Customer Reviews

Taking After Mudear

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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

After several years this third book that i have never stopped checking the book shelves for has finally arrived with loads of lol moments, i do sugguest that you brush up on the second book just to make this book more enjoyable, not to say that it is nessessary to do so.....A FUN READ!!