<P> Viola Price is the dominant voice in the novel . She has a strained marriage with Cecil . They have four grown kids located in various places throughout the country . Their tumultuous marriage has lasted 38 years . In the beginning of the story she describes her family, "I don't even want to think about Cecil right now, because it might just bring on another attack . He's a bad habit I've had for thirty - eight years, which would make him my husband . Between him and these kids, I'm worn out . It's a miracle I can breathe at all . I had' em so fast they felt more like a litter, except each one turned out to be a different animal . Paris is a female lion who don't roar loud enough . Lewis is a horse who don't pull his own weight . Charlotte is definitely a bull, and Janelle would have to be a sheep - a lamb is closer to it -' cause she always being led out to some pasture and don't know how she got there ." </P> <P> Cecil, Viola's hardworking husband, has shut the door behind him for the last time and has taken his life in a new direction, regardless of what his wife and kids think about it . </P> <P> The weight of bringing the family together rests on her already heavy shoulders . At the end of the novel, Viola dies from her last attack of asthma . Her death brings the family together as they read letters she wrote to them before passing away . She teaches them that nothing is more important than family . </P> <P> The novel was adapted into a television movie on Lifetime, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Ving Rhames, Tichina Arnold, Kimberly Elise, Anika Noni Rose and Mekhi Phifer . </P>

Terry mcmillan a day late and a dollar short