Who Asked You?

 Who Asked You?  by Terry McMillan    400 pages

Well, life hits you full-frontal and who asked you if you want to have to deal with it all?  Nobody.   Who asks you if you want to stay and take care of a husband who is mentally slipping further and further away from you because he suffers from Alzheimers and you are his caretaker?  Who asks you if you want to take on two of your grandkids to raise because your daughter is on crack and dropped them off at your house for you to babysit but what you don't know is she decided to abandon them and move to Atlanta with her boyfriend on a whim?   Who asked you to put up with your uppity son who forgot where he came from and is putting on airs?   Who asked you to have to put up with your jailbird son who won't stay out of trouble and never admits to his own wrong doing always blaming someone else or society or the man and expects you to take his collect calls and put money on his books for canteen items in the penitentiary and expects you to send him more money to buy law books so he can become a lawyer when he gets out and so he can defend himself and other black men in the joint who couldn't afford a lawyer and who's public defender told them to plead guilty?   Who asked you if you wanted to put up with one of your sisters who is always telling you your problems come because you don't go to church and aren't religious enough and the other sister who always wants to know all your problems so she can criticize you for not handling things better.    Who asked you if you wanted to give up your dreams to work in a hotel for minimum wages and very occasional tips?   Huh?   Who asked you?    Betty Jean is faced with all this and more.    Another great book by Terry McMillan.   I highly recommend this author's works and the films made from some of her books.

 - Shirley J.