Rating: 
Summary: Reggie in Bmore
Review: this book was recommended to me by my special lady, sinnypoo,
and i throughly enjoyed reading it. i times i caught myself laughing out loud at some of the relationships they guys in this book were involved in. if you want to read something that will have you laughing and also you may even have been through youself.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately, I bought all the hype, and wasted $13.00
Review: During the last few years, I have been very disappointed in the quality of Contemporary African American Literature. I purchased "Men Cry in the Dark" upon the recommendation of an acquaintance and I trusted this individual's judgement. Never again. This book and its plots and subplots were not carefully thought out, nor cleverly crafted, and poorly written, at best. In college, I enrolled in a beginning creative writing class. From day one, the instructor of this class emphasized "Show your readers, don't tell them. Show, show, and show some more." I now understand what that instructor meant. Throughout Mr. Baisden's book there is nothing but telling and shabbily constructed dialogue between the characters. "Men Cry in the Dark" was bland and did little to capture the essence of friendships between black men and how they relate to black women. The whole time I was reading this "train wreck" I kept asking myself, "I wonder how much of this is really fiction, meaning that Derrick, the protagonist and his life had some strong similarities to Baisden's life? For example, both were from Chicago, both worked unrewarding jobs and took risks, both were well regarded and were on radio talk shows. Also, Michael Baisden has his own magazine in real life. Anyway, I feel that Baisden had the best intentions when he began writing this book. After all, after Waiting to Exhale, there were some critics that felt the book was too negative in its portrayl of African American men. In subtle ways, I do feel that this novel is negative as well. For example, women are constantly belittled for being too materialistic. However, on every other page it seemed that Derrick was talking about the Boucheron perfume Angela was wearing, or Mark's love of luxury cars, or the no good women his friend Ben was always trying to have relationships with. I also found another scene in Baisden's book unrealistic. In the restaurant, where Angela and Derrick met, there was a man that was harrassing Angela. Even following her in the bathroom. In the novel, Angela unmercifully beats this man up. I find it hard to believe that a woman could inflict that much physical harm to a man. The way he described the scene was more telling than showing, and in general it was just unbelievable. At that point I lost credibility in the story that I was being told because of how it was presented. Secondly, Tony's wedding was supposed to be one of the books highlights. Instead, I felt like I was rushed through that scene. I felt that this was a very important, once-in-a-lifetime occassion for this character, and Baisden did a very poor job of describing the moment and allowing the reader to actually be there. As a reader, I want to feel like I am there and a part of the event. There was too much telling and not enough showing. Thirdly, there was no closure and resolution in Mark's relationship with his Caucasian lover. As a reader, I felt like I was left hanging. Again, what best describes this book and Baisden's work as a whole would be overrated and oversensationalized. All I can say is the people that give this book four and five-star ratings must have not read literary works by the greats like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou. As a reader, I like to explore and visualize. There wasn't any of that in Baisden's book. Hmmm... you know, I should really consider a career in writing, since garbage like this is revered by the masses. I'm quite sure I could come up with something just as good if not better!
Rating: 
Summary: Not recommended
Review: Like some others, I was told this was a must-read by a good friend of mine so I had the expectation of something at least halfway decent. I had already read the joke "Never Satisfied" so I should have known better than to waste my time. Michael Baisden is humorous and I can almost see where he tries to go but it's too bad he never gets there. Who told this man to keep trying? What's up with switching POV's over and over? If it was in any way consistent, it could have worked but that would have been too much to ask. If you want to kill time, read this book. If you want to kill brain cells try Baisden's "Maintenance Man".
Rating: 
Summary: Must Read FICTION
Review: Sisters, wake up! This book is a definite must read. I've read a lot of the reviews here, and it seems to me that some of you can't handle the male point of view. Since this is a FICTIONAL story based on FICTIONAL people I decided to read it again to see if I missed something. I can't speak for everyone, and I'm not saying my opinion is right but like it or not here goes. For decades, women have been given theories and explainations about why men cheat by these so called relationship experts and professionals, and women have really bought into it. But nobody ever questioned the women's behavior. I didn't hear too many of us complaining when we turned out by the thousands to see 'Waiting to Exhale.' Now that a brother has come out to tell things from a man's perspective, everybody wants to cry foul. What he is saying is new and unfamiliar information, but just as valuable as ours. Not everyone enjoyed the book, but to attack the author personally shouldn't come into it. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very realistic, the story easy to follow, but it was also thought provoking, entertaining, and informative. The ending was perfect. Sisters, we all need to think like Angela. Short term pain is a lot easier to deal with than long term problems coupled with long term pain. Mark had a lot of issues, but in my opinion, he needed to learn to love and accept himself and let go of the past. I really admired Tony for going out of his way and sticking to his guns when it came down to dealing with Valerie. Some women can be just as bad as some men. And I really admired Tracey for sticking by her man, while taking care of her business too. Ben was a real sweetie. Too bad he couldn't be seen for more than just a 'nice guy.' As far as Vanessa goes, we need to keep our business concerning our men on the downlow. Derrick got what he deserved. I understood why he did what he did, but he was obviously used to doing this sort of thing and getting away with it. It was good to see that he acknowledged that he got what he deserved too. It would be nice to see if his character has applied what he learned from that experience in a future book (hint,hint!). Watch out men! There are some Angelas running around out there! As a black female who enjoys reading books penned by black authors, it's refreshing to see our brothers stepping up to the plate and writing books about themselves, and creating positive images of themselves in doing so. We can continue to argue, cry, and holler about the state of relationships between black men and women. But if we're going to talk, let's talk about EVERYONE'S shortcomings, and yes, men and women, we ALL have some faults and issues. One finger pointing the blame isn't going to resolve anything. You keep doing what you're doing, Michael. I'll always be a supporter of you, the rest of our black male authors, and black men in general, and I'm looking forward to 'The Maintenance Man.' And you're right. It's nice to see a black person proving that success can happen without holding a microphone or dribbling a ball. May god bless and continue to open doors for you!
Rating: 
Summary: over rated
Review: This book is very overated... I was recommended this book by a friend and I was into at first, but as I got further into I realized that there were too many subplots, and that things got solved too easily, at least in my opinion. It was not very believable, like the ease in which Angela befriended Vanessa, and Vanessa jus showing up in the club with Derrick? some things jus could have been written better, he needed to elaborate on some parts, even the sex scenes seemed to be forced in there. read only if its free!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not recommended
Review: Like some others, I was told this was a must-read by a good friend of mine so I had the expectation of something at least halfway decent. I had already read the joke "Never Satisfied" so I should have known better than to waste my time. Michael Baisden is humorous and I can almost see where he tries to go but it's too bad he never gets there. Who told this man to keep trying? What's up with switching POV's over and over? If it was in any way consistent, it could have worked but that would have been too much to ask. If you want to kill time, read this book. If you want to kill brain cells try Baisden's "Maintenance Man".
Rating:
Summary: Off the Chain
Review: This book was the best book I ever read, the author is great and so is this book. This bool made me want to start reading and I reccomend this book to every one especially men. Because it definitely is for us.
Rating:
Summary: Not impressive
Review: I read through this book in a very short amount of time. I think I was looking for the good stuff, but I got to the end before I found it. I agree with another reviewer: there have GOT to be men out there who are searching for women with a little more than a great face and body. His characters seem so shallow, immature, and childish. Any reason is a good reason for them to cheat, be it the fact that he didn't like her dress to it being Tuesday. Mr. Baisden also has taken to criticizing women who would rather date a man with money in his novels, yet every chance he gets, he engages in senseless name-dropping and bragging about how much money the characters have. Why can't he say, "He put on his suit, tie, and watch, and got in the car" instead of "He put on his Armani suit, Gucci tie, and Rolex watch, sprayed on some Herrera cologne, and slid behind the diamond-encrusted wheel of his $75,000 Benz." Good grief! How irritating?!? Please give us credit for wanting to see some good character development instead of visualing material things throughout the whole book. It seems pretty contradictory to me that Mr. Baisden talks about women wanting money as trifling but he continues to throw the money around in readers' faces. This is the second book I have read by this author and I have not been impressed by either one. If you really feel like reading this, please check out your local library.
Rating:
Summary: a sexy, touching, thought provoking book
Review: I loved it, it made me cry, and laugh, and think. Its really good.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Still CRYING!!!
Review: My mother has been hounding me to read this Michael Baisden's "Men Cry in the Dark", insisting that it would change my life. Well, it did. I've been crying every day since I started reading that waste of paper. While many other reviewers made mention of the poor grammar and spelling that littered Mr. Baisden's prose, my main problem with the book was the poor plot, lack of character development and the overall "wackness" of the book. I refuse to believe that this book is an accurate portrayal of what African-American men say, do or think. However, if it really is, then someome, please, stop the bus and let me get off! I refuse to believe that there are nothing but one-dimensional brothers out there who only concern themselves with a woman's physique, sexual prowess, or the color of her skin. Mr. Baisden spent an inordinate amount of time and text defending the interracial relationship between characters Christie and Mark. I personally could care less if a brother decided to date outside of his race. However, I know there are some people who believe otherwise. Mr. Baisden took the antagonists' view of this relationship to the extreme -- with characters calling each other derogatory names, and resorting to childish behavior to express their disapproval. Come on, Mr. Baisden. Give me a break! The plot was contrived, and chock full of big-name references that were supposed to show us what Mr. Baisden knows about the African-American culture. Big whoop. If he had poured as much time into developing a real plot and realistic characters as he did in throwing all kinds of stupid details (Bucheron, Armani, Rolex, etc.), he probably would have turned out a more thought-provoking product. This is the first, and probably last book of Mr. Baisden's that I'll bother to read. I do not recommend this book at all to anyone...even to my worst enemy. (If there is a reader out there who can convince me that Mr. Baisden's work is worth another chance, please feel free to email me!)
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