From the author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale, the story of a woman who shakes things up in her life to find greater meaning.
Georgia’s search for former lovers plays out against her relationships with her willful daughters, her feisty mother and her hot-headed girlfriends, Wanda and Violet. The transitions between these subplots seem at times to lack graceful segues, but the evolution of each of these relationships draws Georgia closer to finding a bright, new future...Self-discovery, second chances and the importance of family are thematic hallmarks of McMillan’s novels, as is the rich and colorful dialogue that make her books so much fun to read. I Almost Forgot About You checks all the boxes for trash talk, steamy sex scenes, lots of laughs and f-bombs galore. By novel’s end, you’ll realize what a clever title McMillan has chosen.
Janis Joplin once described herself as passionate and sloppy, and the same could be said of I Almost Forgot About You. McMillan falls back on dialogue a little too often. For every sharp and well-observed paragraph about the challenges of aging, or wise reflection on the unexpected benefits of a failed marriage, there are too many long, overstuffed expository conversations. In addition, seemingly important story lines are introduced, including a possible foreclosure, then simply evaporate, as if the author lost interest. For fans of McMillan, and they’re legion, these shortcomings won’t spoil anything. Though flawed, the novel is immensely companionable.
Everybody wants a happy ending and Georgia’s happy ever after is so ridiculously romantic that it feels churlish to criticize other aspects of this novel. But there are things about Georgia that are downright unpleasant...A longtime, charming patient dies, and that news is telegraphed with a sad-face emoticon. Has it come to this, that an author who can write with such warmth and understanding succumbs to the cheapness of the emoji? McMillan’s fans deserve better...Cheers to McMillan for writing about the possibility of late-life reinvention. But I Almost Forgot is pretty forgettable.
