God Don't Make No Mistakes

by Mary Monroe

Paperback

Published January 29, 2013

About the author

I am the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of my family to finish high school. I never attended college or any writing classes. I taught myself how to write and started writing short stories around age four. I spent the first part of my life in Alabama and Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973. I have lived in Oakland since 1984.

My first novel THE UPPER ROOM was published by St. Martin's Press in 1985 and was widely reviewed throughout the U.S. and in Great Britain. An excerpt is included in Terry McMillan's anthology BREAKING ICE. I endured fifteen years and hundreds of more rejection letters before I landed a contract for my second novel, GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. It was published in October 2000 by Kensington Books. GOD DON'T PLAY is my seventh novel to be published, and it landed me a spot on the prestigious New York Times Bestsellers list for the first time! My eighth novel, "BORROW TROUBLE," was released December 2006. My ninth novel, DELIVER ME FROM EVIL, was released September 2007 and my tenth novel, SHE HAD IT COMING, was released in September 2008, and my eleventh novel THE COMPANY WE KEEP, will be released March 2009.

I won the Oakland Pen Award for Best Fiction of the Year in 2001 for GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. I won the Best Southern Author Award for GONNA LAY DOWN MY BURDENS, in 2004.

I am divorced, I love to travel, I love to mingle with other authors, and I love to read anything by Ernest Gaines, Stephen King, Alice Walker, and James Patterson. I still write seven days a week and I get most of my ideas from current events, the people around me, but most of my material is autobiographical.

Reviews

[Christal Fairley]

This story was unnecessarily long and drawn out. The characters were written with these extreme personalities. Roada went to a far extreme to tame her adult daughter. Annette failed her daughter a few times. She failed her by not taking heed to her daughter’s concerns, but I feel like Annette wanted Charlotte to stay in a child’s place so much that she couldn’t see the child’s cry for help. Also, Annette was a very simple-minded character. She lacked development and discernment. She just could not put 2 and 2 together. The only people with good sense the entire book was the sister. I only finished this book because I started it. I’ve read another Mary Monroe book previously and it wasn’t a great book either. Perhaps this author’s writing style is not for me.

[Tamara McKinney]

Glad this book is over. Had to give it a 3 for the writing but the content was definitely a 1. While the writing was well done and the story was interesting it was also depressing and sad. The hurt we don’t each other and the casual way we make excuses that it’s ok is not ok. The character’s integrity in this story just made me shake my head and the book was full of negatively. God does not make mistakes, this is a heavy book.

[LaRRiSSa]

I actually read this book earlier this year but failed to mark it read. However, I enjoyed re-reading this book, by audio, for the second time. This book was just as moving as I remember it. I laughed, was surprised (still), and horrified.

There are a lot of triggers in this book and a lot of the language is fouled. Nevertheless, I was fully entertained and some of the scenarios discussed made me reflect on my actions, my experiences and considered future responses.

The most important take away for me is to LISTEN! Listen while considering the persons point of view, body language and education/communication level. Not everyone can fully articulate their thoughts and experiences.

[Kat Ferguson]

I'm glad this is the last book in this series. I was hoping it'd get better - that the character Annette would grow up but no, of course not. The toxicity, verbal abuse, constant anger, lies, fights, assault, aggressiveness, negative portrayals, making a mockery of marriage, affairs, emasculated men, stereotypical minstrel behavior that does nothing to shine any bright lights on Black people. The author has done her part in making ANYONE swear off Black women or expecting anything good from Black relationships.

[LaJuana Jackson-Minnick]

Excellent book. As good as if not better than her other books.