If This World Were Mine: A Novel - Softcover

Harris, E. Lynn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385486561 ISBN 13: 9780385486569

Publisher: Anchor, 1998

Synopsis

Four friends, all graduates of Hampton Institute, keep a collective journal they call "If This World Were Mine," and share their personal diaries each month at a gathering filled with humor, gossip, and affirmation. The four group members are as different as the seasons, yet they all share a love of one another. Yolanda, a media consultant, keeps it going on with a no-nonsense attitude and independence that are balanced by the theatrics of Riley, a former marketing executive whose marriage has reduced her to a "kept woman with kids." Computer engineer Dwight's anger at the world is offset by the compassion of Leland, a gay psychiatrist whose clients make him question why God ever invented sex.

But after five years, the once-strong bonds of friendship are weakening, and the group must handle challenges of work, lost love, and a stranger in their midst. As the group members confront their true feelings toward each other, resentments and long-held secrets surface, and the stability of the group begins to disintegrate. Is their past friendship strong enough to survive the future?

About this title

Review:

Four former classmates of a prestigious African American college have a "journal club" where, nearly 20 years later, they still meet regularly to talk about what's going on in their lives. Dwight is filled with resentment towards whites, and it's about to raise some serious conflicts at his job. Leland is still coping with the death of his partner, Donald, from AIDS. Riley's afraid that the love's gone out of her marriage, and that she'll never be able to achieve the success as a poet-singer she's dreamed about. And Yolanda... well, Yolanda's just started a romance with former pro football player Basil Henderson, but longtime E. Lynn Harris fans just know where that's going to lead. The multiple first-person narration can be confusing at times, but the convoluted plot does sort itself out neatly in ways sure to entertain Harris's previous fans, as well as anybody who likes Terry McMillan or Gloria Naylor.

From the Publisher:

"So much humor is sprinkled through E. Lynn Harris's warm and timely new novel that we almost miss the pain lying underneath or the significance of its theme: Harris, who has written poignant love stories about African-American life before, turns eloquently again to the question of how people--black people in this case--learn to love in a tough and toughening society. What we don't miss is the complicated political dilemma that Harris weaves quietly and seamlessly through the lives of the four protagonists, all of whom, as the book opens, find that their star is rising."
--Pat Holt, San Francisco Chronicle

"A breakout bestseller that features a sizzling mix of fast-paced storytelling...and lyrical sexuality."
--Paula L. Woods, Dallas Morning News

"It is rare to read a novel with African-American characters as refreshing as these. Harris keeps the dialogue lively and the action zipping along while fully developing story and characters. Ultimately both fun and moving, the book has something to impress nearly any reader."
--Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0385486561
• ISBN 13: 9780385486569
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336