Taking After Mudear [Paperback]

Tina McElroy Ansa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

Best-Selling author Tina McElroy Ansa returns with her signature ability to tell a good, quirky story and tell it with humor, grace and great respect for the power of the particular (The New York Times Book Review) with her new novel TAKING AFTER MUDEAR. TAKING AFTER MUDEAR, Ansa s fifth novel, is the superbly crafted sequel to her awardwinning best-seller, UGLY WAYS. And it is the book fans have been waiting for. Jill McCorkle calls UGLY WAYS, an absolute beauty...that crackles and sings with life. And although, as TAKING AFTER MUDEAR opens, the matriarch of the Lovejoy family has been dead for months, she and Ansa s newest novel again crackle and sing with life. TAKING AFTER MUDEAR continues to follow the story of the three Lovejoy sisters and their mother Mudear, who is deceased but refuses to die, in the small Georgia town of Mulberry. The baby of the family, Annie Ruth, -- pretty, unmarried and hugely pregnant with the first Lovejoy grandchild -- has moved back to Mulberry and is living with her big sister, Betty, a prosperous businesswoman. The middle girl, Emily, who claims she has taken a leave of absence from her job in Atlanta, has moved in, too, to help out and mostly raise the level of sibling tension and friction. But just as the girls begin to think things have settled down for them, Mudear, their recently deceased, self-centered, self-focused mother, starts to make her presence felt again. And with the birth of Annie Ruth s baby girl, the fragile Lovejoy family situation begins to totter even more. With each piece of evidence that something otherworldly and strange is indeed still hanging around the Lovejoy household, the sisters suspect more and more that they are being haunted by their mother. With various baby s daddies showing up and Lovejoys having signature meltdowns, things soon escalate into a full-flown supernatural Mulberry battle for the very life of the newborn child. Indeed, Mudear has come back for that baby girl!! And the sisters have to discover if they are merely the Lovejoy girls ( Them girls still got some ugly ways about em! Mudear is fond of muttering.) or truly the Lovejoy women!!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tina McElroy Ansa  is a novelist, publisher, filmmaker, teacher and journalist. But above all, she is a storyteller.
She calls herself part of a long and honored writing tradition, one of those little Southern girls who always knew she wanted to be a writer.   She grew up in Middle Georgia in the 1950s hearing her grandfather s stories on the porch of her family home and strangers stories downtown in her father s juke joint, which have inspired Mulberry, Georgia, the mythical world of her four novels, Baby of the Family, Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With and You Know Better.

In March 2007, Ms. Ansa launched an independent publishing company, DownSouth Press, with its focus on African-American literature -- fiction and nonfiction. Her fifth novel, Taking After Mudear, a sequel to her bestselling Ugly Ways, will be the lead title on DownSouth Press s first list in the spring of 2008. DownSouth Press will publish established as well as emerging literary voices.

Ms. Ansa s first novel, Baby of the Family, was published in 1989 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times.  Baby of the Family was also on the African-America Best-seller List for Paperback Fiction. In October 2001, Baby of the Family was chosen by the Georgia Center for the Book as one of the Top 25 books Every Georgian Should Read.   The book was also awarded The American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 1990, and won the 1989 Georgia Authors Series Award.

She and her husband, AFI (American Film Institute) Fellow filmmaker Joneé Ansa are currently adapting Baby of the Family for the screen in a feature film starring Alfre Woodard, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Vanessa Williams, Todd Bridges, Pam Grier, and Tonea Stewart.  The author is collaborating with her husband on the screenplay for Baby of the Family, which he will direct and shoot in her hometown of Macon, Georgia. Ms. Ansa is executive producer.

Harcourt Brace published Ms. Ansa s second novel, Ugly Ways, in July 1993.  The African-America Blackboard List named the novel Best Fiction in 1994.  Ms. Ansa was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 1994 for Ugly Ways and the novel was on the African-American Best-sellers/Blackboard List for more than two years. In 2005, the novel was included in the current list of the Top 25 Books Every Georgian Should Read by the Georgia Center for the Book. Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard has entered into a partnership with Ms. Ansa to bring Ugly Ways to the screen. Photo credit: Jonee Ansa


The Hand I Fan With, her third novel, was published in October of 1996. This is the beautifully erotic love story of Lena McPherson and the 100-year old ghost Herman she calls up to love and cherish her. The novel was awarded the Georgia Authors Series Award for 1996.  Ms. Ansa also won this same award for her debut novel, Baby of the Family, and is the only two-time winner of the award.

Tina McElroy Ansa s fourth novel, You Know Better, was published in Spring 2002 by William Morrow Publishers. The novel, told in the voices of three generations of the Pines  women, is the story of LaShawndra Pines, a 19-year-old aspiring hoochie mama who aspires to dance in the background of a music video. It addresses the contemporary issues and ethos of young people and received a Best Fiction award by the American Library Association.

In 2005, Ms. Ansa was awarded the 2005 Stanley W. Lindberg Award for her body and work and for contributions to the literary arts community of Georgia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: DownSouth Press (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979954312
• ISBN-13: 978-0979954313
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,017,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A REAL Southern Flavor!!!, January 23, 2009

By 

Denise Bolds "Lion Who Reads A Lot!" (New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Taking After Mudear (Paperback)

Oh Wee! This book took me right back down south to my grandparents farm in the summer time... complete with some nabs, a Nehi grape soda in a glass bottle and a pack of salted peanuts! Oh how that sand would be white it was so hot - and were wore no shoes!...Ms. McElroy Ansa made her fans wait a LONG time for this book - but it was worth the wait!
Mudear, and her three daughters and Poppy in a small southern town. Mudear is dead and boy does she have a story to tell...The 'change' where Mudear does not leave her house for 30 years... Her three daughters, Betty, Emily and Annie with their OWN issues! This is a GREAT story that is full of surprises and a plot that will leave you hearing the back pourch door slam on that old spring...WONDERFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE of the folklore of the south!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sequel, but, a great stand alone!, June 21, 2010

By 

Charlie Lomax, Turning Pages Book Club (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taking After Mudear (Paperback)

Ms. Tina McElroy Ansa has brought us another great story about "Mudear" and her daughters.
"Taking After Mudear" could easily be a stand alone even if you have not read,"Ugly Ways".
Ms.McElroy Ansa does an extraordinary job in writing stories about the relationships and interactions between mothers and daughters. She however has a knack for showing the dysfunctional side of a family that looks on the inside of what is or not normal? What are the hidden secrets that cause dysfunction in families?
In discussing the character development with the author the members of Turning Pages Book Club gained some very insightful information about families and how the past will show up in the present, but also the future if we don't learn to forgive people and let go of past hurts, which can and will come back to hunt you...
As the story begins the author speaks in the third person voice of Mudear who is deceased and retells parts of "Ugly Ways", regarding why Mudear has treated her husband, Earnest (Popa)the way she did by shutting him out of her life,and taking over running his household. Then she goes on to tell why she taught her daughters to be independent and to know how to take care of themselves by knowing how to clean, cook,work hard and be intelligent.
However, what "Mudear", also portrayed was how she isolated herself not only from her husband but her three daughters while they were growing up and the neighborhood where she resided.
As a result each one of the daughters although they loath their mother developed some of her traits, which in the end helped them to be stronger and more independent women.
Each daughter showed the traits that come with hierarchy in the family chain; Betty who was the oldest and the chosen protector/mother of the younger two siblings, was successful but did not really have a life of her own because she felt she had to be the perfect example, Emily who is the middle sister felt she had to meet the standards of her older sister,but struggled the most with her life so she was the most vulnerable, then Annie Ruth, the youngest, like most siblings in this bracket was the most outgoing, out spoken, most free of the three, but also the most dependent; because she is pregnant and has moved back home with her older and middle sister to help her out with her newborn baby since she does not know who the father is, and wants the support of family.
The story stems around all of the sisters insecurities that the dear Mudear knows about and constantly haunts them in different ways; by turning herself into a cat which they all had a fear of, by moving things in the house, by trying to control their thoughts,etc.
After Annie Ruth has her daughter,MaeJean, the author inserts the baby's voice, along with her deceased grandmother Mudear, in the third person telling the story through her eyes, which adds even more excitement to the story about this family of functionally crazy women!
If you are looking for a story that will keep you on edge, with excitement and all of the dynamics of a mystery, without murder then this is a great book to read!
The author, Ms. Tina McElroy Ansa is a phenomenal story teller and I hope she keeps us anxious readers happy with a new story very soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Back From The Grave, May 11, 2009

By 

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

This review is from: Taking After Mudear (Paperback)

TAKING AFTER MUDEAR, the long awaited sequel to Ugly Ways , picks up six months after the Lovejoy sisters buried their mother whom they referred to as Mudear. Although the funeral is over, Annie Ruth and Emily remain with Betty as they await the birth of Annie Ruth's child. Mudear is dead but she's not gone, as each one of her daughters experience her presence in different ways, but are too afraid to speak about it. Betty is content having her sisters with her as she resumes the role of "mother" that she was thrust into at the age of eight when Mudear "changed" and left her to take on those responsibilities. Mudear abandoned her duties as wife and mother, leaving her family to fend for themselves. She slept or watch television during the day and worked in her garden at night. She never left the house or communicated with anyone outside of her immediate family.

Annie Ruth gives birth to her daughter MaeJean who is born with a birth caul over her face. This pleases Mudear as she was born with a caul too. Mudear wants MaeJean for herself so that she can raise her better than she raised her "ungrateful" daughters. Once MaeJean leaves the hospital and is safely at Betty's house, the strange occurrences are heightened to the point the girls can't deny it and they realize Mudear is not through with them yet.

When readers pick up a book by Tina McElroy Ansa, they can be assured they will receive elements of hurmor, the supernatural and lots of drama. A prolific storyteller, Ansa picks up right where Ugly Ways ended and I was pulled back into the story as if several years had not passed since I read the previous book. As with Ugly Ways , Ansa included alternating chapters told from Mudear's point of view. This time she includes baby MaeJean's thoughts. The story was repetitive at points, but once it got past that, it was Ansa's engaging style.

Reviewed by Paula Henderson
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers