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If you are a Terry McMillan fan, in particular, a fan of the characters from Waiting to Exhale, then here comes good news. McMillan's new novel, Getting to Happy, is the sequel to Waiting.
McMillan says that in her new book, Getting to Happy, she wants to address the lives of women in midlife, women in their 40s and 50s, experiencing loss and going through menopause and how these women recover. Some women recover, some don't, she says in the video below.
She is speaking at Island Heartbeats Experience in the Bahamas, held this February, and she discusses women's sadness about men and failing relationships.
"We don't need to be living like this. We deserve more and we should treat ourselves better. ... Your whole life should not revolve around a stupid-ass man. There are too many other things we can do for ourselves to make ourselves rejoice and enjoy who we are and what we do," said McMillan.
She says when she began considering how to address this great sadness, the women from Waiting to Exhale came to mind. The author thought they would be the perfect characters to explore, to see what happened to them as they grew older.
McMillan, who's is also the author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Interruption of Everything, and many other titles, has explored some of these issues in her personal life. In 2005, her divorce made headlines when it was revealed her husband, who she met in the islands, was gay.
In February 2009, McMillan read excerpts from her new novel at Lenoir-Rhyne University's Visiting Writers Series.
Terry McMillan reads from her newest novel "Getting to Happy" from Gary Bartholomew on Vimeo.
The anticipated release date of Getting to Happy is September 7, 2010.
Visit McMillan's website here. You may follow her on Twitter as well, and if you're curious about what the novelist reads, she gives The Atlantic Wire a run down and shares how she manages information overload. It appears that the author reads both mainstream news and blogs.
Photo: Actress Angela Bassett in the movie Waiting to Exhale, based on McMillan's bestseller.
Comments
Side bar thought first. Every time I see this scene from the movie I have to laugh. My best sista/friends always declare that is me. Which is probably true because I have that type of attitude.
This should be an interesting read. I'm curious to see what happened afterwards. I am sure that Terry fused a lot of her personal insight and pain into the work.
I'll definitely be on the lookout for this one.
It'll be interesting to see how these characters have grown or not. BTW - I have enjoyed reading Ms. McMillan's books for more than every hearing her speak. For me, she's a little too common. I have found it a good practice to mostly enjoy authors through their words - not through their presentations or actions. Seeing Ntozake Shange speak years ago cured me of the desire to see most authors in person. I also hope that Ms. McMillan moves beyond her life, her grief and anger, to create literature that illuminates rather than merely regurgitaging.
I am looking forward to reading the next installment of "Waiting to Exhale"! I am sure it will be better than the first...and will have great success when it hits the big screen.
Beauty-of-Books.blogspot.com
I can't wait,this has been a long time coming! Long time fan.Preordered mine did you? Come on September 7th!
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