[In the following review, Canty offers high praise for Waiting to Exhale.]

Move over Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, make room for Terry McMillan. McMillan will need a lot of room on the bench of elite, female African American writers if her latest novel, Waiting to Exhale, is any indication of her true talent. In addition to Waiting to Exhale, McMillan has two other novels to her credit; Mama (1987) and Disappearing Acts (1980) were McMillan's first two fictional endeavors. She also edited Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction (1990), a very popular collection of short stories.

Waiting to Exhale quickly established McMillan as a major force among contemporary female fiction writers. The novel lived up to the praises of my colleagues and turned out to be one of the most well written, true-to-life books I had ever read. McMillan's story-telling strategies and precise command of narrative voice were exceptional.

The plot centers around four thirtysomething friends (Savannah Jackson, Bernadine Harris, Robin Stokes, and Gloria Matthews) who are rediscovering themselves, their lives, and their mates. As if those three major issues are not enough, the four friends also face and deal with political, cultural, social, and economic challenges facing black women. Through their struggle, McMillan depicts the bonds of friendship and relationship in a humorous light by telling each of the twenty-eight chapters from the viewpoints of each friend. The black dialect and voices McMillan uses to tell all of the women's stories draw readers into black culture.

Savannah and Robin are childless and have never been married. Both are attractive professionals climbing the success ladder and in search of the man who can make their imperfect lives complete. Savannah is plagued with a mother who is aging, an apathetic family that has become dependent on her financial support, and a job which does not allow her to express her creative talents. At the same time, Robin is trying to overcome a long-term love affair that ended, leaving her distraught and lonely. After several mistakes with men, Robin decides that she will have a child with or without a husband.

McMillan tells Savannah and Robin's stories in first person which enables the reader to fully comprehend her protagonists' complex, eventful lives. Although the road to happiness is long, curved, and dangerous, these two women ride it smoothly, taking the many bumps as they come.

Bernadine and Gloria are the more experienced and mature of the four women. Gloria is a single parent of a teenage son and owns Oasis, a hair salon/gossip network for black women. She is coping with being alone, deciding whether to tell her son that his father is gay, and relating to her son's interest in white girls. Bernadine, the mother of two girls, wages a divorce battle with a husband who is an executive, as well as a cheat and a liar. When Bernadine finds out about his long-term affair with his young, white bookkeeper, her husband tries to hide his considerable financial assets. Bernadine is forced to consider being alone and working outside the home to maintain the plush lifestyle to which she and the children are accustomed.

The way these two women deal with their situation is simultaneously funny, sad, and realistic. McMillan tells the stories of Bernadine and Gloria in a very revealing third person.

Although McMillan's four main characters are black women, her story is not black or feminist. Waiting to Exhale speaks to most women and to the issues surrounding most women, regardless of race. She portrays women as complete, complex, undiminished human beings.

Waiting to Exhale provides a brief glimpse into the talent and capabilities of Terry McMillan. I am making room on my bookshelf and waiting to inhale her next masterpiece.