Thursday, July 06, 2006
How Stella Got Her Groove Back – Terry McMillan (Sweet)
I am not sure how to react to “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”. The storyline was different and fun. However, I couldn’t get past the grammar and writing style. I do understand the need to write in a particular way to establish “your style”, but it did not work for me. And my personal opinion is that McMillan is a bit (unnecessarily) racist and pokes fun at white folks without a real context (no, I am not white). Of course I have no right here to say much because I never went through the hardships that blacks went through sometime ago. But when you want to present such facts and want to make a point, I think you should do it in a more tasteful way.Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy - and she does it all. She does it all well, too, if her chic house, personal trainer, BMW, and her loving son are any indication. So what if there's been no one to share her bed with lately, let alone rock her world? Stella doesn't mind it too much; she probably wouldn't have the energy for love - and all of love's nasty fallout - anyway. But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world gets rocked to the core - not just by the relaxing effects of the sun and sea and an island full of attractive men, but by one man in particular. He's tall, lean, soft-spoken, Jamaican, smells of citrus and the ocean - and is almost her son’s age. The tropics have cast their spell and Stella soon realizes she has come to a cataclysmic juncture: not only must she confront her hopes and fears about love, she must question all of her expectations, passions, and ideas about life and the way she has lived it.
Just go ahead and read it for the fun of it. Ignore the grammar and writing style and you’ll end up enjoying the book. After reading this book, you’ll surely want to visit Jamaica, mon!
# posted by Zette Remi @ 2:39 AM 
