A Day Late and a Dollar Short (novel)

A Day Late and a Dollar Short (2002) is Terry McMillan's fifth novel. It’s about a family in Las Vegas in 1994. Family charts in the end pages assist readers in keeping track of who is who in the large and dysfunctional Price family.

Unlike McMillan's previous novels, A Day Late and a Dollar Short emphasizes the love and bonds of adult family members instead of friends. It explores relationships between parents, their children, and siblings.

When the reader is introduced to the characters, they witness a damaged family become torn even further apart. Near the resolution they will see how this torn family picks up the pieces to come together. The story is told from the perspectives of six different characters (each a member of the Price family). They deal with contemporary concepts like prescription drug addiction, alcoholism, incest, homosexuality, molestation, single parenthood, and divorce.

Paris is divorced with a son who will soon be turning seventeen. She’s always trying to help her family even though she hasn’t been able to help herself. While she focuses on helping her family, she fails to acknowledge that her own life is in shambles. Her son is an amazing athlete who may have gotten his white girlfriend pregnant. She is considered to be the most successful of her siblings though she battles a prescription drug addiction behind closed doors.

Lewis is considered to be the screw up in the family. His constant troubles with the law confirm his family’s low opinion of him. He shows up drunk and broke when he visits his mother in the hospital. He struggles to learn how to take control of his own life instead of blaming or depending on others. Lewis is also dealing with the repercussions of being sexually abused as a child and early onset arthritis. His ex-wife is married to a white man that wants to adopt his son.

Charlotte feels like she doesn’t belong in the Price family. She feels like she never got as much attention as her older sister so she takes out her frustrations on the younger ones. She tends not to speak to her mother or older sister because she feels that they conspire against her. Charlotte has an openly gay son and two energetic daughters with ADD.

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