It's Not All Downhill From Here

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-12

Chapters 13-20

Chapters 21-26

Chapters 27-32

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Perceptions of Age and Health

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses addiction, depression, and suicide.

Terry McMillan explores and challenges the perception that age and health naturally work against each other. Chapter 1 introduces Loretha’s belief that her best years are behind her and that she must work to maintain her youth. She laments that “once a week one of us seems to have a date with some kind of doctor and the scale of the problems seems to escalate by the month” (88). Loretha and her friends all initially believe, to some extent, that their age limits what they can do. However, the characters’ development arcs and the overall plot arc reveal that aging does not preclude people from living the lives they want.

Ma is one of the most vocal characters defying the societal norm that age is a hindrance, but Loretha struggles to internalize her mother’s advice. Ma frequently asserts, “If you’re reading this and you’re over forty, I hope you’re doing what you want with your life” (121). She also dispenses practical wisdom, such as not allowing societal beauty standards to dictate self-worth and not abandoning dreams because they become complex. However, Loretha’s societal conditioning causes her to ignore her mother’s advice. Loretha pushes against activities like Zumba, eating healthier, exercising regularly, and falling in love—feeling that her age prevents her from participating in them. Only during her New Year’s Eve reflection does Loretha begin to change her mindset.

However, it is not until Poochie passes that Loretha fully accepts that growing older does not mean she must be unhealthy and unhappy. Poochie’s final advice to her friends inspires Loretha to change her perspective on aging; Poochie writes, “It does not have to be all downhill from here. So put it in fourth gear and floor it” (238). These words, from which the novel draws its title, highlight the shift occurring in the characters and the plot. Loretha, inspired by Poochie's words, starts taking her health seriously and, more importantly, no longer thinks of her age as limiting. She pushes through her first hip-hop dance class, and by the end, she reflects, “[M]y body realized it had a memory and I swirled and flexed and twisted” (257). Loretha, now liberated from the self-perceived limitations of her age, no longer restricts her activities, including dates. Loretha's character arc challenges the stereotype that older people must be relegated to a life of isolation, stagnation, and poor health, instead demonstrating that growth and joy are achievable at all ages.

The Bonds Between Friends and Family

Loretha’s friendships with Sadie, Poochie, Korynthia, and Lucky are some of her most important relationships. In contrast, Loretha has a strained relationship with many family members, including her twin sister, Odessa, and her daughter, Jalecia. These two distinct familial bonds—blood family and found family—complicate definitions of family, underscoring how choice impacts relationships. The bonds between Loretha's two types of families also raise the question of how people choose to love each other.

Loretha and her friends consistently choose each other, revealing that their bond is sustained through continual acts of agency. Their relationship draws on the found family trope—a literary trope that portrays friendships that are strong enough to rival or surpass family relationships. She states that after disagreements, “[W]e always come running back because we have loved one another longer than some of us have loved the men in our lives” (7). This comparison emphasizes the value of long-lasting friendships, challenging societal norms that prioritize romantic relationships over platonic ones. After Poochie’s death, Loretha shifts to a metaphor that evokes blood family, telling her friend posthumously, “You didn’t have to go through this by yourself. We are your sisters, Pooch. We will always be your sisters” (236). Though there is no blood relation between Poochie, Loretha, or any of the women who make this friend group, they all consistently choose to support and care for each other. The depth of their bond demonstrates that people can care for others outside their immediate family with the same care and compassion often reserved for family members.

Loretha’s connection with her family members stands in opposition to her relationships with her friends. Specifically, Loretha struggles to bond with Odessa. Loretha describes her relationship with Odessa in a variety of ways, ranging from “not as chummy as most twins” to “Odessa is a bitch and proves it on a weekly basis” (7). However, as Loretha begins losing her friends, she realizes that she does not want to live her life in hate and instead, chooses to make peace with her living family members. When she invites Odessa on the cruise Poochie paid for, Loretha extends a metaphorical olive branch, seeking to reconnect with her twin despite a lifetime of conflict. This moment underscores the need for change in strained family relationships: Someone must first recognize the need for a bond. Loretha reaches this moment of recognition when she offers to bring Odessa, saying, “In light of everything that’s happened this year, it’s about time Odessa and I started treating each other like sisters instead of adversaries” (285-6). Loretha’s story illustrates the transformative potential of making peace between friends and family members rather than living with grudges. The twins’ narrative arc emphasizes the value of familial peace in the face of hardship and loss.

Resilience in the Face of Personal Loss

Even as Loretha and her friends expand their Perceptions of Age and Health to reflect that growing older can be a joyful, healthy experience, they also face grief and personal loss. The novel opens with Loretha experiencing her husband’s death on their vacation, and her character arc is centered on her efforts to learn to live without him. From the early days after his death to her life over a year later, Loretha’s journey is not about “moving on” from Carl but rather a journey of developing resilience and learning to live a new normal while honoring his memory.

The beginning of the novel illustrates the shock and numbness that constitute Loretha’s early stages of grief, revealing that resilience is as much an obligation as it is a choice. In the first few days, Loretha exists in a haze where she constantly “wonder[s] what [is] taking him so long to get home” (29). She cannot immediately accept his death, but a few days later, she must acknowledge “that [her] husband [is] not coming home, and that [she has] to get up, because [she has] to get up” (30-31). She does not begin moving forward because she wants to—she does so because she must. Faced with the options of wasting away or continuing to live, Loretha realizes she is obligated to keep going: She chooses life, and she must continue to choose life as the novel continues. However, life is not easy. Loretha says, “I’ve been trying to do what needs to be done, but I was not prepared for this hole Carl left in my heart, in my life” (39). Loretha’s early days of grief are a struggle, but her realization that she must “get up” and continue to live propels her journey of acceptance and resilience.

As Loretha celebrates New Year’s alone the following year, she reflects on both her grief and her future, highlighting that personal loss coexists with daily life. She reminisces on more than just what she has lost; she also “want[s] to think about how [she] might spend the next year and maybe the rest of [her] life without longing for the past or worrying too much about [her] future” (187). Her reflections underscore that grief never entirely disappears, but rather it becomes a regular part of daily life. Loretha expresses an awareness that she must adapt to her new normal. She does not want to forget Carl, but she also cannot continue living in a world where she longs for the days when he lived. Loretha’s grief journey demonstrates that resilience in the face of personal loss is not about forgetting or moving on; instead, her growth depends on her awareness that the past is behind her, and her future will be what she makes of it.