13.
Waiting to Exhale
By Terry McMillan
Because
it was groundbreaking—totally addictive!—entertainment.
The construct of four women pals in search of Mr.
Right far predated
Sex and the City. In 1992, when Terry
McMillan published her witty novel about a quartet of ladies looking for love
(often in all the wrong places), it was groundbreaking because Savannah, Bernadine, Robin and Gloria were career-minded
thirty-something black women. Their experiences had been too rarely reflected
in the pages of popular novels; McMillan made them easy for everyone to relate
to. As with other "four friends" stories, even when romance succeeds,
the bonds between the women are at the forefront. And although no one was using
the term "chick lit" back in '92, this delicious,
swap-with-your-girlfriends novel exemplifies the genre at its best.
— Dawn Raffel
