When Did You Stop Loving Me

by Veronica Chambers

When Did You Stop Loving Me is the warm and tender story of Angela, a young girl growing up in 1970s Brooklyn. One day Angela goes to school and returns home to find her mother gone. Her magician father, Teddo, left to raise Angela alone, insists on keeping Melanie's disappearance shrouded in mystery, but later Angela wryly observes, "My father was a magician, but my mother was the real Houdini."brbrVeronica Chambers has written a compelling story about a young girl's struggle to navigate her way through her family's web of love, loss, and magic. As Angela tries to piece her world back together and figure out why her mother has abandoned her, she's left to ponder the soul-shattering question: When did you stop loving me?brbrA universal story that is both finely-tuned and elegant, When Did You Stop Loving Me captures the intricacies, pleasures, contradictions, and complexities at the heart of every family. Spare and finely told, this novel will seep beneath your skin and stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published May 25, 2004

About the author

Veronica Chambers is a prolific author, best known for her critically acclaimed memoir, Mama’s Girl, which has been course adopted by hundreds of high schools and colleges throughout the country. The New Yorker called Mama’s Girl “a troubling testament to grit and mother love… one of the finest and most evenhanded in the genre in recent years.” Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, Ms. Chambers' work often reflects her Afro-Latina heritage.

Her most recent non-fiction book was Kickboxing Geishas: How Japanese Women are Changing their Nation. Her other non-fiction books include The Joy of Doing Things Badly: A Girl’s Guide to Love, Life, and Foolish Bravery. She has also written more than a dozen books for children, most recently Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa and the body confidence Y/A novel, Plus. Her teen series, Amigas, is a collaboration between Chambers, producer Jane Startz, and Jennifer Lopez.

Veronica spent two seasons as an executive story editor for CW’s hit series Girlfriends, and earned a BET Comedy Award for her script work on that series. She has also written and developed projects for Fox and the N.

Veronica has contributed to several anthologies, including the best-selling Bitch in the House, edited by Cathi Hanuaer, and Mommy Wars, edited by Leslie Morgan Steiner.

A graduate of Simon’s Rock College at Bard, she and her husband have endowed three scholarships at the college in the fields of music and literature. She has been the recipient of several awards including the Hodder fellowship for emerging novelists at Princeton University and a National Endowment for the Arts fiction award. She speaks, reads and writes Spanish, but she is truly fluent in Spanglish. She lives with her husband and daughter in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Reviews

[La Tonya Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a light read. It was full of serious subject matter, but made humorous to keep readers attention. It is sad when a mother walks out on her husband. But, to leave her daughter behind is a double tragedy. To grow up wondering the most important question, "When did you stop loving me?" will haunt Angela for a life time. To carve out a life at age eleven for your father the revolutionary and yourself was difficult. But, Angela made it through by using her imagination which gave her comfort at difficulty times and pleasant memories at other times.

The must important lesson this book leaves me with is everyone grows up including Teddo. A must read.

[Gato Negro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loss of the mother - one of my absolute favorite topics to read about. This book reads like poetry, it is so complex and well penned. Tough topic for me, but I would definitely read it again just for the beauty of the author's words. One of the lines I wrote down in my journal: "Now she's a cowboy who's changed sides and every time you try to remember her, it's a showdown between the angel was your mother and the wanted poster desperado who's taken her place". - Veronica Chambers

[Jaleh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read but it did not have a compelling story that sucked you in and kept you turning every page. I felt sorry for the main character and it was this sympathy that kept me interested. I would compare this story to Silver Sparrow and I liked Silver Sparrow better.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my local bookclub pick. I thought the book had a lot of repeatedness as far as her relationship with her father after her mother abandoned them both. The ending showed that she did become a lawyer and she kept a relationship with her father and that was it!

[garelin !!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liuv disss book i like soo totaly hot

[Dennise · Rating 3 out of 5]

great story but no resolution

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those rare times I just scan the shelves of the library and pick up a book and this one did not disappoint. Great, quick read!

[Susan Frazier-Kouassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's refreshing to read works by one of the emerging young voices of African American literature in the 21st century. She deals with some hard truths that we don't always like to talk about - mothers abandoning their children, molestation of children, and single fathers hustling to make it work in ways that may not always be socially acceptable. This was a good read.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

not bad for a dollar book from the grocery store