All I Need to Get By [Paperback]

Sophfronia Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Crita has come a long way from her small-town Ohio roots. A successful tax accountant living in Manhattan, she finally has the independent life that she dreamed of as a girl. However, with one fateful phone call, Crita's life is turned upside down. Suddenly back home, living under her parent's roof, Crita must confront two powerful men from her childhood--Link, her destructive brother with whom she shares a dark secret, and Tree, her first love.

Facing memories that she would rather forget, Crita struggles to reconcile a tumultuous past with a calmer, quieter present. Needing help along the way, she may even learn to lean on Tree, the only man who could ever give her "what she needs to get by." In this riveting debut novel, Sophfronia Scott speaks for anyone that knows just how hard it is to go back home again.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Crita is the eldest daughter in the Carter family. Living in a small town in Ohio, she and her two sisters, Ella and Hazel, have grown up viewing their older brother, Linc, as a larger-than-life figure. His every accomplishment is a triumph for the whole family, and when he falls, everyone suffers. When Crita feels that her home is no longer a safe haven, she runs away to New York, where she becomes a successful tax accountant. When she is called home to deal with a family tragedy, she must contend with unresolved issues on the home front. Coming home means dealing with her sisters and the three men who have influenced her the most: her father, the omnipotent caretaker who values her intellect; her brother, Linc, whose destructive behavior has damaged relationships with those who love him, especially Crita; and Tree, the man who loves her unconditionally. This warm, engrossing story offers themes of reconciliation and sibling loyalty and a harrowing portrait of drug addiction. Scott will most assuredly be recognized for her superb storytelling. Lillian Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Sophfronia Scott's writing is assured and the emotions are palpable. She's a writer to watch."
--Benilde Little, author of Acting Out and Good Hair

"Sophfronia Scott has written a wonderfully warm and wise portrait of family relationships, responsibilities, and going home again that mark her as a writer of depth as well as talent."
--Gail Buckley, author of The Hornes: an American Family and American Patriots: the Black Military Experience from the Revolution to Desert Storm.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading All I Need to Get By. It's a terrific book--beautifully written, really well-drawn characters, emotionally resonant. It's also filled with great integrity--not a false note in there. I'm really proud of you, as I'm sure all your family and friends are, and hope this is the first of many novels to come.
--Susan Toepfer, former executive editor at People

"Sophfronia Scott's words bubble over with love, anger, weakness, strength and the grace note of patience. Each chapter is a road map; each character is a tree, a landmark on a road that winds towards home, in all its shuttered complexity."
--Veronica Chambers, author of Mama's Girl and Having It All?

"Lorain, Ohio, is familiar territory to readers of Toni Morrison, but Sophfronia Scott makes it her own. All I Need to Get By is a stunning debut, a story of family and memory, and the stories we tell about both in order to "get by." The novel is equal parts profundity, humor, and grace, and its author promises to take a place among the best writers of her generation."
--Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Harvard University

"Sophfronia Scott's debut novel is wonderful. What is more heartwarming--and heartwrenching--than the story of a family torn apart, then woven together? Bravo!"
--Soledad O'Brien

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312318561
• ISBN-13: 978-0312318567
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #467,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sophfronia Scott grew up in Lorain, Ohio, a hometown she shares with author Toni Morrison. Her father was a Mississippi-born steelworker who never learned how to read and her mother was a stay-at-home mom who always made sure there were books in the house. As a result of her mother's attentions, Sophfronia was able to read long before she started school. That early push set her on an academic path that led her straight to Harvard University.

Just one month after graduating in 1988 Sophfronia went to work for Time Magazine. She started off as a researcher but, in early 1990, she and colleague David Gross conceived a cover story that came to be known as "Twentysomething". They became the magazine's youngest cover story writers and in the process sparked a worldwide social examination of the phenomenon then known as Generation X.

Steady on her course, Sophfronia moved to People Magazine in 1995 where she immediately began organizing the constellation of celebrities. She wrote about the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, George Clooney and John F. Kennedy Jr. for the ever-popular special issues: The 50 Most Beautiful People, Sexiest Man Alive and The 25 Most Intriguing People. By 2000 she started separating the fashion icons from the fashion victims as People's Style Watch editor. She also represented the magazine in numerous television appearances on CNN, "Entertainment Tonight" and E! The Entertainment Network. Sophfronia also served as Senior Entertainment Editor at Teen People Magazine.

Sophfronia's first novel, "All I Need to Get By", was published by St. Martin's Press in 2004 and has been on bestseller lists and the topic of much discussion at book clubs across the country. Sophfronia was nominated for the African American Literary Awards as best new author and hailed by no less than Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as potentially "one of the best writers of her generation."

Thanks to her online marketing, viral marketing, publicity and visibility strategies, Sophfronia has garnered speaking invitations for major events around the country, was featured in People and Essence magazines and interviewed by Investors Business Daily, BBC Radio, and Black Enterprise magazine. Most recently she's been published in one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Chicken Soup for the African American Woman's Soul. She was thrilled to join the long line of distinguished writers in these books that have sold more than 60 million copies. She has also contributed to Forty Things to Do When You Turn Forty (Sellers Publishing, 2007). She's currently working on her second novel and recently completed her first full-length screenplay.

Sophfronia is a member of the Author's Guild, the Harvard Club of New York City, the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Fairfield Network of Executive Women, the National Association of Female Executives, The Working Women's Forum, The Entrepreneurial Women's Network and the Newtown Chamber of Commerce.

The success of her writing and her work as a personal coach lead Sophfronia to launch a service coaching writers and aspiring authors on the finer points of book writing and publishing. As Executive Editor of The Done For You Writing & Publishing Company, Sophfronia has created an exclusive resource for serious speakers, small business owners and entrepreneurs who are ready to turn up the spotlight on their businesses by writing books to promote their services. Her latest book is the award-winning bestseller, "Doing Business By the Book: How to Craft a Crowd-Pleasing Book and Attract More Clients and Speaking Engagements Than You Ever Thought Possible". Sophfronia may be contacted at www.doneforyouwriting.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Finally, Not Another Chicklet Book, April 6, 2004

By 

"kmsairam" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All I Need to Get By (Paperback)

3.5 stars. :) This booked looked interesting and didn't seem like another typical "chicklet" book (a la bridget jones's diary). It took me a while to get into the story though. Although I can identify with Crita's (main character) background, there was something about her speech and attitude that wasn't jibing for me. The book picked up for me when the main character moved back home and interacted with her family. Still, there were many times when I didn't LIKE Crita. I think it was just frustrating to see how she had enabled her brother for sooooo many years. It was like, "alright already!" I loved the sister Hazel and might have enjoyed the story more from her perspective. All in all, I think Sophronia Scott's book was well done. What did it for me was the careful weaving of each family member's personality -- showing how they grew from childhood to adults and all the influences that made them who they are. It was very insightful. Looking forward to the next book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh voice -- on an under-treated topic, March 22, 2004

By 

Anne Mini (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All I Need to Get By (Paperback)

How much do we owe our families -- and how much do we owe ourselves? These are the central questions at the core of the beautifully written All I Need To Get By. And after reading the book, it truly is striking to realize just how few contemporary novels recognize that most of us do feel that our families are more than merely a sum of its parts. These intangible links, so hard to break, form our characters and mould the way we interact with the world.

To discuss the premise is to be drawn into revealing the plot, so let me keep it simple: this is a book that will stay with you long after you close the book. The characters feel so real, it is as though they are friends of friends. Their struggles are not easily-solved, movie-of-the-week difficulties, but honest-to-goodness real-world Gordian knots: drug use, co-dependency, mortality, learned helplessness, deep-down rage, and fear. And yet, out of this morass of human struggle, Crita's dogged determination to make her little corner of the world better transforms this novel ultimately into an uplifting story.

In short, this is a novel well worth reading, on a topic that has long deserved serious consideration. Sophfronia Scott is an author well worth watching in the future.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, toooo loooong..., October 14, 2004

By 

[e-mail] "cmm" (atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All I Need to Get By (Paperback)

All I Need To Get By follows Crita Carter and her struggles to overcome decisions she made in the past to enable her brother's drug addiction. Sophronia Scott handles issues such as addiction, family loyalty, and health crisis with sensitivity and compassion, but I thought the story was about one hundred pages too long and the main character, Crita was so imature that I wanted to back hand her. Most of the character portrayals were realistic (except Talane), but I didn't think they were hard enough on Linc. I loved Chandra and wished she had been more aggressive. As strong as the three sisters were, they shrank like little whimp girls when dealing with their brother, reverting to children at the mere mention of his name.
Scott is a talented writer and I look forward to future works. I'll probably check them out on audio though. The story took too long to make its point about Crita and Linc's situation. I was relieved when I turned the last page.