FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY

A lifeless successor to the ebullient, street-smart Flyy Girl (1996) delivers a preachy take on the price of success and life in Hollywood.

Tracy Ellison Grant, the original flyy girl, is still hung up on sex, clothes, and the good life, but now she's a movie star and successful screenwriter. Tracy describes the changes in her life through a narrative that moves back and forth between 1996, when she gave up teaching and headed for Hollywood, and 2000, when she's back in Philadelphia visiting her family and the old neighborhood. The 1996 portions show Tracy, English M.A. in hand, storming Tinseltown, determined to be a writer. She doesn't want to be restricted to black shows, but within weeks a lucky break (the first of many) sets her rapidly advancing up the writing hierarchy on a science-fiction series. Flash forward to 2000: her new success means she can't go shopping without being recognized; some family members are jealous; her neighbor, former crack addict Mercedes, wants Tracy to buy her a house; and her friends are moving on: Raheema, an academic, is a happy wife and mother; Kiwana, a former militant, has married a white man. Tracy also meets up with Victor, the love of her life, and although still attracted to him, she realizes they’re not right together—which means that she's lonely, though rich and famous. Back on the coast she lands a savvy and connected agent, writes and sells a screenplay, and then is asked to play the lead. Other Hollywood blacks are envious, and rumors fly, but Tracy can tough it out, then use it to deliver a sermon on work, money, and race. Even more success looms as Tyree’s single-minded heroine takes on new challenges. If only it weren’t all as stale and clichéd as the poetry Tracy relentlessly inserts throughout her prose narrative.

Fine for Flyy fans who want to know what happened next, but for the rest, a tell-all with not much to tell.