Disappearing Acts

Praise for
Disappearing Acts

“Full of momentum…a pleasurable, often moving novel.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“A down-to-earth portrayal of love, yearning and self-preservation….
Disappearing Acts
is brimming with energy and the hard facts of life.”

—
The Kansas City Star

“Beautiful and easy to get lost in.”

—
Cosmopolitan

“Gripping and moving…intensely realistic…Terry McMillan demonstrates one of the fiction writer’s most impressive skills: the ability to create and inhabit very different characters with absolute authenticity.”

—
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“With
Disappearing Acts
, McMillan firmly places herself in the same league with other acclaimed black female writers such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, and…Zora Neale Hurston.”

—
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“An abundance of flash and energy…a gritty slice of life…an edifying experience.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“An authentic portrayal…with a wholesome freshness…speaks not harshly of one sex, but honestly of an often-strained bond between men and women—love.”

—
The Baltimore Morning Sun

“Wonderful…The talk is frank, but the emotions underneath the story…strike honest chords throughout.”

—
The Dallas Morning News

“McMillan has her own voice and her own stories to tell…. McMillan gives us ordinary people discovering what love is and what it requires….
Disappearing Acts
is wonderful.”

—
The Seattle Times

Praise for
A Day Late and a Dollar Short

“A glorious novel…A moving tapestry of familial love and redemption,
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
transported me into Terry McMillan’s fictional world and, like the best fiction, helped illuminate the corners of my own heart. [It] dared me not to laugh, cry, and shout upon recognizing this glittering, complicated portrayal of African-American life.”

—
The Washington Post

“Reading
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
, you may…head for the freezer for a pint of Haagen-Dazs to complete your self-indulgent bliss. By the last pages you’re weeping. You’re laughing. You’re hooked. It’s oh-so-good.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“A delicious family saga…poignant yet hilarious. McMillan has an uncanny ability to render family conflict with both humor and compassion. In
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
her skill is honed to a razor-sharp edge…. An affecting and life-affirming read…[which] constantly surprises as it enlightens. A triumph.”

—
Los Angeles Times

“[McMillan] in top form…moving and memorable.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“Terry McMillan…has a true comic gift. Funny, finely crafted, profound…contemporary African American naturalism at its best.”

—
The Village Voice

“Terry McMillan’s slam dunk of a novel should nail cheers from her longtime fans and fill the rafters with delighted new ones. This book is a gift.”

—
New York Newsday

“A touching and funny portait.”

—
People

“McMillan’s writing effectively illustrates strong emotions such as grief, rage, and vulnerability. No one captures the speech patterns of working-class black folk and middle-class strivers better than McMillan. [She] takes private pain and fashions it into a document that both entertains and enlightens.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“Terry McMillan does a first-class job of capturing the complex and dynamic tension of [family] relationships. The characters are powerful and real, and the theme of family dissension masking a hard-fought love is universal. McMillan is both a superb storyteller and a woman possessed of a clear musical magic with words…. Fully engaging, funny at times, sad at others, and well worth reading.”

—
The Denver Post

“Riveting dialogue, vivid characters, and gut-wrenching humor.
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
hallmarks the struggles of a modern black family.”

—
The Chatanooga Times

“The novel is all about family. Not just a contemporary, black middle-class one like the Prices but everyone’s. With side-splitting candor, McMillan tells the story of just about every household from Seattle to Miami. Her characters…are real and complex; we relate to and root for all of them.”

—
St. Petersburg Times

“A moving and true depiction of an American family, driven apart and bound together by the real stuff of life: love, loss, grief, infidelity, addiction, pregnancy, forgiveness, and the IRS.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“Great storytelling with…McMillan’s trademark earthiness and wonderful dialogue. This bestselling author has a rare gift for creating living, breathing people on the page.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

More praise for
A Day Late and a Dollar Short

“An ambitious, redemptive novel. The story of the Price family transcends race.
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
is about family, its power to build us up and at the same time, as Mama would say, ‘get on our last nerve.’”

—
The Arizona Republic

“Nobody does it better…sassy, inventive, humorous, and wise. She can make me laugh out loud, but she is just as capable of moving me to tears. As in
Waiting to Exhale, A Day Late and a Dollar Short
embodies McMillan’s belief in romantic love as the most profound expression of one’s humanity.”

—
The Toronto Star

“[McMillan] knows how to write with honesty, insight, and humor about love, family, and relationships. Live with the Price family for a day or two. You will learn some important life lessons as you read a novel that defines the essence of this author’s work.”

—
Tulsa World

“Characters that readers can embrace.”

—
The Buffalo News

“A page-turner…even better than
Waiting to Exhale.
”

—
The Post and Courier
(Charleston, SC)

“A portrayal of African-American family life that could only be told by Terry McMillan.
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
is a phenomenal book…both entertaining and in your face. I loved it.”

—
The Tennessean

“[A] hope-filled and uplifting novel of a black American family trying to find and hold onto the American dream.”

—
Calgary Herald

Praise for
How Stella Got Her Groove Back

“A cast of likable characters, funny lines, smart repartee, and a warm…ending. Irreverent, mischievous, diverting…will make you laugh out loud.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“Terry McMillan is the only novelist I have ever read who makes me glad to be a woman.”

—
The Washington Post Book World

“Rich in detail…leaves you feeling like you’ve just had a gossip with your best girlfriend.”

—
Mademoiselle

“A down-and-dirty, romantic, and brave story told to you by this smart, good-hearted woman as if she were your best friend.”

—
Newsday

“A liberating love story…tells women it’s okay to let go, follow your heart, take a chance, and fall in love.”

—
The Orlando Sentinel

Waiting to Exhale

“With relationships between African-American men and women in the spotlight as never before, here comes McMillan’s report from the front…bawdy, vibrant, deliciously readable. A novel that hits so many exposed nerves is sure to be a conversation-piece. It has heart and pizzazz and even, yes, the sweet smell of a breakthrough book.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

TERRY McMILLAN

A SIGNET BOOK

SIGNET

Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA

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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in Viking and Washington Square Press editions.

First Signet Printing, April 2002

Copyright © Terry McMillan, 1989

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-101-65772-0

A portion of this book first appeared in
Esquire
as “Men Who Are Good with Their Hands.”

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following copyrighted works: “You’ve Changed” by Carl Fischer and Bill Carey. Copyright Melody Lane Publications, Inc., 1942, 1943, 1947; copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission. “I Try” by Angelo Bofill. Copyright © Purple Bull Music (BMI), 1974. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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