When Did You Stop Loving Me

by Veronica Chambers

Book Overview

A dazzling literary debut about a young girl and her father, a magician whose tricks and illusions both ease and hinder the painful realities of their lives WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME is the warm and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385509006
• ISBN13: 9780385509008
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 211 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great work of literature

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. I liked the references to X-Men and other comics. Although the cartoon series was shown in the early 90s, this book shows that the comic originated in the early 1960s. The book ends and allows the reader to wonder about the future of the character as any good work of literature should. Ms. Chambers did her thing with her 2nd novel and I encourage readers to pick up her 1st, Mama's Girl.

A good read!

I really enjoy black novels set in the 60's and 70's era, you don't have to worry about all the explicit language. I thought the story was good- Angela comes home to find her mother that she loved gone. Angela and her father try to make it through life without her. This is just a great story between a girl and her father. I loved it, can't wait to read more books by this author.

A Good Read

When Did You Stop Loving me Veronica Chambers 5 stars Life for 11 year old Angel Davis Brown turns upside down when her mother leaves to pursue her dreams of stardom. Left in the care of her father Teddo, a Magician Angela longs deeply for her mother and her father refuses to talk about it. Both of them questioning when did she stop loving me?. The book traces Angela's memories of her mother Melanie and her constant need for a life of stardom. She recalls the stories her mother would tell her. Stories passed down from her Great Grandmother down south. Now left to fend for themselves Angela is raised on omelets and night clubs. As if losing her mother wasn't bad enough, Angela longs for friends, no one seems to notice the girl and they move often. Her father Teddo was comical. His character was strong. In one part Angel and Teddo act out the lines from the movie Mahogany. Angela and Melanie use to do that, Mahogany was Melanie's favorite movie. In the grocery store Angela yells out " I'm a widow from the south side. and Teddo yells back " Who said that?" but this time Angela flips the script when Teddo says " Well madam, do you want me to help you with your landlord?" Angela yells " Hell no! I want you to get my mother back". The only magic trick Teddo can't pull off. As Angela and Teddo move on- post mommy- the discover that they can make it, just the two of them. This story broke my heart. I kept thinking the mother would come back but she never did. Chambers tells a powerful and very vivid story through the eyes of an 11 year old girl. The book was hard to put down. The end bittersweet.

A House of Knives and Mirrors

Set in 1970's Harlem, WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME by Veronica Chambers features Angela Davis Brown, a child abandoned by her mother, Melanie, and left to be raised by her father, Teddo, a magician. The story, told through the voice of Angie as an adult, delves into the past as Angie attempts to come to grips with her mother's abandonment. What we find is Angie's endurance, her hopefulness for her mother's return, her optimism and lack of hatred towards her mother. Through her musings we are treated to her father's agenda. Teddo is self-absorbed as he ekes a life for Angie and himself. He is consumed with race relations, the movement of the time, but only when it benefits the moment and his goals. Actually this is a story about the pain of abandonment of two people, however, it is through Angie's voice we hear her father's pain as he strives to shield the truth from Angie. Angie also bears some additional truths, some with humor and some with sadness, of the people they come into contact with such as Teddo's male friends, his female acquaintances, the clients he performs for, his bartering skills and Angie's aunt; an aunt with limited contact prior to Melanie's surrender.Veronica Chamber's prose is excellent and her use of metaphors and similes is fluid and enjoyable to read. The imagery has the ability to take you to this era and through it as you feel for Angie and her needs as a young girl coming of age. I enjoyed listening to Angie because of her quipped remarks, replies and thoughts. The ending is heartfelt as Angie, as an adult, continues to question why her mother stopped loving her. Reviewed by Dawn R. Reevesof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

A Wonderful debut

WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME by Veronica ChambersWHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME is Veronica Chambers debut novel about a young black girl growing up in the 70's and early 80's whose mother decides to leave her family without a trace. It's not only a story of a girl's coming to terms with her mother's disappearance, but also a look back at an era that started with the end of the Vietnam War and the fight for Civil Rights.Angela Davis Brown's life revolved around the love she had for her parents. Melanie is a beautiful woman who at one time had aspirations to becoming someone famous, perhaps a model or an actress. Angela's father is a professional magician, working at nightclubs and private parties. With his lack of income, her mother is the breadwinner of the family, and Melanie often berated Teddo for not bringing in enough money. When Melanie disappears, life goes on and Teddo does his best to bring up Angela on his own, trying to bring in more money and giving Melanie the sense of family she needs. He doesn't always succeed, but his heart is in the right place, teaching Melanie about life and about her black heritage.The story is told in flashbacks, using images from the seventies to describe Teddo's convictions of a black man who is trying to survive in a white man's world. Although this story is about Angela, the story about Teddo and Melanie helps round out Angela's search for the answers she needs to explain why her mother abandoned them. I especially enjoyed the references made to the 1970's, reminscing about the era that I grew up in. But I also enjoyed reading about these characters. I found myself laughing as Angela's father warns her about the bad influences of watching shows like the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family, subservice white man shows that taught kids all sorts of bad things. He didn't want his daughter to be like that! His aspirations for her were to go to upper class white private schools and fitting in with that same crowd. Although his pride in being black was always apparent, he also had a need to be cultured, to be accepted by the upper class white population. He also taught her the gift of reading, and tried to show her that education could be acquired from simply reading a book.I really enjoyed WHEN DID YOU STOP LOVING ME. It was not what I had expected at all, although I cannot say at this point what I was expecting. After reading this book, I felt a satisfaction that comes from reading a good book, short and sweet, yet it packed in plenty for such a short novel. I am looking forward to more by Veronica Chambers.