Gonna Lay Down My Burdens

by Mary Monroe

Bestselling author Mary Monroe won rave reviews from critics and readers alike with her first two novels, God Don't Like Ugly and The Upper Room, both Main Selections of the Black Expressions Book Club. Now she returns with the masterful Gonna Lay Down My Burdens --that rare novel that inspires laughter, tears, and repeat readings.

In the sweltering little town of Belle Helene, Alabama, Carmen Taylor keeps her weaknesses, her frustrations, and her tears to herself. She's too busy shouldering the burdens of her troubled friends, like Desiree Lucienne, the petite, pampered daughter of a doctor who tries to beat the wildness out of her. But it doesn't stop Desiree from trawling for men whenever she can, and trying to drag Carmen along with her.

It's not that Carmen hasn't had her share of boozy pick-ups. She has, but they just can't compare to the one steamy night she spent with the man she's loved since they were both kids. Now a local cop, Chester Sheffield, with his Barry White voice and his all-too-fine body, keeps showing up in Carmen's life, wanting to do something about the feelings they obviously have for each other. But that would mean abandoning her "boyfriend" Burl Tupper and that's something Carmen just can't do.

Ever since Burl ended up in a wheelchair because of a foolish teenage prank she played on him, Carmen's promised herself that she'd spend the rest of her life making it up to him. When Carmen doesn't take her chance with Chester, Desiree does, and when she learns that she's pregnant with Chester's child, it's almost more than Carmen can bear. Still, her loyalty to Desiree goes back a long way, and she's not about to let a man get in the way of their friendship--even when Desiree starts stepping out on Chester.

Then, on a sultry, reckless moonlit night, Carmen commits a desperate crime of passion, and, with Desiree, hits the road running. But she can't run from the truth she's avoided for years--and in a seedy hotel in the middle of nowhere, she confronts her demons head-on. Now Carmen has two choices--a life on the lam, or a full circle return to Belle Helene, the place where it all began. . .and the only place in the world she can lay down her burdens and seize her one true chance at love and redemption.

Genres: Fiction, African American, Historical Fiction, Urban

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

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

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

all i can say is, I didnt want to put this book down. I never heard of anything or read anything like this. I wanted to know what was next every page.
Good read.

[Khyrra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Mary Monroe's sine I read The Upper Room. And this story didn't disappoint me. This was a love story with a serious twist. And I enjoyed every minute of trying to figure out where the story was headed next.

[Oh Breen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the 3rd book continuing from God dont like ugly and God still dont like ugly. This book basically shows the ladies growing up and there lives as adults and how there child hoods from the past 2 books affected them.

[Tonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a frustrating read for me. The main character appeared to have an omen on her. Everyone she encounter had some type of bad luck and on top of that she gives up her happiness because she refused to forgive herself. Too much foolishness in one read.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and hated it at the same time. It really brought emotions out of me. At times I wanted to jump into the book and knock some sense into the main character the way she let her guilt boggle her down and blamed other for it was incredibly frustrating. I don’t think she had true friends that really poured into her as much as she did for them. The advice she was told to pretty much pick better friends was right on the money. I was happy that she at least encountered one person that I felt was real with her and cared about her as a friend. The fact that some of these characters drove me up the wall and at the same time could make me laugh at their ridiculous antics is why I love this book. The fact that it pulled emotions from me allowed me to become invested in the lives of these characters. I think the author did an amazing job and I will be reading more of her books.

[Dee Musa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟

Carmen is a whole fool! I didn’t feel sorry for her at all.

Mary Monroe is a pro at making gullible naive characters and Carmen isn’t any different from Annette from the “God series” and Mo’reen from “mama ruby” series.

Omitting information is their best traits when that alone could have made all the difference 🙄🙄🙄

I am convinced Carmen is attention seeking she’s the poster child for a victim she got a rise out of the drama it’s super INCREDULOUS 😉

Sadly i didn’t laugh out loud like ive done in a lot of her other novels so im disappointed at that


My favorite character is sweet Jimmy; he was raw, real, wise and the only one who had sense out of all of them

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book 3.5 stars. It holds your attention, but the ending was crazy. All that build up and for what? One thing is for certain. The author has an active imagination. Crazy legs and Chester got what they wanted.

[Karen]

wonderful read Mary Monroe is amazing!!!!!!

[Mia L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt like Carmen gave up to quickly on everything. She made me want to reach through those pages and slap some sense into her! And that damn Diseree and Chester!! It's def worth the read!

[koriiii · Rating 3 out of 5]

my dad has gotten super into audiobooks lately and goes through a couple a week. this was the first book he told me not once but twice that i needed to read after him which was absolutely adorable. i read the synopsis & told my dad it didn’t seem like his kind of usual read & he said it wasn’t but i needed to try it… so i did. it definitely wasn’t my kind of read but i know this one is some kinda famous. felt very melodramatic and soap opera-y. i didn’t care for carmen. and i hate the abusive boyfriend/lover trope? after she beat homeboy’s head in the first time at age 12, that would’ve been enough for me. shooieeee.

[Chauntae · Rating 3 out of 5]

My attention was captured right from the beginning but I quickly lost interest in the middle. The back story took way too long and the only reason I finished was to find out if Carmen and Desiree got away with it in the end.

[Arnetta all day · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay,but lacked action.

[Sequitta Mayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhmmm... this book was messy but not in a way that I enjoyed. I was looking forward to reading this because of the high ratings, but i see I'm in the minority on this one. I couldn't connect with not 1 character in this story. Everyone in it was foolish, especially the main character. Even considering the fact that she was a child for the majority of the story, it just seemed so wild to me that someone could make such a series of ridiculous decisions compiling on top of each other all the way into their 30s. I guess it could happen, but like I said, I just couldn't connect with her or anyone else. A few other things I didn't like...1) Too much time spent on an unnecessarily long flashback. The flashback was the majority of the story, and it felt like fluff, to add to the page count. 2) For such a long lead up, I didn't feel like the pay off was worth it 3) the unfortunate disability representation. It made me really uncomfortable to see her friends dissuade her from being in a relationship with a physically disabled man. Again, it leads me to the earlier point that every single person seemed like a fool. Even the writer wrote Burl as this aloof, simple-minded person with no real real character depth. If he really was that aloof, simple-minded, and unrelatable, THAT should have been the reason her friends and family tried to talk her out of the "relationship", not because he had a physical disability.

[Book Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listen to all Mary Monroe books on audio. I always love how the story comes to life and plays like a movie in my head. This book is about a girl who constantly makes poor decisions and then feels sorry for herself. I honestly couldn’t deal with Carmen lol, it was like she chose to make life hard for herself. Her life was unnecessary complicated. However, I like the flow of the book and the narrator. It kept my attention as always, which why I keep reading her books even though the characters infuriated me every single time lol.

[Kristine Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. This was probably the very first book I’ve read that I didn’t want to stop reading, and on top of that I’ve read it multiple times. It was so captivating and I could just place myself right in the scenes.

[Uniquely Kmee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you something... this woman has a way with words. You become fully invested in every character not just the protagonist an you just have to read it until the end to find out. I was not disappointed an i have read God Doesn't like ugly atleast 10 times.

[Debi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a muder mystery of sorts. No real twists and turns. The main character and two men in her life and her two girlfriends. It was harsh in the words and an insight into black culture without being in your face. I like it, but not enough to recommend to a friend.

[Jataun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unoriginal and predictable. I didn't care about any of the characters, none of whom seemed remotely self-aware.

[Ronneshia Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good read!

[Brittany-Monique Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book. It gets kinda slow & repetitive in some parts, but overall its a great work of fiction

[Bria Collier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great turn of events. The plot was compelling and no matter how many times I got aggravated with the story. I had to find out what happened next!

[Kia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - so much drama.

[Twyla Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about twists and turns!!! But what a good story!!

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. It was kinda sad and depressing for me.

[Frances Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monroe is an amazing writer.

[Riss Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 2nd read on this book, I read it when it was initially released. It was just as good the 2nd time around even better tbh. However, I still don’t think they needed to get together in the end.

[Shonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book the friendship the 2 girls had was so lovely. Mary is a good writer so far I have loved all her books they have so many swist and turns.

[Amber Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good! Definitely a plot twist! Burl pissed me off so bad and I wish her & Chester would have gotten together. I think we need a second book

[Jamilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Expect the unexpected :-)

[Bridgette L. Pierce]

Must read!!