Customer Reviews

Nothing But the Rent

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I purchased Nothing but the Rent, and believe me I thought it was very well written to say it was first novel. I found the characters funny and believable. Monique was a riot. It did however break my heart in that to me it seems that every story that is written about Black Women centers around our inability to get a man. Believe me as a 26 year old Black woman I don't sit around all day worrying about who loves me and why I can't find a man. I can't not with car note, mortgage, and the energy it takes to live and survive. I'd like to read a book that details the struggles of working and surviving not always loneliness and losing at the game of love.

From reading the back cover, I thought this book would be much better than it was. I was very disappointed. It took me about 3 weeks to finish it (a long time for me) because it couldn't hold my interest for any length of time. I didn't care anything about these women. I think a more talented writer could have done something with these characters to make them come to life and make the reader actually care about what happened to them. They all just came across as losers who each had some type of emotional/personal void that kept them from ever having the type of relationship they were looking for. I also didn't like how the story started off. I was under the impression that Angie would have to be of more importance than just bringing the four friends back together for her wedding. I mean, four busy women are going to come together for the wedding of an acquaintance from college that they hadn't even kept in touch with?! Besides, I was far more interested in what the deal was with Angie, her bitter mother and aunt, her fiance, and Vickie and Keith. I didn't care about "poor little rich girl" Monique and why she was in her thirties still acting like a defiant 2 year old in her relationship with her mother or why she was too stupid to hold on to Tyson (or why he was stupid enough to still want her all those years later). I also didn't care about why Gayle was dumb enough to be a slave to her dumb, codependent mother who just needed to live out her remaining years with her alcoholic husband and let her daughter attempt to have a life of her own. And Cynthia couldn't have been that weak minded to let an encounter with a blind date convince her that she needed to kill herself to lose weight in order to get a man. I mean, there was no mention of her feeling bad about her weight prior to meeting with that insensitive jerk. And Roxanne was a nice enough person with good ideals, but how stupid could a woman be to allow herself to be treated like a man's personal doormat/whore and ever have anything to do with him again, regardless of how "emotionally clueless" he is? Plus, the so-called "resolutions" for each of the characters were weak and not well thought out - more like thrown together in an attempt to end a go-nowhere-never-ending story.

The book had a good and unique opening which lead to the development of the main characters. The opening captivated and motivated me to continue to read. However, as I continued to read I was disappointed about the direction the story was headed. When it finally captured my attention a second time, I was further disappointed because again the book went up, but then it dropped with no conclusions for the main characters. I like when the author draws the conclusion, whether I agree or not at least there is a conclusion. I don't want to write the conclusion or be left wondering what happened to the characters.

The theme of the characters seem to be very familiar. 4 women (technically it should be counted as 5 women) who remain friends, their career choices, family choices, relationship choices and the desparation they go through.

I am not deterred from Ms. Mitchell's writings and will read Sheer Necessity. Again she does a good job developing the characters they were just left dangling.

Reading is one of my hobbies so I won't say that I wasted my money for this hard copy but I will say that I see room for improvement. I was a little disappointed because the book was kind of confusing to me. The end left me hanging........ I will be starting your 2nd book this week and I hope and pray that your writing style has improved. Be Blessed Sharon!

I reread Nothing but the rent, because the sequel is now out to refresh myself with the characthers. The novel is about four best friends, who are trying to find the right man, and just be happy in life. I throught it was a nice simple novel, of true friendship.

NOTHING BUT THE RENT was a rare novel in the fact that it included four main characters that were as interesting as a group and would have made excellent subjects for their own novels. Gayle was fighting her own battle with freeing herself and her mother from her dysfunctional family, while Roxanne was falling in love with the man of her dreams and desires, learning that there is a fine line that divides the two. Monique goes against the road of life that her strong-willed mother has paved for her by bucking the system, which includes giving up the man her mother chose to be her husband. Cynthia, having won her battle against weight loss, begins to strive for perfection by maintaining her new look at the risk of her own life. Four women who will struggle for and against each other will find the greatest battle will lie within themselves. An excellent read!

Nothing but the rent, eh? Kinda makes you think the next line should be, "You gotta have a J-O-B, if you wanna be with me..."

I have no idea what made me pick this book up off the shelf, and actually pay for it. As I started reading it I thought of a soap opera in print. The characters were stereotypical in that it was another story of single women with "man" or "insecurity" issues.

Why did I actually complete reading it? Well, why do most folks watch soap operas even though they dislike 'em? In my case, I needed something to read on the subway on my way into the office.

But as I say about everything, what I might not have liked as much, someone else may love. Why else have the soap operas been so successful after this many years? If nothing else, read it, formulate your own opinion and give the feedback to the author.

I found this story interesting the way the four women reconnected eight years after college, basically because life is so different. I loved Monique, weird to realize she's cut from the same cloth as her mother when that's the person you would like to be like least in life. I felt a great deal of empathy for Cynthia because of the choices she made. Roxanne was very real and at the end true to herself. I loved the end especially for Gayle because she seemed to have sacrificed a lot with very little return.

This book was very well written and hard to put down. It was very funny, easy to read, and easy to get caught up in. The characters became real and I was right there with them. I was so impressed with Sharron Mitchell that I am now reading Sheer Necessity.

I agree with most of the reviews on Nothing but the rent. The characters were not developed. You could never get into one character because their characters were so shallow. The ending just ended. No real plot. What was this book really suppose to be about. Too many characters bunch together in the beginning of the book that you didn't know who was who. It was just a book. I'm surprised I finished it. Not a page turner. I do hope she has improved in her next book. Not sure if I will read the other book. I really don't know what the title has to do with the book itself.