Books like Waiting to Exhale

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 has decided it’s time to leave Denver. She’s hoping that even though she’s taking a pay cut, that life in Phoenix will be very different for her, especially in the love department. Bernadine’s husband, John, has just informed her after eleven years of marriage that he wants a divorce. While she wasn’t happily invested in their marriage, she never expected that he’d bail on her. Robin has been doing every single thing she could think to find a man to love her. Each man she believes is the one has some sort of affliction or another. Gloria has spent her entire adult life raising her son, Tarik, and running her beauty salon, the Oasis. Successful in business, the women are all dealing with issues ranging from weight, caring for their parents, low self-esteem, single parenting, and stupid exes. The friends learn to navigate through it all and support one another. What I absolutely love about WAITING TO EXHALE is that McMillan allows you to see the women in different stages and witness their growth. While desperation is the obvious fear, they all learn to love themselves, which is a very important lesson for all women.