From Publishers Weekly
This is a story of love between Zora, an independent, aspiring singer, and Franklin, a sometimes-employed carpenter. Life has been unkind to these star-crossed lovers, but they're both survivors. "Despite an abundance of flash and energy, this book lacks the depth and breadth to which McMillan aspires," commented PW . Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
By the author of Mama (LJ 1/15/87), this second novel is a boy-meets-girl story from the black perspective. Franklin is an on-again, off-again construction worker trying to get his life on a firmer foundation. Zora is a music teacher and would-be singer. They meet and start a relationship that initially seems ideal. Soon, however, problems emerge. Franklin's ego has never recovered from his destructive mother's abuse, and the repeated blows the oppressive white society dishes out make him increasingly depressed and hostile. The relationship begins to fall apart. Zora and Franklin have to grow a long way alone before they can come back together. This easy-to-enjoy novel will certainly touch readers who identify with the situation. It's a pity that McMillan's lively narrative is marred by occasional woodenness and that she has a penchant for stating what should be inferred by the reader. Movie rights have been sold, so this could be a biggie.- Janet Boyarin Blundell, Brookdale Community Coll., Lincroft, N.Y.Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
She is a competent, if not always confident, music teacher, ready to leap into stardom. He is an intelligent, if uneducated, construction worker determined to work on his constitution. Neither is looking for romance, let alone love. DISAPPEARING ACTS presents a fresh, insightful look at the many stages of a modern relationship. Marjorie Johnson and Marc Damon Johnson read alternating chapters, each giving a compelling performance. Marjorie Johnson's Zora, although she grew up in Toledo, flavors her speech with a strong touch of Brooklyn spice. Marc Damon Johnson's Franklin can be drunk, angry and loving, all in the same chapter. His interpretations of Franklin's friends and family are so distinct as to sound like entirely different readers. Skillful writing and sensitive performing of this work leave the listener sad to hear the story end. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Sharon Canning
Why do women choose the men they do? There are no answers in this book. Instead we finds Zora Banks, a music teacher with dreams of becoming a singing sensation and the raw talent to build a future. She falls for the beautiful, chocolate-colored, sometimes working Franklin, who fills her empty spaces with affection and soul-touching sex. For a time nothing matters but their passion, the kind of passion that wanes in the midst of misunderstanding, lies, betrayal, and fear. Zora's friend warns her: "You even starting to fool yourself. You better be careful, or you gon' start disappearing a little bit at a time...Won't even remember who Zora Banks was." Terry McMillan's writing is characterized by lively, sometimes explosive conversations between friends and lovers. The honesty and truthfulness grab readers to remind them that truth is found in the most unusual places: "That's what's wrong with women anyway. Get fucked real good, think we're in love, then we spill our fuckin' guts, give 'em our love resumes in chronological order and what information do they give up?" Disappearing Acts creates an atmosphere in which we experience the dance with Franklin and Zora, a dance that is at times full of energy, life, and ecstasy, at other times painful, draining, and nightmarish. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.


Book Description
Terry McMillan is hotter than ever:

"If Ntozake Shange, Jane Austen, and Danielle Steel collaborated on a novel of manners, [Disappearing Acts] might be the result." (New Yorker)

"Contains someting increasingly rare in books or films today: a full-blown, sophisticated love affair between two African-American adults." (Denver Post)

"A funny, earthy novel..ribaldly realistic. [Speaks] across class and color lines." (New York Newsday)

"A stunning achievement." (Cosmopolitan)

"A down-to-earth portrayal of love, yearning, and self-preservation...brimming with energy and the hard facts of life." (Kansas City Star)

"Gripping and moving...intensely realistic." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

He was tall, dark as bittersweet chocolate, and impossibly gorgeous, with a woman-melting smile. She was pretty and independent, petite and not too skinny, just his type. Franklin Swift was a sometimes-employed construction worker, and a not-quite-divorced daddy of two. Zora Banks was a teacher, singer, songwriter. They met in a Brooklyn brownstone, and there could be no walking away...

In this funny, gritty urban love story, Franklin and Zora join the ranks of fiction's most compelling couples, as they move from Scrabble to sex, from layoffs to the limits of faith and trust. Disappearing Acts is about the mystery of desire and the burdens of the past. It's about respect, what it can and can't survive. And it's about the safe and secret places that only love can find.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This is a story of love between Zora, an independent, aspiring singer, and Franklin, a sometimes-employed carpenter. Life has been unkind to these star-crossed lovers, but they're both survivors. Despite an abundance of flash and energy, this book lacks the depth and breadth to which McMillan aspires.

Library Journal

By the author of Mama (LJ 1/15/87), this second novel is a boy-meets-girl story from the black perspective. Franklin is an on-again, off-again construction worker trying to get his life on a firmer foundation. Zora is a music teacher and would-be singer. They meet and start a relationship that initially seems ideal. Soon, however, problems emerge. Franklin's ego has never recovered from his destructive mother's abuse, and the repeated blows the oppressive white society dishes out make him increasingly depressed and hostile. The relationship begins to fall apart. Zora and Franklin have to grow a long way alone before they can come back together. This easy-to-enjoy novel will certainly touch readers who identify with the situation. It's a pity that McMillan's lively narrative is marred by occasional woodenness and that she has a penchant for stating what should be inferred by the reader. Movie rights have been sold, so this could be a biggie.-- Janet Boyarin Blundell, Brookdale Community Coll., Lincroft, N.Y.

AudioFile - Ruth P. Ludwig