19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Goes Around, Comes Around, September 13, 2003
Mary Monroe's highly anticipated sequel, GOD STILL DON'T LIKE UGLY, does not disappoint. The story picks up with some familiar faces from God Don't Like Ugly and includes a few new characters for a little extra spice. The protagonist, Annette Goode is still plagued by memories of her abuse at the hands of Mr. Boatwright and the devious deeds that her best friend Rhoda performed. Annette also has unresolved feelings towards her father for abandoning his family for a white woman. Because of all the pain and grief she has endured, this novel finds a stronger, more confident Annette who is able to cope with all the twists, turns, and pitfalls that life has to offer. In this novel, she will learn about true love, true friendship, and the lessons that you cannot escape from your past and that "what goes around comes around."
Although a sequel, GOD STILL DON'T LIKE UGLY, recounts much of the story for new readers without being redundant. It is definitely a stand-alone book. If you did not read the first novel, you will not be lost trying to figure out characters or plots in order to follow the story line. Mary Monroe has again woven a cast of colorful, unforgettable characters. She intertwines humor and a bit of romance while tackling intense social issues such as rape, child abandonment, prostitution, and racial tensions. Fans of Monroe will be delighted with her newest novel. My only disappointment came when the last page had been turned.
Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
God Still Don't Like Ugly and Is Not Crazy About Pretty Eith, September 13, 2003
God Still Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe is the long awaited sequel to God Don't Like Ugly. The book is the continuing saga of Annette Goode, her family, and her misfit band of friends as she returns to Richland, Ohio after running away to preserve her sanity nearly a decade earlier. Although Annette has matured and gained more self-confidence, she still harbors the mental and emotional scars left by the pedophile, Mr. Boatwright, and the murderous antics of her best friend, Rhonda.
The story opens with Annette making a step toward reconciliation; she travels to Miami to visit with the father who abandoned her and her mother over 30 years ago and meets her long lost half-sister, Lillimae. The reconciliation theme continues throughout the story as she reconnects with childhood friends Pee-Wee (who she embraces) and Rhonda, the murderer (who she destperately tries to avoid). However, drama still clings to Annette like a shadow and her life becomes more complicated by the misdeeds of her jaded past, an ill-matched love affair with a penny pincher, and an altercation with a suspected pedophile. However, Annette is not alone in her despair; there is an expression, "misery loves company," and Monroe manifests its essence equally in the subplots involving Lillimae, Rhonda, and newfound friend,Jean.
The author skillfully marries the reconciliation theme with one of forgiveness and redemption as demonstrated at the climax of the novel when Annette's past life as a prostitute jeopardizes her wedding. This event triggers a collapse of the wall of lies she has built, and opens a floodgate of truth the enables healing for every wounded character. Sacred secrets are revealed, testimonies are shared, and lost loves are reunited. Annette learns that the truth liberates and the dark cloud of gloom slowly dissipates from her life toward the end of the book, the sun was finally shining in her life after nearly forty years of impediments.
This novel is filled with many unforeseen twists and turns which makes it a page-turner. It proved to be a much anticipated and extremely satisfying follow-up novel, so much so that I do not think Mary Monroe fans will be disappointed.
Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, The Nubian Circle Book Club
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I STILL love Mary Monroe!!, November 20, 2003
I read God Don't like Ugly a while back, so I couldn't quite remember all of the details. Reading this sequel brought all of the old memories back to me. Annette Goode is an overweight adult who has a lot of emotional baggage leftover from a childhood that no one would ever dream of. For 10 years, she was molested by a pedophile in her own home and made to feel inferior to other people because of her looks and weight. She returned to her old home to resolve some of the things that she ran away form and mostly to confront Rhoda, her childhood friend that not only killed her molester Mr. BoatWright, but 4 others that she admitted to. Mary Monroe makes us fell all warm as she tells the Story of Annette Goode and shows us again that GOD STILL DON"T LIKE UGLY!! Please buy this book.
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