It's All About...Facing the Reality
by C.J. Greene
Miss C.J. Greene is a middle-aged woman, who has been through a very rough time in her life, after she is forced to go through a very nasty divorce. She used to be a beautiful and very famous pop star and had even gotten a Grammy nomination, at one point. She marries her famous D.J. husband at the height of her and his career, but finds out very quickly that he is a habitual womanizer.
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The story begins with her going on a business trip to Africa, where she has been invited to attend a conference for African-American businesswomen, in a joint venture with the King of a major South African country. She is unaware of the fact that he has secretly been tracking her career over the years, and really wants her to join his extensive cadre of wives. Unfortunately, she is already engaged to a man who wants to become an entrepreneur himself. She is initially impressed with his ambition, but is reluctant to tell her fiance the complete truth about her own personal secrets; because at the age of 47, she is worried that she will never find another man to love her, and doesn’t want him to use her for her money.
The issue of finding love at such a late stage in life, while the specters of the AIDS/HIV viruses, and the myriad of other sexually transmitted diseases looms like a heavy cloud over her life, is the major focus of the story. She forgets to get tested for the virus upon returning to the United States, and gets busy with her new life as a wife to her new loving husband. However, while she was in Africa, her husband has a little affair of his own, but of course, he is afraid to tell her about it because his life is a little more complicated than he wishes to admit also. We find out later, that he has been having same sex liaisons with his best friend.
Several months later, Ms. C.J.’s mother has died, and she must return to her home town to attend the funeral. But, a serious health problem sends her to the hospital. While being hospitalized, we find out that she has contracted the AIDS virus, but we never find out for certain how she was infected. She also has won a large LOTTO prize which she debates telling her husband about for fear that he will want her to invest in his own business plans and use up all the money. So, she devises a scheme to hide the money from him.
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After returning to Atlanta, she is again confronted by her old boyfriend who has escaped the authorities, and has come looking for her to get money for his life on the run. He attempts to extort money from her bank account, but, during the attempted extortion and bank holdup, he injures her very badly, which forces her to have to go back into the hospital where she must then try to recuperate in her weakened condition as a full-blown AIDS patient. She runs through her Lottery winnings, and finally ends up destitute after her husband commits suicide and she must sell off her assets to survive.
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This book is an introduction into the lives of these middle aged men and women, and how they sometimes neglected to think out their lives to the fullest before diving into sexual or other relationships. The characters must deal with fame, fortune, losing their youthful looks, and raising their children in questionable circumstances. Again, Miss. C.J. must struggle with the knowledge that she may not be around long enough to see her children and grandchildren grow up. They deal with horrendous lies and secrets and figuring out how much a person should or should not tell their significant others about their past (and sometimes their present) lives. It also touches upon our religious and spiritual beliefs, and how it is hard to know what is exactly the “right” thing to do, according to our present day moral standards.
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One of the main themes in the book is our society’s attitudes toward money and riches; because we all must realize that money is nothing if we do not have our health or healthy relationships in our lives first in order to enjoy it. The book ends with Miss C.J. retiring from her life as a Designer as she tries to cope with her new life while being treated for the AIDS virus. But, there are still more questions to be answered and problems to be faced in books #2 and #3... "Facing This Side of the Moon" and "Facing the Truth and the Lies" after she dies and her children and grandchildren must learn to continue to live healthy lives and cope with life without her.
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