Terry McMillan

Author profile

born

October 18, 1951 in Port Huron, Michigan, The United States

gender

female

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Terry McMillan is an African-American author. Her interest in books comes from working at a library when she was sixteen. She received her BA in journalism in 1986 from the University of California at Berkeley. Her work is characterized by strong female protagonists.

Her first book, Mama, was self-promoted. She achieved national attention in 1992 with her third novel, Waiting to Exhale, which remained on The New York Times bestseller list for many months. Forest Whitaker turned it into a film in 1995. In 1998, another of McMillan's novels, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was made into a movie. McMillan's novel Disappearing Acts was subsequently produced as a direct-to-cable feature.

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Books by Terry McMillan

Average rating: 3.73 · 17,446 ratings · 1,197 reviews · 12 distinct works

	Waiting to Exhale 3.75 avg rating — 4,284 ratings — published 1992 — 27 editions	My rating:
	Disappearing Acts 4.00 avg rating — 2,902 ratings — published 1989 — 14 editions	My rating:
	How Stella Got Her Groove Back 3.51 avg rating — 3,365 ratings — published 1996 — 21 editions	My rating:
	Mama 4.01 avg rating — 2,005 ratings — published 1987 — 19 editions	My rating:
	A Day Late and a Dollar Short 3.80 avg rating — 2,022 ratings — published 2001 — 21 editions	My rating:
	The Interruption of Everything 3.55 avg rating — 1,307 ratings — published 2005 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Getting to Happy 3.23 avg rating — 1,337 ratings — published 2010 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction by Terry McMillan (editor), John Edgar Wideman (Goodreads Author) 3.93 avg rating — 149 ratings — published 1990 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Waiting to Exhale/Mama/Disappearing Acts 4.14 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 1994 — 2 editions	My rating:
	It's OK if You're Clueless: and 23 More Tips for the College Bound 4.06 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2006 — 7 editions	My rating:

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Interviews

September 2010, Terry McMillan
"Books on Her Nightstand: The dynamic female characters from Waiting to Exhale return 15 years later in Getting to Happy. The writer shares her currently reading list." ...More

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Quotes by Terry McMillan

“Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't
have, or won't ever have. We spend too much energy being
down, when we could use that same energy – if not less of it
– doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we
really want to do.”
― Terry McMillan

35 people liked it

“Men cheat. They lie. They love porn. The don't respect you and don't care if they hurt you. It's the fucking breaks. Women divorce 'em 'cause we can't tame 'em or train 'em or control 'em like we do household pets. End of story.”
― Terry McMillan, Getting to Happy

20 people liked it

“I was tired of chasing ghosts, hollow men who were outside my comfort zone, men who had nothing to give me except a rush. It was all I asked for, and all I ever got.”
― Terry McMillan, Getting to Happy

13 people liked it

See all Terry McMillan's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

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