SOURCE: "Terry McMillan," in The New Yorker, Vol. 72, No. 10, April 29, 1996, p. 102.

In the following review, Wolcott comments briefly on How Stella Got Her Groove Back and McMillan's literary success.

Waiting to Exhale was for Terry McMillan what Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant was for Anne Tyler—a popular breakthrough after years of paying dues. McMillan's previous novels, Mama and Disappearing Acts, had found a niche with readers, but had done nothing to separate her from the pack of other praiseworthies. Then came Waiting to Exhale, a huge best-seller, its liftoff supplied by the jubilant, snappy talk of its female characters—especially when they ragged on men. History and the burden of race didn't give weight to its pages, as they do in much black fiction. Set in Phoenix, Waiting to Exhale exulted in light, open, possibility-filled space.

McMillan's new novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, which is...