Rating: 
Summary: Realistic Even If You Can't Relate To It
Review: I think that many women have at some point been in one of the four main characters shoes. We've all been dumped for another woman. We've all made stupid decisions in relationships and we've all put ourselves in a self-defeating relationship at one point in time. I'd love to meet the woman who was born perfect - born with all the right ideas about love and relationships. Sure, I wanted to tell Robin and Savannah to stop slutting around but it didn't make me angry or annoyed with the book. I noticed that many of the other reviews expressed that they became angry with the book because of the premiscuous behavior that some of the characters were involved in. Those of us who have been lucky enough to realize that sex does not equal love should applaud Terry McMillan for showing this to other women who are behaving like Savannah and Robin. Furthermore, for those of us who have been in Bernadine's shoes I was so glad to see that there was light at the end of the tunnel - that she rediscovered herself and she rediscovered love with the RIGHT man. A worthwhile read for ALL women. No matter what race or lifestyle we lead every one of us faces similar struggles.
Rating: 
Summary: Resurrection
Review: They say that the phoenix rises from its own ashes and is reborn. With much of the action of this book taking place in Phoenix, Arizona, the four leading characters all experience a fall and rebirth.Without giving away too much, Gloria comes closest to a literal death and rebirth because of her health problems. I love happy endings, and Gloria has one. Bernadine's fall occurs very early in the story, when her husband abandons her for a younger woman. Her war is fought in the courts, the "bad guy" being her lying, sneaking husband who is trying to keep all his money away from Bernadine and the children. Savannah and Robin are similar in that they both fall for great looking men, and give away too much of themselves too soon. Their resurrection is one of the spirit, when they learn to stand up for themselves and stop being doormats to handsome men. All four of these main characters are black women in their late 30s, and the biggest complaint in their lives is that black men are selfish, deceitful, arrogant, etc. Fortunately, Gloria and Bernadine find out that it isn't always that way. There are some gems out there. As for Savannah and Robin, they learn to re-evaluate their priorities. With superficial values like a handsome face and a chiseled body, you are bound to end up in a superficial relationship. This book is very easy to read. At first I misunderstood the author and disliked her characters because two of them were so annoyingly superficial, craving one pretty-boy or another, defining men in terms of looks only. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because I see that the author felt the same way as I do. If you want to find a moral here, it is that a woman really shouldn't sell herself cheap. She doesn't need to lay down with every handsome guy she meets, the day she meets him.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the film
Review: I had not expected much having seen the movie version but I was pleasantly surprised. Waiting to Exhale is wonderfully written with great characters. It has depth and is not a shallow romance. The characters are believable and likeable. It far surpasses the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting to Exhale, 10 years later.
Review: Funny, witty novel about four women in Phoenix: Savannah is the unmarried buppie in search of Mr. Right at age 36; Robin is the ditzy bimbo who can't shake her trifiling lover Russell; Gloria is the overweight owner of a hair salon who hopes to find true love, and Bernadine is the mother of two kids and is reeling from being dumped by her husband for a younger white woman. This novel has been often imitated, but never duplicated. Many authors have tried (and failed) to top Terry McMillan's insightful novel, and they all come up short. If you've seen the movie, then you need to do yourself justice by reading this novel which goes into far greater detail than the movie ever did. It will broaden your understanding of relationships, regardless of your race, gender, or sexual orientation. And contrary to conventional opinion, this is NOT a male-bashing novel but rather a bold statement that the Sisters out there are mad as hell and are not gonna take any more nonsense from the Brothers. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting To Exhale
Review: The author Terry McMillan really let it all out when writing this book. This book was a book that I believe that every black woman can relate to. It was written with excellent taste, and the gospel truth about black men and women relationships. It was funny, it was sad, it was loving. I can actually relate to every page in this book. This book is excellent, excellent for entertainment, this book will have you talking for weeks. I read this book while riding the metro to work, and it had me laughing out so loud, people were wondering what was wrong with me. I highly recommend every woman of color to read this book. I like the book much better than the movie! Get this book, it's a book that you can not put down. I have actually read this book while having Sex!, my boyfriend was upset! It's very hard to put down, I'm telling you! GET IT! I brought the video and watch it constantly everynight!, My children come into my room, and look at the television, and see the same movie everynight, and say OH COME ON MOM NOT AGAIN! I advise you to go an get this book today, or order it on the internet, it worth every dollar. I can't wait for more of Terry's books to come out. So far, I have read all of girlfriend's books. Terry get the pencil out and start writing, I'm waiting.....friend in Bowie, Marylan
Rating:
Summary: interesting story about 4 very different women
Review: I liked reading this book about four African-American women in their 30s in the atypical urban space of Scottsdale, AZ. I found it interesting that Savannah, the character later portrayed by Whitney Houston in the 1996 movie, is an ardent Whitney Houston fan. My favorite character is Gloria, overweight and mother to a teenager she had when she herself was a teen. Gloria is the most sympathetic one --- she has love for others who will gladly use her and love only themselves. She is the type of woman we both admire and pity, as her nice caring ways often leave her at the mercy of other's cruelty. Robin proves rather vain -- I love when one character notes, at the gym, that Robin's breasts look like cantalope halves and don't move no matter what she does. Every last one of them, even the strong Bernadette, have trouble with men but also some success. They just take it as it comes but still strive to make it better. They are not victims.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book.......
Review: if you love lousy writing. Terry Mcmillan's books are a tribute to illiteracy and bad taste. I have no problem with the basic premise: 4 female friends trying to find as fulling a relationship with men as they have with each other. However I felt like I was watching a talk show rather than reading a novel. There's nothing wrong with using the vernacular of the day as part of the story (see Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God") but McMillan displays an utter lack of writing and storytelling skills. Waiting to Exhale is to good writng like Jerry Springer is to good TV: it's simple-minded, moronic, and popular.
Rating:
Summary: something sad about this...
Review: I thought this was a fun read some years back..well-written..hence my first inclination to give it 2 stars, but taking another look..if a man ever wrote about his "repulsion" over sex with an overweight woman, the way Robin describes sex with Michael, we'd be taking to the streets in protest...there was such an unkindness to it..and this was a woman with a dear, overweight friend...I'm changing my mind..back to one star..too much shallow emphasis on looks, money, etc..it's not a race thing..it makes all women look bad. Well, maybe just these women..I'd like to think some of us are different.
Rating:
Summary: INSULT YOUR INTELIGENCE
Review: MADE FOR LIGHT READING, MAYBE GrADE SCHOOL i hope not.IS this is what little girls dream about becomming? on one level in its designer cum innality THIS BOOK IS brilliant INDICTMENAT OF NUMB SELF ABSORBED,WANT MORE EVERYTHING EMPTY CONSUMERS, IN THE LAND OF YOU BECOME WHAT YOU HEAR, ONSLAUGHT OF DESIGNER SLOGANISM PIMPISM, WANTS WANTS ROMP THROUGH SUOBUORBAN BLAND.INDOCTORNATE AS OPRAHISMS womens wish fill fulling get it while the clock ticks age, gorfor it isms babes,WITH GUSTO ,just around the next aisle future.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Magical
Review: Several years before "chick lit" became fashionable, "Waiting to Exhale" was published. While the four main characters are African American, the book transcends all racial, ethnic and national boundaries. All four women share one problem universal to the entire female gender: men. Savannah is a PR executive who is moving from Denver to Phoenix to be near her best friend Bernadine. Bernadine has just been told by her wealthy husband that he is leaving her for a white woman. Gloria is the owner of an upscale hair salon for black women in Phoenix and the single mother of a teenage son. Robin is a very smart woman at her job at an insurance company and an incredibly dumb woman with men.
The book narrates (two of the stories are told in the first person, two in the third) the dating trials and tribulations of these women. Any woman who has ever dated in her late 30's will recognize the cast of characters: the married men who "plan to leave their wives," the men who have no money and no credit, the commitment phobics, the men who discover they are gay... I would recommend this book to fans of women's literature: both serious and lighter. If you're a guy, you should pick this book up with caution!
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