Terry McMillan: The Unauthorized Biography

The Unauthorized Biography was an interesting and entertaining book. I did however feel, it left out a lot to be said for Tery's life ! The story Dianne Patrick told was Terry's life thru her novels ! While she did get some co- operation from others and what other people have said in the past thru articles . It is clear from the begining Terry was not interested in her doing her biography ! Which is the case in most unauthorized biographies ! I will applaud Dianne Patrick in her telling of the biography . She enlightened us on a lot of the things in the industry of writing ! She gave us more than a biography . I will admit if you are interested in Terry's life as it relates to her novels you might want to buy this book in the paperback version . As stated above I enjoyed the read, it just wasn't as much of a biography as I had thought ! I wished Terry had co-operated with Dianne. I think Dianne could have done a better (great) job with the facts ! Dianne did showed us how a phenomenal author came to be thru the eyes of her novels !

Terry is a very inspirational aurthor. She paved the way for many african american writers. I like her style because it is set a part from the rest of the other authors. I learned a lot about the history of black aurthors. She talks about when she was little she thought that only white people wrote books untill she came across a book with a black aurthor and she was amazed. She simply thought that there were no black people wrote books. She said that she came from a towm where it was boring and the people there had dead end jobs. She is from a very small town and she really wanted to get out of it so when she graduated she moved to California and didn't stop untill she met her solemate who she met in Jamacia. She wrote a book about it and it called How Stella got her groove back but she changed it up alittle. She wrote two books that they changed into a movie they did really well. She said in the book that she wasen't going to make any more movies no matter how much rhey offerd her. I really enjoyed reading this book because it helped me to realize some imformation that I didn't know and also was in the dark about

Sometimes the life an author leads is just as exciting and fascinating as the books they write. Just like LOVELY ME (on Jacqueline Susann) and PRIVATE DEMONS (on Shirley Jackson), this biography reads as fast and entertainingly as fiction.

This biography of Terry McMillan is just as entertaining as her novels. As most fans know, McMillan's novels are somewhat autobiographical, but thanks to Diane Patrick's extensive research, we get to find out just how close fact and fiction were. It's also fascinating to read about the Terry McMillan-Alice Walker tiff that Patrick unfolds like a puzzle through McMillan's interviews and Walker's essay in ANYTHING WE LOVE CAN BE SAVED (in which Walker gave McMillan the pseudonym of Anna Caday). Although the book is an "unauthorized biography", it has the feel of Terry talking to the reader because of Patrick's extensive use of her wise and tart quotes from interviews and essays. Aside from honoring the talented McMillan with her first full-length bio, Patrick also captures the shifting changes in the publishing industry and spotlights those writers who won contracts and fans in McMillan's wake (such as Connie Briscoe, Bebe Moore Campbell and Benilde Little). Fans will enjoy learning more about their favorite author and as a bonus will end up learning more about the publishing industry. A sensational, fast read!