God Don't Play [Audio Cassette]

Mary Monroe (Author), Patricia R. Floyd (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Recorded Books, LLC (2006)
• ISBN-10: 1428115021
• ISBN-13: 978-1428115026
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,763,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deja Vu..., August 31, 2006

By 

Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God Don't Play (Hardcover)

Mary Monroe returns to Richland, Ohio to visit with Annette and Rhoda, the heroines and survivors of God Don't Like Ugly and God Still Don't Like Ugly. This novel, God Don't Play, picks up some years later, where seemingly not much has changed. A middle-aged, overweight, "Plain Jane" Annette has been promoted to manager at the debt collection agency. She is still happily married to the younger, good-looking, Pee Wee, a successful barbershop owner and operator. Annette's best friend, Rhoda, is still the wealth y and much envied town beauty who is often shadowed by her 17-year old daughter (and Annette's Goddaughter), Jade, a younger version of Rhoda in more ways than one.

Annette's reticent world is shaken when she suddenly receives hate mail that attacks her physical appearance. She immediately confides in Rhoda and Jade. The hate mail continues and becomes more graphic and violent; it eventually graduates to packages with inappropriate and foul content delivered to her place of employment. Threatening phone calls reveal a woman who claims to be having an affair with Pee Wee. In the midst of all this, life happens and Annette must deal with family illness, disgruntled co-workers, gossiping neighbors, Jade's sexuality issues and a seemingly wayward husband.

As complex as it sounds, I found the plot to be largely single-threaded. It follows the antics of fretful, mild-mannered Annette as she (along with Rhoda and Jade) try to find out who is behind the harassment and uncover their motive. Because it was quite obvious to me who the culprit was fairly early in the novel, it was quite frustrating to read through the remainder of the book observing Annette continually miss clue after clue. It takes nearly 300 pages for her to "get it" (and even then, it is largely by accident, not from any deductive reasoning or investigating). There is a brief confrontation and essentially the novel ends with forgiveness all around with a hint of more to come - perhaps another novel?

For those unfamiliar with the series, this novel contains enough subtle references to plots and events that occurred in the other two "God Don't..." books to give the supporting characters some depth. For those who are familiar with the two previous novels, I think they will be pleased to catch glimpses of Scary Mary, Lilliemae, Betty Jean and other quirky characters. As much as I love Mary Monroe as a writer, I was a bit disappointed with this offering, thus the middle of the road rating.

Reviewed by Phyllis

APOOO BookClub

Nubian Circle Book Club

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll turn the pages!, September 6, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God Don't Play (Hardcover)

A tale of two sister friends, God Don't Play, is as complex as it is entertaining.

The author reverses common roles: it is the heavy-set, seemingly unattractive Annette who has the handsome and loyal husband, while the lovely Rhoda's spouse spends little or no time with her. The story reels with the fact that opposites do attract.

Even Rhoda's daughter Jada often wonders how her mom could be friends with such a "big person." Yet, Annette is one of those women who loves friends and family with a passion; a person who you either love her or hate her--with no middle ground.

A number of people become suspect when Annette begins to receive threatening calls and deliveries. Yet, the plot is like that of a person looking for her glasses that are right in front of her the entire time.

Mary Monroe's cast of characters doesn't leave much room for sympathy for any of them. Rhoda spoils her daughter Jada to a fault, and Annette dotes on them both, often to her own abandonment. Their husbands, Otis and Peewee, appear to be caught up with women who are surrounded by much drama. Yet, the story moves through all lives concerned, leaving you to wonder what they will be up to next. Only Mary Monroe knows the answer to that. One thing for sure, she will be letting us know for some time to come that God Don't Play.

Armchair Interviews says: Good story of people types that we all know.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh Mary You Should Weep, February 28, 2007

By 

Francine "Frannie" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God Don't Play (Hardcover)

. . . Tell Your Altered Ego To Moan Some More.

Mary, Mary, Mary. I'm shaking my head in total disappointment. You didn't put much thought into this story line. It was, well, boring and highly predictable. Some things are better put to sleep. This book really should have stopped after the first one. God Don't Like Ugly was brilliantly written. God Still Don't Like Ugly was just, "eh," tolerable. And this one was a rotten egg. Because you're my girl, I had to tell you the truth. So now suck it in, consider the critism and get back to what you do best--"The Upper Room" and "Gonna Lay Down My Burden" styled stories.

To be honest, this series wasn't a good series at all. Save yourself some embarrassment and end it here. You do so much better at individual novels that has closure. Nothing personal. So with that said---I love ya, girl.