THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160725
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY AUDREY KNOTH
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
KNOWING
ROSALYN McMILLAN
Warner Books. 405 pp. $19.95.
Intriguing new voices have been arising in fiction in recent years - those of middle-class African-American women. The success of the novel Waiting to Exhale, written by Terry McMillan, has no doubt proved to the book world that not only do these women have distinctive stories to tell, but there's a significant audience for them.
Another entry in the field is Knowing, by Rosalyn McMillan, sister of Terry. Herself a former factory employee of Ford Motor Co., Rosalyn McMillan centers her novel on a woman long employed by an auto plant who dreams of a professional career.
Her protagonist is 40-ish Ginger Montgomery. Ginger lives in suburban Detroit with her second husband, Jackson. Although she leads a life that many would envy, she has become dissatisfied.
``She had four healthy children, a beautiful home, with lots of beautiful things; expensive paintings, precious antique furnishings, and a closet of designer clothes to die for. Why, then, did she feel such emptiness, such shallowness?''
In truth, Ginger knows the answer. For years, she has longed to leave the well-paying factory seamstress job that has helped finance her family's lifestyle. Neither her first husband nor her second, who himself holds an office position at the auto plant, has encouraged her dream of becoming a business professional. Jackson Montgomery says he opposes it on the grounds that she'd lose her pension if she left the factory.
Acting on her vision over her husband's objections is not easy. ``She'd read an article in the newspaper during Black History Month about how black women should treat their men. We should treat them with the utmost respect, love, kindness and recognition, which they rarely experience in the world. We should be enthusiastic about their aspirations and triumphs. . . . But what of our hopes and dreams? Ginger wondered. Were they insignificant? Who would help the women deal with pain and suffering?''
The novel chronicles Ginger's efforts to change her working life, by becoming a real estate agent, and to redefine her relationship with her husband, who she feels loves her body but doesn't honor her dreams. Along the way, it portrays Ginger's female relatives and friends and their own challenges at home and on the job.
Ginger expresses a concern shared by all of them when she reflects, late in the book that ``She wished . . . a man would come out of the darkness into the light and say, `Baby . . . let me help you.' Those four words, so simple: `Let me help you.' ''
There's an uneven quality to Knowing. The serious matters under consideration alternate with quite a few heated sexual encounters of the type that have become common in pop fiction. Some of them are aimed at illustrating a point in question, such as the physical nature of Ginger and Jackson's relationship. Others may be there because the book's publisher has an eye on Hollywood potential. This juxtaposition makes it seem as though the novel is trying to go in two very different directions at the same time.
While Ginger has worked at the auto plant for 17 years, and her job is a main source of concern for her, Knowing holds very few scenes of her at the factory. It would be very interesting to hear more about that life, one that is rarely described from the point of view of the women who live it. Fiction would certainly benefit if more of these untold stories were heard. MEMO: Audrey Knoth is a free-lance writer and executive director of public
relations at Goldman & Associates in Norfolk. by CNB