Grandparents raising grandchildren has become widespread in recent years and is not confined to any particular ethnic or racial group. The active youngsters drain B.J.’s energy and bank account.

Quentin, for example, has an elaborate way of expressing himself, while Dexter’s voice is full of legalese, self-help jargon and self-pity.Įarly in the story, Trinetta drops off young Luther and Ricky for “a few days” and never returns. It is a challenge to make each voice unique, and McMillan succeeds. The story is presented in the first person through fifteen major characters, each one taking a turn, but B.J. She lectures Trinetta, who is struggling with drug addiction.īetty Jean’s witty, confiding voice draws us in. She replies sternly to her son’s flood of correspondence from prison, urging him to face up to his culpability and the impracticality of his plans for his future.

not only receives negative messages but dishes them out. The sisters are blind to some serious issues in their own domestic lives. “Everybody wanted a piece of me and barely left me with a little crust…I won’t lie I wish Lee David and I could have been a little more like the Cosbys.”īetty Jean’s feelings of failure are worsened by unsolicited advice from her sisters, Arlene and Venetia, who feel that their better economic situation gives them licence to criticize. to babysit.īetty Jean’s maternal experiences will strike a chord with many mothers, not just African American ones. Trinetta, her daughter, is a single mother who too often drops off her young sons for B.J. Dexter, her middle son, is in prison for a carjacking. Quentin, her eldest, a chiropractor, has distanced himself from the family. She and Lee David have provided a stable family life for their children in an ethnically mixed Los Angeles neighbourhood, but the grown children are not there for her in her time of need. She works for the room service department of a hotel, and needs care for her husband, Lee David, who has Alzheimers. Terry McMillan dedicates her eighth novel, Who Asked You?, “to mothers, who do the best they can.” Her central character is Betty Jean, (B.J.) a hardworking African American woman nearing retirement age whose family is causing her heartache.

Terry mcmillan who asked you summary