Customer Reviews

I Can't Wait on God

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I think a lot of the magazine reviews have focused on the novel from a sociological standpoint. In that regard, this book would seem like a great novel if the focus was solely on a commnuity. However, if you try to see the characters as INDIVIDUALS, then you won't have much luck getting to know them. There are lots of unanswered questions, the most important one being why did Willet kill Tommy Moses. I understand the circumstances surrounding her preganancy, but the murder is no justification so I did not buy the ending. I just wish I knew the characters a little better. For me, the best part of reading fiction is getting to know the characters, to actually see them as humans; this book misses the mark because all the characters are placed in nice little clumps. You got your nosy, gossipy women, the card playing beer drinking chicken eating men, the pretty but distant woman, the brooding jazz artist, the religious mother. etc; Humans are more complex than that and I would've liked to have seen more well-rounded, more interesitng characterization.

French's novel _I Can't Wait On God_ is a powerful work. Like a strange mystery, the murderer is known from the beginning, but her character is completely unknown. At the heart of the tale is Willet, a beautiful woman who seems shallow and wicked. But as the tale builds to its stunning end, it is she who seems human, and the world callous. Black, female, and poor, Willet is at the mercy of men, Whites, and money, and the depth of her character rewrites the book from back to front. A moving and worthwhile work.

I was very disappointed in this book. I only finished it because I was hoping the ending would bring meaning to the story. While several interesting characters were introduced in the book, really none of them get fully developed and while I like books which prompt me to think deeper this fell short of that.

After reading Billy I could not wait to read this book. Mr. French took a different turn with this one. I didn't like the beginning and definitely didn't like the end. I didn't even finish the book, I skimmed to the end and started another. Maybe next time.