Who Asked You?

Funny, sad, tragic, and every page is appealing. Each character is well-drawn and it's not long before it feels like I know them personally. Like many siblings, the sisters are so different from each other with each having a unique view of what is regarded as the right thing to do. The differences between living in a "nice" neighbourhood or in "the 'hood" plays out in much of this family drama of mixed races. The main character, Betty Jean, was my favourite, a grandmother who brings up her daughter's children and suffers the most from her dysfunctional family. This was my first book by McMillan but there will be more.

narrated by Terry McMillan, Phylicia Rashad, Michael Boatman, and Carole DeSanti

The basics: Who Asked You? is the story of Betty Jean, a hardworking hotel room service worker, and her family and friends. As the novel opens, Betty Jean's daughter Trinetta drops two of her three children, each of whom has a different father, for Betty Jean to care for indefinitely. Betty Jean is already struggling with caring for her ill husband, who has a daytime nurse care for him while Betty Jean is at work. One of her sons is in prison. The other never visits and rarely communicates. Her two sisters are always eager to share their opinions. Betty Jean's main source of support is her best friend and neighbor Tammy, who faces family struggles of her show more own.

My thoughts: How Stella Got Her Groove Back is one of my all-time favorite novels. I have read it more times than any other novel in my adulthood. Perhaps because I first read it in high school and re-read it throughout college and my early twenties, I foolishly assumed I had outgrown McMillan. Who Asked You? felt like reconnecting with an old friend, and it reaffirmed my love for Terry McMillan and her ability to create so many life-like characters in a singular narrative.

I was instantly enchanted with this novel and its characters. The novel opens in Betty Jean's voice, and she orients the reader (or listener in my case) to this extended cast of characters beautifully. While there is a large cast of characters, I was never confused and never struggled to tell them apart. Even more remarkably, although Betty Jean is perhaps the core character, as all other characters have a connection to her, she is not the main character in a traditional sense. There are so many narrators who make the story even more rich and layered. The reader sees the motivations and reactions of all the characters, even when they lack self-awareness.

Audio thoughts: I realize more and more how much I enjoy multiple narrators in a book with so many narrators. Phylicia Rashad voiced the older black women, Terry McMillan voiced the younger black women, Carole DeSanti voiced the white women, and Michael Boatman voiced all of the men. Initially, I expected each narrator to only voice one character, but I soon realized how many narrators McMillan was utilizing. One particular delight: Phylicia Rashad narrating a character's thoughts about not measuring up to Clair Huxtable. The narrators all handled scenes with laughter, pain, and wisdom beautifully. DeSanti's narration left me cold at first, but as the novel went on, I think it made sense.

The verdict: Who Asked You? is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming. Listening to this novel was like hanging out with friends so close they might as well be family, and I have missed their presence in my life since I finished this novel. show less

This is a first-rate production of, for my money, one of McMillan's best books. McMillan is a complex and dangerous writer who never shows off and is never predictable. Some of her books have been read as manifestos for self-discovery and breaking free from relationships. Here, she tells a moving story of people stuck in relationships and situations they cannot cast off just by hitting the road with a convertible. The result is a funny, sad and very hard to peg novel about women and men living in Los Angeles in the first decade of the new millennium.

Terry McMillan is one of my favourite authors. I loved the realistic characters in the book. It had the happiness and sadness of real life. I was a bit unsure about the extremely happy ending. Not sure Mr. Heaven was very true to life.

I was thrilled to find this book on the shelf at my local library. I had no idea Terry McMillan had a new novel! I have been a fan of her writing since I read Mama years ago.
Who Asked You is the story of Betty Jean Butler, a woman in her 50's struggling with her husband's Alzheimer's, one son in prison, a daughter addicted to drugs, and another son (a successful chiropractor) who is ashamed of his family. Add to this her two sisters, one overly religious, one overly judgmental (and both with problems of their own). When her daughter drops off her two young sons with Betty and never comes back, Betty is really put to the test.
Told in turns from the point of view of each of the main characters, this story is hard to put down. McMillan is show more an amazing writer- her characters are fully rounded and believable. You can't help but love them all. Well, all except Arlene maybe....
I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to her next novel.

Read this book if...
*you love Terry McMillan
*you love women's fiction
*you love African-American fiction show less

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't get into her last one but maybe I'll give it another try because I liked this one so much. It's about three sisters - Betty Jean, Venetia and Arlene - and also many other characters, including Betty Jean's grandchildren, her friend Tammy, and more. The story had a somewhat slow start but once it took off I was really into it. Terry McMillan has a great ear for dialogue and her writing is chatty and insightful at the same time. I'm looking forward to her next novel.

I was not familiar with Ms. McMillan's writing before reading this book. This is the engaging story of the trials and tribulations and their families with a couple other characters mixed in. The positives of the book is that it is effortless to read and the pages just fly by. Also, there is a good deal of humor mixed into the drama. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character which sometimes took me a while to the gist with the new persona's point of view. Also, the majority of this book takes place in "the Hood" but all the characters have a better grasp of the King's English than I do. One of the son's Dexter. composes an eloquent letter to his mother with not one hint of dialect after several years in prison show more (where he is when he writes it) which leaves me scratching my head. On the whole, however, this is a good story and a well written book.. show less