Ugly Ways

Rating:
Summary: ugly ways is excellent
Review: I read it a few years ago and it was better the second time around. Awesome. I knew the three sisters, mudear and the dad
on an intimate level

Thank you Mz McElroy

Dr Patricia Gordon

Rating:
Summary: Madear is a dead version of my living mother
Review: I thought I was reading my autobiography. I can relate to this book so well. My sister and I read it at the same time and kept calling each other after each chapter. We named every character in the book and laughed throughout. It was wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Who doesn't have a Mudear in their life?
Review: My own late mother was a sweetheart, but her evil sister that helped raise me was Mudear. She may not have been as extreme, but the orneriness, the cutting words, and complete oblivion to the pain she created was similar to Tina McElroy Ansa's character's. And I know of plenty others like her -- mothers, grandmothers and stepmothers. When this book was first published in 1993 there was all this discussion about how the author exploded the myth of the selfless, loving Black matriarch. I don't kow that I agree with all that, but Tina McElroy Ansa is one of my favorite authors, and I loved this book.

This book was sad and funny. Some of Mudear's sayings had me in tears! Who in the world would rear their girls with the axiom "A man don't give a damn about no woman"? Mudear even had the girls repeat that to their father.

This book is about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Not that Hallmark, sunshine and ice cream stuff, but the sometimes bitter relationship between adult females and the woman who shaped their lives. Gathering for a funeral is something we've all done. That's the time for reminiscing. I enjoyed how the author used that occasion as a vehicle for the Lovejoy girls to come to terms with their mother who brought them neither love nor joy.

Rating:
Summary: The book was very amusing.
Review: The mother was quite an interesting character. Toward the end of the book is where I found the hilarious part coming into play. I never understood how the father of the girls and husband of the mother kept patience throughout his wife's lifetime. I have read all other books by Tina McElroy Ansa and they are equally enjoyable, I can't wait to read "The Hand I Fan With". Keep up the good work Tina

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Story With Issues¿.
Review: The novel focuses on the lives of Mudear, her three daughters (Betty, Emily, and Annie), and husband (Ernest) and the havoc she caused in their lives. The author weaves back and forth through time to paint a sad story of children struggling to make sense and adjust to a night-time gardening, TV-watching, self-absorbed, man-hating, non-nurturing, dictator-like mother. While the husband/father, Ernest Lovejoy, can escape into his job at the chalk mines, the everlasting effect she has on her children's life is profound. Mudear believed she was instilling virtues of self-reliance, independence, and self-confidence into her daughters, but soon learns (via her ghost) the motherly lessons has wrecked havoc in their adult relationship with men, has lead one daughter into a rushed marriage just to escape from home, and contributed to another's nervous breakdown. Although all the girls are successful professionally, it stems from their desire to please Mudear and satisfy her very high expectations. The pivotal event is the mother's funeral where it brings the family together and only then do the years of suppressed anger, resentment, and frustration finally surface and the healing begins. The book is easy to read and follow-there are detailed descriptions, and lots of funny, entertaining dialogue to keep the story flowing.

Rating:
Summary: interesting soap opera about 3 black sisters and mother
Review: the novel reads like a power struggle between a man and a woman which results in the three sisters' taking care of one another without the support of a maternal role model. The author implies the women's considerable success may have resulted from a forced independence, persistent efforts to attain the mother's positive attention, and their need to support one another. The pivotal event of the mother's funeral brings the family together and illustrates the damage done by a failure to achieve a balance of power between a father and mother. There is much amusing dialogue among the sisters about their erratic relationships with boyfriends and ex-husbands.

Rating:
Summary: simply refreshing to read
Review: This book is a must for fans of Terry McMillian books, where the real is told. Nothing to me is more touching then the mothers funeral.These three sisters are something else.The three sisters together to mourn their mother's death. Thats the one time a family really spends every aching moment together!! Please read!!!

Rating:
Summary: Be ready to laugh and alarmed with Ugly Ways!!
Review: This book is exciting and then again it is scary. Briefly, this book is about two sisters who come back to find out that their mother is dead, but not buried. All the women have to bury their past in order to move on. This is a great book and to find out if they really buried their mother you will have to read to find out. This book is easy to read and it will keep interested...not to mention laughing!!! :)

Rating:
Summary: Be ready to laugh and alarmed with Ugly Ways!!
Review: This book is exciting and then again it is scary. Briefly,this book is about two sisters who come back to find outthat their mother is dead, but not buried. All the women have to bury their past in order to move on. This is a great book and to find out if they really buried their mother you will have to read to find out. This book is easy to read and it will keep interested...not to mention laughing!!! :)

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!!!
Review: This book kept me reading until I finished! I could not put it down. Ms. McElroy is an inspiring writer. Great Read