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Disappearing
Acts
Terry McMillan
By Lisa Patrick
A decade ago, Terry McMillan helped initiate today’s explosion of books
written by and about African-Americans. Disappearing Acts was her predecessor to Waiting
to Exhale and the book that inspired thousands of new fans to search out Mama, her first
novel. Disappearing Acts is very loosely inspired by a love affair in the younger years of
Zora Neale Hurston, the namesake of Disappearing Act’s main character. The book
derives still more inspiration from the substance and cadence of Hurston’s own
writing.
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Despite its nod to the Harlem Renaissance, Disappearing
Acts remains extremely specific to 1980’s Brooklyn. In fact, it has as many
time-and-place-defining details as the semi-autobiographical Mama does.
Zora is an elementary school teacher with dreams of becoming a professional
singer/songwriter. Franklin is a construction worker with dreams of his own. Disappearing
Acts picks you up and pulls you into Franklin and Zora’s tumultuous years together.
While it raises familiar issues surrounding relationships of all kinds, its primary goal
is not instructive. Instead, McMillan’s shifting of the narrative between Franklin
and Zora illuminates their individual struggles to maintain independence and direction in
the face of passion for one another. |
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Although Terry McMillan has been
imitated often enough for this love story to sound trite, it does not. She avoids easy
plot twists and does a very good job of keeping the reader interested in the central
relationship at all times. Disappearing Acts rings true enough to be thought provoking and
fun enough to keep you smiling. M
September 1999 |
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