SITE TOOLS
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Results
as of October 5, 2000
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Joan Cargill |
34.68% |
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Lisa Nicole Carson |
23.12% |
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Nia Long |
11.56% |
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Regina King |
6.94% |
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Other: Angela Bassett |
6.36% |
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Lisa Gay Hamilton |
3.47% |
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Sanaa Lathan |
3.47% |
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Vanessa Williams |
2.31% |
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O: T'Keyah C. Kemah |
1.73% |
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O: LisaRaye |
1.16% |
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O: Whitney Houston |
1.16% |
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Vanessa Bell Calloway |
1.16% |
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Elise Neal |
0.58% |
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Jada Pinkett |
0.58% |
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Kimberly Bailey |
0.58% |
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Maia Campbell |
0.58% |
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Vivica Fox |
0.58% |
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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. |
To Buy
Click Here
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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.
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. |
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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.
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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RLP Ventures, LLC and/or its
suppliers. All rights reserved.