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Summary: This book is so good, I read it in one week!
Review: Terry really showed her skill as a writer because she wrote the character of Franklin so perfectly, I could see this man as a real person. Terry writes with this kind of sass that only a black woman can do.
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Summary: Get it together before you get caught in love
Review: First the bad news. If both of the characters were supposed to be so smart why did they use soooo many four letter words. I wish some man I was in love with would tell me to f-myself. That book would have been over before he could get to the second word. And I agree with some other people who commented, I don't think Zora should have gone back to him either, he hit her, he raped her, wanted to kill her, and felt he was above changing his son's diaper. Brother would need more than dimples and ebony skin to make me put up with that mess. But anyway the message was the BOMB! Both of the characters are very real. HEr character development is unparalleled. I know at least 20 people like both of them. She starts the book off with each one of the characters making a vow to themselves that they are going to live up to their highest potential and not let love or anything tangle their feet. But then, they meet each other.. and yes they really are meant for each other. But they do everything prematurly, and they have sex before they really know each other or themselves. And boy do they have sex. SEx.SEx SEx.It eventually causes all of these distractions jealousies and other bad stuff. Eventually they both find themselves thinking, hey where am I, I'm so wrapped up in this other person it seems like I've disappeared. Hence the title. It teaches that before you can fall in love or lust with some one else you must first get yourself together or else you really won't be an enhancment to anyone else's life. McMillian is a good writer, cusses like a sailor, but an excellent writer. She basically shows a lot of women and men why potentially good relationships tend to consistently blow up in their faces, its not the people that they date who have the problem, its partly them not living up to the best of who they are. To all those people who didn't get the ending, I'll explain it for you. Franklin was always preoccupied with sex,remember? Well for the first time in the book, he obstanied. This shows that bo! th of them have made a commitment to themselves to change their ways that kept them from success and happiness and being an asset each other's lives.
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Summary: The Book That Starting Me Reading for Pleasure
Review: Terry McMillian is such a gifted artist. I met her once in Oakland, California. She was shocked that so many people came to have her sign their "Waiting to Exhale" books. She was so sincere. It is clear that Terry's books are a reflection of her life. First "Mama" and growing up with so much uncertainy, other then of course her Mama's love. Then "Disappearing Acts", and growing into adulthood. This book is clearly about the initial attraction and then her first true love. The book focuses on the relationship she shared with her son's (Solomon) father. The excerpt in Essence magazine began Terry's career. Franklin and Zora loved. They loved hard. But when the relationship turned sour, and Franklin allowed his ego to get in the way of his trust of Zora, the whole thing got ugly. Which was actually too bad. Fortunately life goes on. The "Waiting to Exhale" generation owes Terry McMillian. She brought our (the 30 something, single, professional, desirable women) situation into focus. Where are all of our men? I'm glad to know that "Stella got her groove back" with the young man on the Island. You go girl!
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Summary: A Realistic Portrayal of Love (Warts and all)
Review: Well, i didn't like Waiting To Exhale at all (too Danielle Steelish for me), this book was truly amazing... i had my husband read several of the parts where i felt McMillan truly "got it" with male-female relationships. yes, Franklin was a loser, but do stories need to be about Prince Charmings or the girl totally being unbelievably strong and true? when it comes to love, many of us fall in love with a less than perfect person....and we stay with them. The fact, that this story dealt with this i thought made it way more plausible than some story where Zora totally got on with her life and learned to live without Franklin (perhaps, in the cliche of these type of stories, zora would have started her own female business or something...a'la First Wives Club (movie)). Zora was a real character, as was Franklin warts and all...
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Summary: A LOVE STORY???? I THINK NOT.
Review: To me this novel is not a love story, but relationships like this one do exist. Franklin a lazy high school drop out who thinks that the world owes him something, and Zora a good woman who truly stands by her man. Sound familiar anybody?!?!? Honestly the story itself was very good, I could have done without all of the bad language, and the ending was DRY!!!
Rating:
Summary: A WELL WRITTEN NOVEL
Review: THIS BOOK WAS WELL WRITTEN. THE DESCRIPTION OF FRANKLIN WAS VERY ACCURATE. FRANKLIN IS LIKE ALOT OF MEN BUT NOT ALL. THE BOOK WAS THE KIND OF BOOK YOU CAN READ OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THIS IS ALSO TRUE OF MANY MORE OF HER BOOKS. SHE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE WRITERS. YOU GO TERRY.
Rating: 
Summary: review of Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale
Review: I thought the ending of this book was so disappointing that it really affected the entire story which was a really good read until then. I am disappointed and surprised that the author chose to keep together a man who had actually raped his girlfriend. It also surprises me that so many people are so in love with this book. People do change but there was no realistic explanation of how Franklin was now worthy of trusting.
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Summary: This tape is a collector's item
Review: Avery Brooks IS Franklin. As I read the book, I had a feel for what Franklin was like. When I heard Avery Brooks' interpretation of Franklin, I "knew" him. Mr. Brooks' reading rounds out the character and is a perfect complement to the author reading Zora's words. If you liked the book, you'll love the audiocassette. This one's a keeper. On those cold Chicago nights, it's SO good to have Avery Brooks (and Terry McMillan) read me a bedtime story...
Rating: 
Summary: This book should never have had a happy ending!
Review: I find it very hard to believe that this was considered a romantic novel. The male character Franklin was crude, disrespectful and lazy - and I suppose the reader was supposed to be happy when everything worked out in the end! I would have rejoiced if Zora had given Franklin his "walking papers" for good. I feel sorry for anyone who actually related to this unhealthy relationship, and would be disturbed if they actually viewed this as the romantic novel. I loved "Waiting to exhale" - but i have to admit, "Disappearing acts" disappointed me. I hardly read the last couple of pages because it was disheartening to think that Terry Mcmillan actually thought that was a suitable ending. In my opinion it was a novel about a woman who gets trapped in an abusive relationship, and goes back to that relationship because she hasn't been treated like a human being and a lady long enough to know any better!!! Just the language that the chararcters used towards each other was a blatant show of disrespect
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Summary: Stereotypes in Writing
Review: Terry McMillan uses stereotypes in her writing. She attempts to create friction by giving her characters certain stereotypes. This serves to make her book more interesting. - E. Cocca, BDH
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