You Know Better: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tina McElroy Ansa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2002

It is the spring weekend of the Peach Blossom Festival in the tiny middle Georgia town of Mulberry, but things are far from sweet for the Pines women. LaShawndra, an eighteen-year-old hoochie-mama who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up...again. But this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it.

Not that her mother seems to care; after all, Sandra is busy working on her real estate career and on the local minister. It's LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former schoolteacher, principal, school board administrator, and highly respected cornerstone of the Mulberry community, who is scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter.

Over the course of one weekend these three disparate women, guided by a trio of unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. In this magical, deeply resonant novel, Tina McElroy Ansa goes straight to the heart of women's relationships to reveal the soul that bonds us all.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The pleasures of Tina McElroy Ansa's sharp-witted fourth novel, You Know Better, are obvious from the first pages, in which we are introduced to the author's lovable, imperfect characters, her gift for capturing the rhythms of speech, and her dead-on observations of African American family life at the turn of the 21st century. In her hands, what could've read like Touched by an Angel instead is a tender and rueful study of the forces that shape three generations of women. Lily, a successful former school teacher and administrator, is out at midnight, combing the streets of her small Georgia town for her teenage granddaughter, LaShawndra, who's in trouble again. Lily's daughter, Sandra, is too busy making money and trying to attract the new pastor to pay attention to the chaos of LaShawndra's life, let alone to take responsibility for the girl's misbehavior or her low self-esteem. But before the next day is over, each of the women will be visited by a guiding spirit and forced to face what they have been running from. A spiritual novel free of sentimentality or preaching, You Know Better suggests that most people already know what's wrong with their lives, but it may take divine intervention to motivate them to fix their problems. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

African-American favorite Ansa (The Hand I Fan With) focuses in her fourth novel on three generations of troubled women in a small Georgia town, employing the Dickensian device of ghostly guides to lead them to enlightenment. The Peach Blossom Festival is upon tiny Mulberry, but the Pines women have little reason for rejoicing. LaShawndra, an 18-year-old "coochie" who engages in indiscriminate sex and whose greatest aspiration is to dance in a music video, has disappeared. Her mother, Sandra, is too busy with her real estate career, her new romance with a pastor and youth-enhancing beauty treatments to look for LaShawndra. So it falls to the girl's grandmother, Lily, a respected pillar of the community, to perform the search. The book is a first-person triptych, the three Pines women taking turns from oldest to youngest in detailing how they arrived at this latest crisis point and each has a different spirit guide to help her out. Ansa has a clear prose style, and she does a fine job of getting inside the women's heads; the chief problem is that, with the exception of Lily, her protagonists are unsympathetic. Lily herself overplays the religion card, while Sandra and LaShawndra are too selfish to rouse much sympathy. One thing they have in common: all three take the scenic route in their extended confessions, resulting in a book that is almost all past history with very little plot.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006019779X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060197797
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sins of the mother, April 11, 2002

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Know Better: A Novel (Hardcover)

Lily Paine Pines is worried her only grandchild LaShawndra has disappeared. No one has told her that LaShawndra is missing, it's just a feeling that she has. Lily is a highly respected member of the community in Mulberry, Georgia. She has been a part of the educational system in Mulberry for a great number of years, so riding around in the wee hours of the morning looking for her wayward granddaughter could be damaging to her reputation. Lily, however could care less about what people think of her, her grandchild is the most important person in her life. During Lily's search she encounters Miss Moses, a sweet smelling elderly woman who is full of knowledge and provides support for Lily when she needs it the most.

Sandra Pines, Lily's only child, is one of the leading real estate brokers in town, and while her mother could care less about her reputation Sandra guards hers as if it is gold. Sandra is embarrassed by her daughter and tries to steer clear of her. Sandra became pregnant with with LaShawndra at the age of 19, and all of her dreams of college and getting out of Mulberry went down the drain. LaShawndra is also a reminder to Sandra of LaShaun, her ex-boyfriend who has never been a part of his child's life. She harbors a lot of anger and contempt towards her daughter.

The day that LaShawndra disappears Sandra has a meeting with a woman named Nurse Bloom. Lily has recommended that Sandra meet with Ms. Bloom because she is a potential client. Being the professional that she is Sandra is cordial and friendly towards Nurse Bloom, unfortunatly Nurse Bloom does not reciprocate as she is pushy and rude towards Sandra. But in a strange twist Sandra's day with Nurse Bloom will forever change her life.

LaShawndra Pines feels smothered; she does not feel that she can live up to the high standards that her mother and grandmother have set. Her main goal in life is to become a music video dancer. She also constantly puts herself down and uses derogatory terms as a part of her everyday conversation. As LaShawndra is running away from Mulberry and yet another mistake that she has made, she encounters a beautiful older woman named Eliza Jane Dyer. LaShawndra immediately feels as she has met yet anothe person that does not understand her, but Eliza Jane is more like LaShawndra than she will ever know.

You Know Better by Tina McElroy Ansa is a spirited novel about three generations of women in the Pines family who just want to be loved and understood. Although these woman have their weaknesses, Ms McElroy Ansa allows you to also see their strengths. She also succeeds in pulling you into the story and making you feel as if you are a part of the action. I loved this book and hated for it to end.

Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghostly Lessons, June 3, 2002

By 

J.C. Wallington "jnettefrommi" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: You Know Better: A Novel (Hardcover)

I decided to purchase this book one day after I went to a booksigning to hear Tina McElroy Ansa and to decide if
I wanted to read this book. I was so impressed with her speaking and
her description of the book and the point she was trying to make
with this book, I could not help but buy it. I am glad I did.
This is this author's fouth novel, and my first time reading any of
her works.

In the town of Mulberry, GA, Lily Paines Pines is up in the wee
hours in the morning searching for her wayward granddaugter,
LaShawndra. Along for the ride is Miss Moses. Miss Moses does not
say much, but she is there to help Lily think through her thoughts
on her ex-husband, daughter and granddaughter. Lily Pines also
ponders on how she was able to balance a teen pregancy, marriage and
career and why her daughter could not do the same and where did they
go wrong with LaShawndra.

Sandra is also riding around Mulberry, kind of looking for her
coochie daughter, as she is taking Nurse Bloom around town to look
at property. Sandra is telling Nurse Bloom about how she can not
control that coochie, about her feelings of abandonment by her
baby's daddy, her love and relationship with her father, her
accomplishments, possession and her relationship with the minister.
Sandra, of the ME generation gets several reality checks from Nurse
Bloom during their journey.

LaShawndra, is a self proclaimed "ho" and is proud of the title.
She is self-centered and knows she is a disappointment to her

grandmother and mother. She has one goal in life and that is to
dance in a music video. LaShawndra is hitching a ride out of
Mulberry as she has messed up again and is not going to stick around
to face the consequences. She is picked up by Ms Liza Jane Dyer.
During their slow moving ride out of Mulberry to the Freaknik in
Atlanta, LaShawndra tells Ms Liza Jane of her ambitions, and her
relationships with the women in the family. One things that she
does that just gets on Ms Liza Jane nerves is the constant degatory
remarks LaShawndra makes about herself. Ms Liza Jane tries to
reinforce to LaShawndra she can be all she wants to be and that she
needs to face the music back in Mulberry instead of running away all
the time. What LaShawndra did not realize was that in their own
subtle, non-confrontational way, her mother and grandmother were
saying the same things to her that Ms Liza did, except it was not

sugar-coated but direct, so LaShawndra could hear it better.

I liked how in this novel, it shows three generations of women and
how they dealt with life, children and responsibility. I also liked
how each ghost represented the consciousness of each woman and help
them to see their strengths and weaknesses.

This is a good, highly recommended novel. For me, I am going to
check out the rest of Ms Ansa's work, especially The Hand I Fan
With, as I have heard so many good things about this one.

Jeanette Wallington
APOOO bookclub

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, April 10, 2002

By 

thesavvybamalady "swblkdiamond" (Prichard, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: You Know Better: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book, and what I like about it is that even though the first two generations kind of trashed on LaShawndra, they kind of helped to make her into the person she is as well. For instance, did they take the time to show her HOW to cook? or to tell her about sex? or the things she needed to make it in this world? Personally, Sandra was wrong from the get go, she just didn't like the child due to the fact that the child was a product and reminder of her indiscretion. So instead of helping her, they crippled her. Maybe not intentionally, because I knew they loved her, but sometimes you got to teach, then let them live and learn. Now Lilly I liked. She tried her best to be a mom for her grandchild, but there is a lot of guilt here. the first two ladies had started out pretty young, but they did very well with their lives if you ask me. However, they should have taken the time to bring up the last generation. But thank God for those dead ladies to show them the way. And thank GOd for a girlfriend named Crystal who loved her no matter what. And thank God for second chances. I enjoyed "The Hand I Fan With" and found this one to be just as good. I do recommend it highly.