Items related to A Day Late And a Dollar Short

A Day Late And a Dollar Short - Softcover

 
9780141002743: A Day Late And a Dollar Short
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Much heralded and long-awaited, Terry McMillan's tour-de-force novel introduces the Price family - matriarch Viola, her sometimes-husband Cecil, and their four adult kids, each of whom sees life - and one another - through thick and thin, and entirely on their own terms. With her hallmark exuberance and a cast of characters so sassy, resilient and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page, Terry McMillan has written a novel that takes into an American world we didn't know before - and gives us six fantastic characters whose stories we want to listen to forever.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
A wheezing matriarch is at the centre of A Day Late and a Dollar Short, yet her crisis is only one among many. Each chapter of Terry McMillan's novel reflects a different point of view, which means that the reader has heard from the entire family by the time the story concludes.

There's Viola Price lying in the hospital, felled by another asthma attack. She's weak but not at death's door. In fact, she's cranky and lonesome--her no-good husband has moved out to shack up with a young hussy, while her four grown children have scattered, struggled, married and divorced, succumbing mostly to their own worst selves. Viola's worried about them, but she can't worry forever. Then there's Paris, the "success" of the clan, who can't glean joy from her life because she's so worried about achieving perfection; Charlotte, who can't trust her husband because of a long-ago affair, and who grapples with stress by maxing out her credit cards; Janelle and Shanice, mother and daughter, who live with a terrible stepdad's sexual abuse; and Lewis, perhaps the most moving character, who's a magnet for cops, who always seem to pull him over when he's had one beer too many. His days are masterpieces of procrastination:

"I ain't doing nothing but laying here watching In The Heat of the Night, 'cause I spent my last seven dollars on a forty, a fish fillet, a quarter pounder with fries, a quick-pix lottery ticket, and a pack of Kools".
And his struggle with alcohol isn't exactly promising:
"I ain't been making much progress so, to stop all them red-hot wires from short-circuiting my whole mind, I shut it up with a drink".
Viola lives in Las Vegas, and much of the family drama unfolds in Sin City. While most stories taking place in Vegas concentrate on the city's surreal quality, McMillan is interested in the people who actually live there. In chatty, accessible prose and carefully choreographed scenes, the author fleshes out the lives of the Price clan. A Day Late and a Dollar Short is a story of real people in real struggles: addiction, scary IRS letters, late-night loneliness. Characters emerge from the page walking and talking and going through their dysfunctional paces. And while the Prices remain isolated from each other in many ways, they are nonetheless attached through kinship, memory and grudging love. --Ellen Williams, Amazon.com
Review:
"A glorious novel...without question, this is McMillan's best." --The Washington Post

"McMillan has the uncanny ability to render family conflict with both humor and compassion...a life-affirming read...a triumph." --The Los Angeles Times

"Touching and funny." --People

"[McMillan] in top form." --The New York Times Book Review



-A glorious novel...without question, this is McMillan's best.- --The Washington Post

-McMillan has the uncanny ability to render family conflict with both humor and compassion...a life-affirming read...a triumph.- --The Los Angeles Times

-Touching and funny.- --People

-[McMillan] in top form.- --The New York Times Book Review

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPenguin
  • Publication date2002
  • ISBN 10 0141002743
  • ISBN 13 9780141002743
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages432
  • Rating

(No Available Copies)

Search Books:



Create a Want

If you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!

Create a Want

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780451204943: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780451204943
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group, 2002
Softcover

  • 9780670896769: A Day Late And a Dollar Short

    Viking, 2001
    Hardcover

  • 9780451211088: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

    Berkle..., 2004
    Softcover

  • 9780141002750: A Day Late And a Dollar Short

    Penguin, 2002
    Softcover

  • 9780670911998: A Day Late And a Dollar Short

    Viking, 2001
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace