I just finished reading this today. Not a fan. I didn't know really anything about the book going in but knew that BOTH Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah were in the movie, which should have been a dead giveaway that this one is not for me.
I really didn't like it much at all. I didn't like the characters or the story. But I think I was mostly bothered by how the story was presented. It is a bunch of letters, first written by the main character to God, and then a bunch of letters written back and forth between sisters. This approach is fine I suppose so long as it is done in a way that is more believable.
First of all, her letters to God are pretty vulgar at times. I get how she is writing openly and honestly and all, but does she really have to drop out of nowhere f-bombs and describe other borderline explicit conversations and events in detail? I get maybe(!) writing that in your own personal journal, but if you do then seems weird to address the entry to God. But maybe that's just me.
And second, the letters the main character wrote to her sister were the most annoying for me for several reasons of which I will only name a few. Similar with the letters to God, she continues to write about some crude details to her sister which would be fine I suppose if not for the fact that her sister is a missionary in Africa. Seems like a little restraint should be involved based on this fact.
But the worst were the letters containing conversations she had with people about things she learned from her sister's letters of how things are in Africa. Instead of writing something like, "And then I told him about that thing you told me concerning how it is in Africa" which is what would happen in a real-life letter, she goes on to explain the exact entire conversation she had with the person in which she full-out explains what she learned from her sister. And she's writing this to her sister. I'm like, "Uhh, seems like the sister already knows about what you're explaining to her since she's the one who explained it to you in the first place." Clearly the author is explaining stuff to the reader and not the sister writing a letter to her sister.
If you're going to commit to the letter-writing being the storytelling then at least do a better job at it so that it doesn't drive me nuts the whole time. Other than that I guess there was lots of discussion about racism and sexism which is always fun.
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