This is what I really needed to read right now. It was funny and at times heartbreaking. Terry McMillan does such an awesome job of writing strong black women characters. Her latest follows 68 year old Loretha Curry. Loretha is not feeling so content with her life. Her daughter (Jalecia) and sister (Odessa) are not speaking to her. Her son lives in Japan with his wife and twin daughters. She loves her husband (Carl) of many years though and runs a successful beauty business. However, when Loretha experiences an unexpected loss, we follow her and other characters (Sadie, Korynthia, Poochie, and Lucky) through a year where a lot of changes comes to her and life-long friends.
Loretha is a caring women and though she's angry at her daughter for her constant run-ins with the law and her drinking, she still tries to be there for her. She tries with her granddaughter Cinnamon and makes an unexpected connection to someone that comes into her life that has connections to her husband Carl. Loretha does make you want to shake her sometimes though. She has a health condition that she thinks ignoring will make it go away (she sounds like all of my great aunts I swear) and has some dated attitudes about mental health, but I was glad to see her change that up throughout the book.
Loretha's friends made me laugh since I started thinking that this is how some of the women from "Waiting to Exhale" would have behaved when they get to this age. I just died at some of the exchanges between the group of four women who have seen each other at their best and worst. I don't want to get into every character's development, but man oh man, only best friends can read you for filth and tell you they love you five minutes later.
The writing was really good at times though the flow got wonky in places (why I gave this four stars) and I think the ending was a bit too rushed (another reason why I gave this four stars).