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Waiting to Exhale
(Waiting To Exhale #1)
by
Robin Stokes is a successful insurance professional recovering from a deadend love affair. "They say love is a two-way street. But I don't believe it, because the one I've been on for the last two years was a dirt road." After months of depression, shopping, and dating all the wrong men, she's getting by with a little help from her friends - and still determined to fine th
...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
November 27th 2001
by Washington Square Press
(first published May 28th 1992)
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Showing 1-30
Read this in the early/mid-nineties before the movie came out (which I also really liked and cemented my devoted fangirling of Angela Bassett).
This is a case where I actually thought the movie was better than the book. The scene where Angela Bassett's character torches her philandering husband's vehicle with all his worldly goods inside was worth the price of admission.
That’s What Friends Are For
I originally read WAITING TO EXHALE in the 90s when I was a teenager. A group of us decided to reread the story to see if it would have the same impact on as mature women. I have never reread a book before. I was under the impression that doing so the story wouldn’t be as interesting and predictable. As key parts of the story, the line up from the movie played out, I could actually hear Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine and Angela Bassett’s voices.
Savannah ...more
I originally read WAITING TO EXHALE in the 90s when I was a teenager. A group of us decided to reread the story to see if it would have the same impact on as mature women. I have never reread a book before. I was under the impression that doing so the story wouldn’t be as interesting and predictable. As key parts of the story, the line up from the movie played out, I could actually hear Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine and Angela Bassett’s voices.
Savannah ...more
Feb 24, 2008
Tracey L.H.
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to feel a Black woman's pain
I read this book in high school and I was disgusted! Then in African American Lit class for my junior year, we watched the movie, and I still hated it!
But it wasn't until I went to college that the book and its' leading ladies reverberated with my soul and outlook on men, life, and love!
One of my friends, who is Hispanic, said the book was stupid! And I and every other black woman looked at her and said she was crazy as hell! And I vehemently told her she'll NEVER experience what Black women fee ...more
But it wasn't until I went to college that the book and its' leading ladies reverberated with my soul and outlook on men, life, and love!
One of my friends, who is Hispanic, said the book was stupid! And I and every other black woman looked at her and said she was crazy as hell! And I vehemently told her she'll NEVER experience what Black women fee ...more
Audio # 147
Fantastic novel about empowering women who aren’t perfect but can learn from their mistakes. I loved being given a peek into their minds and listening to them make their decisions. I’d probably make the same ones.
Fantastic novel about empowering women who aren’t perfect but can learn from their mistakes. I loved being given a peek into their minds and listening to them make their decisions. I’d probably make the same ones.
Aug 19, 2011
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
This is the tale of four black women who are friends in early 1990s Phoenix, Arizona. I can't say I found any of the woman all that likable; they're so whiny and man-hungry. We first meet Savannah, never married and without children at thirty-six. She's affluent, doing well in her career in public relations, but tired of being single and of the faults of "buppie" (young black urban professional) males. She tells us, "I worry about if and when I'll ever find the right man, if I'll ever be able to
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Not exactly sure why I read this. I suppose it was entertaining enough, but the writing was atrocious. The dialogue seemed wooden and disjointed (not to mention unnecessarily vulgar at times), but maybe since I was born in '86 I can't properly understand the plight of thirty something black women in the early '90s. Either way it was a quick read. I didn't hate it, but I also was disappointed by the lack of resolution at the end. I may have been better off just watching the movie, lol
Before the pap that was How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Terry McMillan wrote the brilliant Waiting to Exhale, a story of four female friends and their triumphs and failures in their relationships with men.
::: The New Musketeers :::
As the novel opens, Savannah has just quit her job to move to a new job in Phoenix, where her friend Bernadine lives, in hopes of furthering her career and moving from public relations to television producing. Bernadine herself has just found out that her husband has n ...more
::: The New Musketeers :::
As the novel opens, Savannah has just quit her job to move to a new job in Phoenix, where her friend Bernadine lives, in hopes of furthering her career and moving from public relations to television producing. Bernadine herself has just found out that her husband has n ...more
This book has so many early 90s moments that I was often laughing as the characters listen to Paula Abdul in their Nissans while committing various fashion and hair crimes. No suede dress or fuschia lipstick is left undescribed.
The detailed episodes of lousy sex that the main characters endure with every possible kind of loser are funny and icky. Also the constant swearing and foul-mouthedness is great. This book has a light-heartedness that is endearing. Things are bought and used for pleasure; ...more
The detailed episodes of lousy sex that the main characters endure with every possible kind of loser are funny and icky. Also the constant swearing and foul-mouthedness is great. This book has a light-heartedness that is endearing. Things are bought and used for pleasure; ...more
Господи, какая отличная книга
Jun 09, 2014
Black Carrie
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cherry-s-favorites
the movie & the book were great ! I read this book in High School =)(= & i SEEN THE MOVIE BEFORE THAT. THE MOVIE DID THE BOOK JUSTICE & THEN SOME. I CAN SEE MYSELF AS A ROBIN :).
I think all the women deserved what they got especially your girl Bernie she's the real winner and had a good heart through and through.
These women were successful, intelligent, & just fed up (who wouldn't be) black women deal with alot and these sista's did and still remained strong and depended on eacho ...more
I think all the women deserved what they got especially your girl Bernie she's the real winner and had a good heart through and through.
These women were successful, intelligent, & just fed up (who wouldn't be) black women deal with alot and these sista's did and still remained strong and depended on eacho ...more
More like 4.5 stars
Waiting to Exhale is one of those books I should have read years ago. Literally every woman and her mama have become familiar with the lives of Savannah, Bernadine, Robin and Gloria, and I did also, but through the movie version (which I love). But now that I've finally read the book, I can say it lives up to the phenomenon it once was back in the early 1990s. Of course, it's much more fleshed out in the book, and I can see how Terry McMillan stirred so many black women and ho ...more
Waiting to Exhale is one of those books I should have read years ago. Literally every woman and her mama have become familiar with the lives of Savannah, Bernadine, Robin and Gloria, and I did also, but through the movie version (which I love). But now that I've finally read the book, I can say it lives up to the phenomenon it once was back in the early 1990s. Of course, it's much more fleshed out in the book, and I can see how Terry McMillan stirred so many black women and ho ...more
I love how nineties this is! I WANT to hear about people dancing to Caribbean Queen, Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul!! McMillan draws such great characters too - and has such a lovely, real storytelling style - I was surprised about how salty the language was! And I loved it! It made me laugh.
it is light - think sex and the city before sex and the city even existed - and its mainly about getting a guy (which got a little tiresome after a while) but under the lightness there's grit and steel! of co ...more
it is light - think sex and the city before sex and the city even existed - and its mainly about getting a guy (which got a little tiresome after a while) but under the lightness there's grit and steel! of co ...more
Great quick read!
This was my second time reading the book. I first read it in high school, because I'd always heard the book and movie were really good. When I read it in high school, I lowkey hated the characters. I thought they were birds, and didn't understand all the wrong choices they made in men. But I was like 15, 16 years old so I thought I'd think better of it if I read it now since I'm older. Well I'm 24, almost 25 now, and I still think they're birds and I don't understand all of the bad choices they
...more
One of my favorite books by her.
Phenomenal book! I read this book thinking that it would be something that I wouldn’t understand because of adult women problems. I finished thinking about how I’m going to face things like this in the very near future! Terry McMillan does not disappoint! 10 Stars!!! Reading Getting To Happy next!
Sep 25, 2017
Jill
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
novel,
genre-contemporary
I really liked it, but the situation with the father was wrapped up and brushed off too quickly.
I love the book and the movie! I saw the movie first and I had to read the book. Great book and definitely one of my all time favorites.
It was a bit difficult to keep up with all the different storylines, but I got it after a while. This book is a roller coaster, but it's very real to a lot of Black women. I have seen this happen to friends of my mother and my mother even. It's a story that needed to be told from this perspective. Ms.McMillan did a good job.
IQ "I know I'm not going to hear from him. And I hate the thought that I made a fool of myself. That I spilled my guts. Made my most intimate feelings known. How could somebody who acted so since be so insincere? How could he play with my feelings like this? I would never do this kind of shit to anybody." Savannah, 372
^Speak.On.It. It's probably just the frame of mood I'm in right now but those words perfectly capture how irritated I feel right now at placing myself in a similar situation. And t ...more
^Speak.On.It. It's probably just the frame of mood I'm in right now but those words perfectly capture how irritated I feel right now at placing myself in a similar situation. And t ...more
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up. I'm trying to read writing with more diverse experiences and points of view, and I have a vague memory of seeing the movie and enjoying it--mostly Angela Bassett's fiercess and that crazy scene where she destroys her husband's car.
So either my memory is faulty or the book is a lot different than the movie. Honestly, I didn't like this very much. And even though I didn't really like this book, I don't know if it's because the characte ...more
So either my memory is faulty or the book is a lot different than the movie. Honestly, I didn't like this very much. And even though I didn't really like this book, I don't know if it's because the characte ...more
This is my third time reading this novel, but luckily so much time passed since the last time I picked this book up, it was like reading it for the first time.
The beginning started off sketchy. All of the characters had my side eye ready to explode, but as I delved deeper into the story, I grew closer to them, and better understood their pain and plight. I saw a lot of the old me in all of these women, which at some points made me sad, and at other points made me extremely happy that I'd learne ...more
The beginning started off sketchy. All of the characters had my side eye ready to explode, but as I delved deeper into the story, I grew closer to them, and better understood their pain and plight. I saw a lot of the old me in all of these women, which at some points made me sad, and at other points made me extremely happy that I'd learne ...more
Wonderful reading - sweet and easy, but leaving a taste of solitude on the tip of your tongue. I found bits of myself here and there in every female character, as I'm sure every woman who reads it does. After all, as different as we are, most of the time it's about the same things: solitude, first moment excitement when you seem to have found The One, disappointment, passion, fireworks, bitterness.... etc.
Huge thanks to the author for leaving it without all those cheesy happily ever after ending ...more
Huge thanks to the author for leaving it without all those cheesy happily ever after ending ...more
Nov 24, 2007
Linda
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those in between relationships
Shelves:
chick-lit
I started and finished this book on Thanksgiving day 2007. (My parents work Holidays so festivities were bleak) I think I'm going through a breakup? Dude completely stopped calling. Great book to read if you want to speed up the recovery. Reminds you some men are just pansies and you're lucky if you have good friends to take the edge off the stings.
Twas a therapeutic experience.
Funny because I watched the movie for the first time 2 years ago after a more substantial breakup and it was one of m ...more
Twas a therapeutic experience.
Funny because I watched the movie for the first time 2 years ago after a more substantial breakup and it was one of m ...more
This book was okay for me. I enjoy McMillan's style of writing and really wanted to love the characters. I rooted for their stories but struggled to care once I realized that their lives were so focused on men with little resolution, they were desperate and needy and I couldn't identify with any of them. There is just so much more to life than men and it seemed almost that the characters didn't enjoy anything else. I will say I enjoyed the sisterhood but there is so much more for them to experie
...more
This was such an enjoyably readable book. It wouldn't pass the Bechdel test... and that is JUST FINE. This book is a poignant snapshot into the lives of four late 30s black women living in the early 1990s. They are navigating the perils of being women, of being black, and of being at various stages of single. The book captures the times and the struggles. It is written realistically, in language real people used. The characters were all very vivid, and the development moved at the right pace to
...more
Listened to Waiting To Exhale by Terry McMillan. This book is about 4 ladys. ROBIN STOKES is a successful insurance professional recovering from a dead-end love affair. "They say love is a two-way street. But I don't believe it because the one I've been on for the last two years was a dirt road." After months of depression, shopping and dating all the wrong men, she's getting by with a little help from her friends -- and still determined to find the Real Thing ...
BERNADINE HARRIS has the kids, t ...more
BERNADINE HARRIS has the kids, t ...more
This book is a 3.5 and not a 3 but also definitely not a 4 stars book.
I liked the first half but during the second half I started to get bored. Not much happened and all the talk about men started to bore the hell out of me to be honest. I love books about women and their friendships so I thought this would be a great book for me which it was at first. I do remember I did watch the movie which I really liked and I think was very different then this book.
Normally I hate reading a book once I've w ...more
I liked the first half but during the second half I started to get bored. Not much happened and all the talk about men started to bore the hell out of me to be honest. I love books about women and their friendships so I thought this would be a great book for me which it was at first. I do remember I did watch the movie which I really liked and I think was very different then this book.
Normally I hate reading a book once I've w ...more
I'm actually sad that the novel ends here. I am glad the leading ladies all got their happy endings. I heard there's a sequel, but as I've heard mixed reviews, I'm not sure if I'll be picking that up.
More thoughts to come, but McMillan fit a LOT of the black community's issues into 400 pages without doing too much. Waiting to Exhale is just as relevant today as it was back in 1992.
More thoughts to come, but McMillan fit a LOT of the black community's issues into 400 pages without doing too much. Waiting to Exhale is just as relevant today as it was back in 1992.
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| Play Book Tag: Listopia Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan - 4 Stars | 3 | 11 | Sep 09, 2018 11:52AM |
Terry McMillan is an African-American author. Her interest in books comes from working at a library when she was fourteen. She received her BA in journalism in 1986 from the University of California at Berkeley and the MFA Film Program at Columbia University. Her work is characterized by strong female protagonists.
Her first book, Mama, was self-promoted. She achieved national attention in 1992 wit ...more
Her first book, Mama, was self-promoted. She achieved national attention in 1992 wit ...more
Other books in the series
Waiting To Exhale
(2 books)
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“It’s not that marriage itself is bad; it’s the people we marry who give it a bad name.”
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