By Terry McMillanBetty Jean Butler is a woman who does too much. By day, she delivers room service at a declining hotel in Los Angeles. At home, her husband of 37 years, Lee David, has early-onset dementia. Betty Jean’s druggie daughter, Trinetta, drops her two young sons off for mom to babysit for a few days – and never returns. Betty Jean’s oldest son, Quentin, is a much-married chiropractor who is ashamed of his working-class roots. Middle son Dexter is serving prison time for a carjacking.Best-selling author Terry McMillan served up sexy, dishy novels about the love lives of 30something African-American women in Waiting to Exhale and finding passion at 40 with a 20something man in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. The women in Who Asked You? (*** stars out of four) aren’t young designer-draped divas, but middle-aged women coming to terms with life’s disappointments.
McMillan channels each character’s inner voice in briskly paced chapters that are a trademark of her irresistible writing style. Betty Jean, her grandsons and Lee David’s nurse Kim are especially compelling. Betty Jean shows a dry wit even in moments of sorrow, observing at a funeral that son Dexter’s girlfriend Skittles “tried her best not to look like a stripper but came up short.”
At 56, Betty Jean remains hopeful about her future, despite the heavy responsibilities she bears. Disappointed in the way her children have turned out, she blames herself, fearing she should have hugged more and yelled less. A devoted grandmother, she fights to keep young Luther and Ricky on a positive path.
Who Asked You? doesn’t have quite the pop-culture appeal that Waiting to Exhale and Groove captured. But it taps provocative veins for book club debates: life after a marriage ends; the high rate of imprisonment of black men; grandparents raising children; discovering a child is gay; and the bonds among sisters, to name just a few.
One scene that’s sure to provoke conversation involves nurse Kim, who provides an unusually intimate level of care to Lee David. It’s a crude and unnecessary episode.
Who Asked You? captures the universal human desire to offer advice — however unwanted — to friends and loved ones. You didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway: This book is worth reading. USA Today via Google Entertainment
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