When Did You Stop Loving Me : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully Written Story and a Touching Novel
Review: Growing up in the 1970s and dealing with an atypical family is the focus of Veronica Chambers's debut novel, WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME. In a surprisingly short novel, just under 250 pages, Chambers is able to evoke the sentiments felt by many during this era marked by the end of the Vietnam War and the fight for Civil Rights. At the same time, Chambers details the story of a young black girl who finds it tough growing up without a mother during the last half of her youth. It is told from the viewpoint of young Angela Davis Brown, born to a beautiful mother who longs for fame and financial security, and a father who teaches Angela the value of an education and the finer side of life.

Angela is loved by both of her parents. Her father is a magician, a very nontraditional trade for someone who is helping to support a family. With his occasional gigs at parties and clubs, her mother is the breadwinner, which isn't saying much. Her parents argue over their finances constantly, especially since her father Teddo refuses to get a "real" job. The focus of WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME, however, starts at the point in time when Angela's mother, Melanie, decides not to return home one day, leaving no note or explanation. Told through flashbacks, the story deals with Angela's coming to terms with Melanie's disappearance, and how she and her father pick up the pieces and move on.

Teddo, who never played a real paternal role in Angela's life, is now forced to be both mother and father to her. Scenes of him trying to do her hair are very touching, as he sets out to prove to his daughter that they don't need Melanie to survive. Christmas is a stressful affair, with Angela desperate to have things "normal," but her father does not cooperate. Angela now starts going to the clubs with her father, since he can't leave her alone at home while he is out working, and she gets a glimpse of a different version of Teddo --- someone who was never revealed to her until now. He's a confident man who knows his audience, and the audience adores him. He is in his element. It is where he belongs.

The story is told in Angela's voice, and the reader gets inside her head as she tries to make sense of her mother's disappearance while trying to move on. A traumatic scene involves Angela and her father as they discuss what may have happened to Melanie. Teddo is very calm as he imagines Melanie living the high-life in Hollywood, and says that they don't need her and that they can live without her. Teddo's lifelong dream is to be an ambassador for an African nation and to live among the African people, and he starts to talk about this dream when he suddenly breaks down and cries. It's been a few months since Melanie had left them, and Angela notes that this is the first time he has displayed any real emotion.

As Angela grows older, she tries to come to terms with her mother's disappearance, feeling at times that she was to blame. It is a typical child's reaction to a parent who is no longer in his/her life, and Angela does her best to understand why Melanie would want to leave her only daughter.

This reviewer loved the writing style that makes this story flow. Beautifully written, the words are concise and to the point. A book like this may or may not be appreciated by someone younger than those who remember the 1970s. But one would think that after reading WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME, people will find themselves either reminiscing about this era or wanting to understand the many references Chambers makes to this time period. Comparisons are often made to African American icons of this day: Muhammad Ali, Isaac Hayes, Cicely Tyson... the list goes on and on. Readers will find themselves smiling as they are brought back to this era of huge Afros, boom boxes, Jimmy Carter, and disco.

But the main draw to this novel is the story of young Angela Davis Brown --- how she grows up without her mother and her relationship with her father. It is a touching novel that will live in the hearts of those who read it. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton

Rating:
Summary: Daddy, Can You Make My Mommy Reappear?
Review: How does an eleven year-old girl deal with the abandonment of her mother? How can the pain be lessened? It cannot but Angela Davis Brown learns to navigate the terrain of pain and mistrust by growing to trust her father, a father who sometimes is ill-equipped to care for a girl child. Teddo, a magician-- almost unheard of in the black community-- holds to his pride. A spouting black nationalist and hurt by his wife's abandonment, he is suffering from his loss and therefore makes mistakes in raising his daughter. Set in 1979, in New York, the music of the times and the racial climate gives this novel a sense of place.

Melanie had dreams and those dreams eventually drove her to become more dissatisfied with a husband who was financially unstable and a dreamer himself. When she left, she left her daughter the only thing she had of value, a pressing comb that symbolized the generations of women before her who sought to beautify themselves before they stepped out into the world. Despite his bitterness and in spite of it, Teddo still clings to the work he feels he is called to do thereby exposing Angela to the seedier side of life in nightclubs and other venues. Angela sees and hears things she should not but a precocious child, she embraces the world outside of her Brooklyn neighborhood. A wise child, she also is not afraid to question her father's racist viewpoints and no matter how much she loves him she still wonders why did her mother leave her?. The irony of the situation is not lost on her when she acknowledges that though her dad is the magician; her mother has pulled the ultimate Houdini act.

This is one that pulls at the heart strings. There is a scene where Angela recounts how though a great majority of the kids at school did not have a father in the home, everyone had a mother. Chambers is able to weave time and place and able to delve into the mind and actions of an adolescent girl. The language is at time poetic, lyrical and metaphoric.
This is a highly recommended read.

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub




Rating:
Summary: Interesting, yet left me with questions
Review: I thought the book was very good. I was quite interested but I just thought it would end differently. I had remaining questions. It seemed like it just ended. I wanted more. The book kept me reading because I wanted to see what would happen to Angela

Rating:
Summary: A House of Knives and Mirrors
Review: Set in 1970's Harlem, WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME by Veronica Chambers features Angela Davis Brown, a child abandoned by her mother, Melanie, and left to be raised by her father, Teddo, a magician. The story, told through the voice of Angie as an adult, delves into the past as Angie attempts to come to grips with her mother's abandonment. What we find is Angie's endurance, her hopefulness for her mother's return, her optimism and lack of hatred towards her mother. Through her musings we are treated to her father's agenda. Teddo is self-absorbed as he ekes a life for Angie and himself. He is consumed with race relations, the movement of the time, but only when it benefits the moment and his goals. Actually this is a story about the pain of abandonment of two people, however, it is through Angie's voice we hear her father's pain as he strives to shield the truth from Angie. Angie also bears some additional truths, some with humor and some with sadness, of the people they come into contact with such as Teddo's male friends, his female acquaintances, the clients he performs for, his bartering skills and Angie's aunt; an aunt with limited contact prior to Melanie's surrender.

Veronica Chamber's prose is excellent and her use of metaphors and similes is fluid and enjoyable to read. The imagery has the ability to take you to this era and through it as you feel for Angie and her needs as a young girl coming of age. I enjoyed listening to Angie because of her quipped remarks, replies and thoughts. The ending is heartfelt as Angie, as an adult, continues to question why her mother stopped loving her.

Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read but boring
Review: This book was very easy to read but boring beyond belief. I also found it odd that the father wore Ferragamo shoes in 1979 and that X-Men and Storm were so prominent in 1979. I don't recall either of these items being mentioned in the 1970's or 1980's.

Angela Esther Brown (aka Angela Davis Brown) was born in October of 1968 to Melanie Aisha Brown and Teddo Brown. Melanie (Mel) Brown is a beautiful woman that could be a model but works as a maid. Teddo Brown is a magician with dreams of being an ambassador to a French speaking African country, even though he failed to graduate high school.

After Assata Shakur graduated Clinton Correctional Facility in November of 1979, Mel felt it was time to escape her life and go to Hollywood, California and try to fulfill her dreams of being an actress or a model. Mel left Angela at the age of 11 with a father unprepared to be a father.

Teddo was a magician who was broke. Although broke, he drove a 20 year old Mercedes and wore Ferragamo shoes and Armani suits (even at the pool). According to Teddo, he had to wear a suit to command respect. Teddo was a bad father. Teddo couldn't comb Angela's hair and he often acted selfishly and inappropriately. For instance, one time Angela vomitted on Teddo. Teddo leaves her on the side of the road with no explanation where he was going or if he was coming back. This act was despicable considering the fact that Angela's mother had just left her five (5) months before. Teddo finally returned 30 minutes later with new shoes and clothes for Angela.

During the 7 years that Angela was raised without a mother, she was almost molested by "Edward" a man claiming to be Teddo's friend and, at the age of 11 made out with Sammy, a 30 or 40 year old man. Also, during the time that her mother was away, Angela and Teddo survived on Pringles, Coca-Cola, Omelets and TV dinners.

In about 1980 or 1981, Angela was accepted into a prestigious private school on scholarship where she played Lacrosse for five years. Angela ended up becoming a probate lawyer. Angela never heard from her mother again.


Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: When Did You Stop Loving me
Veronica Chambers 5 stars

Life for 11 year old Angel Davis Brown turns upside down when her mother leaves to pursue her dreams of stardom. Left in the care of her father Teddo, a Magician Angela longs deeply for her mother and her father refuses to talk about it. Both of them questioning when did she stop loving me?.
The book traces Angela's memories of her mother Melanie and her constant need for a life of stardom. She recalls the stories her mother would tell her. Stories passed down from her Great Grandmother down south. Now left to fend for themselves Angela is raised on omelets and night clubs. As if losing her mother wasn't bad enough, Angela longs for friends, no one seems to notice the girl and they move often. Her father Teddo was comical. His character was strong. In one part Angel and Teddo act out the lines from the movie Mahogany. Angela and Melanie use to do that, Mahogany was Melanie's favorite movie. In the grocery store Angela yells out " I'm a widow from the south side. and Teddo yells back " Who said that?" but this time Angela flips the script when Teddo says " Well madam, do you want me to help you with your landlord?" Angela yells " Hell no! I want you to get my mother back". The only magic trick Teddo can't pull off. As Angela and Teddo move on- post mommy- the discover that they can make it, just the two of them. This story broke my heart. I kept thinking the mother would come back but she never did.
Chambers tells a powerful and very vivid story through the eyes of an 11 year old girl. The book was hard to put down. The end bittersweet.


Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful debut
Review: WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME by Veronica Chambers

WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME is Veronica Chambers debut novel about a young black girl growing up in the 70's and early 80's whose mother decides to leave her family without a trace. It's not only a story of a girl's coming to terms with her mother's disappearance, but also a look back at an era that started with the end of the Vietnam War and the fight for Civil Rights.

Angela Davis Brown's life revolved around the love she had for her parents. Melanie is a beautiful woman who at one time had aspirations to becoming someone famous, perhaps a model or an actress. Angela's father is a professional magician, working at nightclubs and private parties. With his lack of income, her mother is the breadwinner of the family, and Melanie often berated Teddo for not bringing in enough money. When Melanie disappears, life goes on and Teddo does his best to bring up Angela on his own, trying to bring in more money and giving Melanie the sense of family she needs. He doesn't always succeed, but his heart is in the right place, teaching Melanie about life and about her black heritage.

The story is told in flashbacks, using images from the seventies to describe Teddo's convictions of a black man who is trying to survive in a white man's world. Although this story is about Angela, the story about Teddo and Melanie helps round out Angela's search for the answers she needs to explain why her mother abandoned them.

I especially enjoyed the references made to the 1970's, reminscing about the era that I grew up in. But I also enjoyed reading about these characters. I found myself laughing as Angela's father warns her about the bad influences of watching shows like the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family, subservice white man shows that taught kids all sorts of bad things. He didn't want his daughter to be like that! His aspirations for her were to go to upper class white private schools and fitting in with that same crowd. Although his pride in being black was always apparent, he also had a need to be cultured, to be accepted by the upper class white population. He also taught her the gift of reading, and tried to show her that education could be acquired from simply reading a book.

I really enjoyed WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME. It was not what I had expected at all, although I cannot say at this point what I was expecting. After reading this book, I felt a satisfaction that comes from reading a good book, short and sweet, yet it packed in plenty for such a short novel. I am looking forward to more by Veronica Chambers.