Customer Reviews

You Know Better: A Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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

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

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.

I have to say that out of all the Ansa books, I enjoyed reading this one the best. This was cute, funny and sometimes right. The first two sagas of Lily and Sandra were really good and kept my attention the entire time. The spirits were right on the money. LaShawndra's story started to get a little boring and the name calling got a bit out of control, but her story needed to be told to make the others come to full circle. They all had issues and I am sure every woman could relate in some way or another to one of these women.

I was glad to see them come to a happy ending and to love one another like family should. Overall, this was a really good book and easy to read. Highly recommended.

I picked this book up with very high expectations. I ordered the Harcover edition of this book because I thought for sure it was going to be a prized gem in my library. WRONG!!! This has to be the most BORING book I've read in my entire life and I am not one to criticize, but it was just poorly written. She said the same things over and over again such as "You know children don't take after strangers", which was cute at first but quickly turned into a nuisance.I was so bored I almost put this book on the shelf without finishing it and I always finish books. I finished the book to see if it was going to get any better. WRONG AGAIN! If I had known it was this bad I would have saved my money and used it towards something better. If you just have to read it, please borrow it from someone or check it out from the libary!!

This is the first novel by Tina McElroy Ansa that I've read and, I suspect--judging from the reviews in the press--that it's not by any means her best. It's hard to compare "You Know Better" to anything else I've read: its technique and style are original (and occasionally brilliant), but the substance of the novel is a bit shallow and, in the end, excessively preachy. The book was good enough, however, to make me want to read another of Ansa's novels.

"You Know Better" relates a day in the life of Lily Paine Pines, her daughter Sandra, and her granddaughter LaShawndra--three women in the Georgia town of Mulberry whose lives are thrown into disarray after LaShawndra commits an unspecified crime. (Ansa tries to lend an aura of mystery and suspense as to the nature of the crime, but the secret, when it is revealed, is a bit of a let-down.) Each woman is visited by a different "ghost of Mulberry past"--three recently departed denizens who resemble the women who are still living and who want to help this troubled family experience the successes and avoid the mistakes they made during their own lives. None of the Pines women realize, however, that their traveling companions are dead.

I nearly gave up on this book after the first 80 pages (although I'm glad I didn't). The author divides the novel into three nearly equal parts, with each woman narrating one section. Although Ansa is extraordinarily adept at distinguishing between the three voices (from the patient schoolmarmish tone of the elder Pines woman to the hip-hop banter of the granddaughter), the grandmother tends to speak in annoying cliches ("third time's the charm," "bless her little heart," "pretty as a picture," "not a pretty picture") and groan-worthy truisms that never deserved to see the light of print ... Yes, it's the way my Texan grandmother speaks as well, but reading 100 pages of it is a bit painful.

The novel gets much better, though. One of the book's accomplishments is the author's ability to keep things interesting even though everything takes place in cars, as the three women are driving around Georgia talking to their ghost companions and reflecting on their family problems. Naturally, the three still-living women make much of the differences between them, but Ansa delights in making obvious how similar they are. And it's that similarity that, in the end, brings them to their salvation.

As a fan of Tina McElroy Ansa, I anxiously awaited the arrival of this book for at least 2 1/2 years during which time she changed not only the title of the book (It was originally suppose to be titled "And You Should Know Better") but also changed publishers. When the book was finally released, I had to have been one of first people in line to buy it and I must say that I was EXTREMELY disappointed. I did not feel the depth from these charachters that was so easily detected in her past 3 novels, and the story itself simply was not at all intriguing. Though it took Mrs. Ansa several years to follow up her last release, this novel was written as though it took only a few weeks, perhaps due to the fact that she and her husband were working on a screenplay for one of her earlier novels. If you've never read any of T.M. Ansa's work before, PLEASE don't let this novel be the gauge by which you judge her writing ability. I just hope that she is able to redeem herself after this.

After part one of the story, I nearly walked away from it. I adore Ms. Ansa's fascination with the spirit world and I love reading her stories about it. This one for some reason put me off in the beginning. The idea was wonderful. With more and more grandparents raising grandchildren these days the generation gap storyline was one I could appreciate. Parents unable to relate to their children was nothing new, but was well done. The book, however, was too wordy. It took forever for anything of substance to be accomplished, although the car, driving, and ghost motif were more powerful than even the author probably realized. For some reason unknown to me (or hidden in my sub-conscious) this book was a bit frustrating. It didn't always hold my attention and again I think that was due largely to the wordiness and sometimes interminable dialogue. All in all, a good book from a fantastic writer.

I read all of the customers reviews and I can't figure for the life of me where I went wrong. Tina's other book "Ugly Ways" was by far one of the most entertaining, funny, and nicely written books I've ever read. In fact, it is the only book that my Book Club gave a perfect "10" to. "The Hand I Fan With" got high marks, as well. However, I can't say the same for this piece of work. First, Tina was preaching waaaaay too much. I suspect that the people who really need to "read" this message aren't the ones who would be reading a book.

Secondly, I found myself much more interested in the "spirits" in the story than the real live people. I really didn't care what happened to any of the three of these characters. I could have read more about Miss Moses, Nurse Bloom and Miss Jaguar-driving lady.

Third, as the mother of a teenager, I found myself scringing at each word LaShawndra spoked. I struggled real hard to read the last few chapters. I HAD to finish the book to discuss at the Book Club meeting, otherwise this book would have been left collecting dust. LaShawndra was a complete turn-off. As bad as LaShawndra claimed her mother was, she had incredibly loving grandparents. She used Sandra as her excuse to be an excuse. Her language and behavior was offensive, even to a reader. I didn't need to read this book to hear and imagine teenage vulgarity. I could go up to the local high school for that. But, I must say, most of the teenage girls I know just do not regard themselves as coochies, skanks and hos.

Finally, it took 300 plus pages to say something that could have been said in 100. Did I miss something? This just was not a good reading experience for me. Read "Cane River" if you want a good story about grandmothers, mothers and daughters. This one ain't it.

"You Know Better" by Tina Ansa is about three generations of women: Lily, Sandra and LaShawndra. The story focuses on LaShawndra and her mischevious behavior as a young teen.

For the bulk of the story, LaShawndra ran away from home. She was trying to get to Freak Nik in Atlanta. She was a teen who thought she was grown based on her foul language and promiscuos activity. She does not listen to the counsel that her grandmother gives her. She want to run the streets and be popular. When she runs away, her grandmother tries hard to find her. She finally finds her. Her grandmother seemed to care more about her than her mother. LaShawndra's mother was not really prominent in the story.

I don't recommend this book. It was a difficult book to finish because she dragged this story on for way too long. Skip right on over this one. I gave it 3 stars because it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't anything to write home about.