A review by elenajohansen
A Day Late and a Dollar Short by Terry McMillan
1.0
I couldn't make myself keep going. DNF @ page 50.
The three characters I got POV chapters from are all unlikable in their own unique ways, but unified in how they present their narratives as though nothing is ever their fault. And that's most of what's on the page--whining about how none of them have gotten a fair shake, how someone else is responsible for their misery, how they'd be better "if only" this, that or the other thing.
It's natural for most people to do some blame-shifting in their lives, I get that. But this was fifty solid pages of "I love my (son/husband/wife), but... (this is how they're awful and I can't stand them anymore.)"
Very little actually happens in each chapter. Viola's, at the start, has her in the hospital after an asthma attack, and her husband comes to see her briefly. His chapter, next, has him realizing he's forgotten his car keys in her room and stalling as long as possible before going to retrieve them, because he doesn't actually want to see his wife again. And their son Lewis, the third POV chapter's character? Near as I could tell, he's actually not doing anything at all but whining.
Fifty pages of miserable family-backstory exposition dump. I couldn't find a reason to get invested in any of these characters.
The three characters I got POV chapters from are all unlikable in their own unique ways, but unified in how they present their narratives as though nothing is ever their fault. And that's most of what's on the page--whining about how none of them have gotten a fair shake, how someone else is responsible for their misery, how they'd be better "if only" this, that or the other thing.
It's natural for most people to do some blame-shifting in their lives, I get that. But this was fifty solid pages of "I love my (son/husband/wife), but... (this is how they're awful and I can't stand them anymore.)"
Very little actually happens in each chapter. Viola's, at the start, has her in the hospital after an asthma attack, and her husband comes to see her briefly. His chapter, next, has him realizing he's forgotten his car keys in her room and stalling as long as possible before going to retrieve them, because he doesn't actually want to see his wife again. And their son Lewis, the third POV chapter's character? Near as I could tell, he's actually not doing anything at all but whining.
Fifty pages of miserable family-backstory exposition dump. I couldn't find a reason to get invested in any of these characters.