lee Ralph voice it was so believeable I had to look around a few times. I would love to see this on screen with unknown actors I hope this book one day gets picked up for the big screen. This book will hold your intrest all the way to the end. I listen to it at least once a year.
Rating:
Summary: VERY ENTERTAINING
Review: THIS BOOK WAS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST AND ENTERTAINING I HAVE LISEN TOO. TO REALLY APPRECIATE IT YOU MUST LISEN TO IT ON AUDIO.
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