Gumbo

November 25, 2002
Over 70 writers have contributed to this "literary rent party," the proceeds of which will benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation, an organization that gives annual financial awards to novelists, nonfiction writers and students. Novelists Golden (The Edge of Heaven, etc.) and Harris (Invisible Life, etc.) offer a motley collection of previously published short stories and excerpts from novels. The book starts off strong with Edwidge Danticat's "The Dew Breaker," in which a Haitian expat marries the man who she believes tortured and killed her brother, followed by an excerpt from Percival Everett's excellent satire Erasure, which hilariously skewers "ghetto prose" and poseurs. Contributors run the gamut from recent M.F.A. grads to such established figures as Walter Mosley, Gloria Naylor, Terry McMillan and Jewelle Gomez. Formidable newcomers include R. Erica Doyle, whose brief but potent "Fortune" hints at a love affair between two Trinidadian women, while Bryan Gibson's epistolary tour de force "Fear of Floating" features a housing project resident who inadvertently becomes a kind of therapist to his troubled neighbors. While it is at times clear that literary excellence was not the only criterion for inclusion, this sprawling collection handily reflects the diversity and vibrancy of contemporary African-American fiction. Readers can also take comfort in the fact that they aren't just getting a real bang for their fiction bucks, they're also supporting a worthy cause.

Starred review from January 15, 2003
What a delightful feast! Compiled by Golden (The Edge of Heaven) and Harris (A Love of My Own), this anthology offers some of the finest writing by African Americans today. Included are original stories, like J. California Cooper's "$100 and Nothing," which concerns a husband who gets his comeuppance for verbally abusing his wife, and Bertice Berry's Love, which focuses on a woman who takes custody of her sister's four children. Selections from budding writers, including Mitchell Jackson, Ravi Howard, and Audrey Petty, and excerpts from previously published works, including Walter Mosley's RL's Dream, Pearl Cleage's What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, and Eric Jerome Dickey's Thieves' Paradise, are prominent. Divided into four sections, this text offers compelling tales of family matters, love, rape, and psychic phenomena from authors who include Terry McMillan, John Edgar Wideman, Bebe Moore Campbell, RM Johnson, Lorene Cary, and David Haynes. An outstanding collection; highly recommended for public libraries.-Ann Burns, "Library Journal"

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2002
Meant to convey a literary rent party (sales proceeds to benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation that awards talented new black writers), this anthology is a tribute to the diverse literary styles of Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Inheritors of Hurston's love of folklore and the speech and cadence of common black folk and Wright's more intense, highly charged portrayals and condemnations of racism are evident throughout this collection of new and previously published stories by new and established writers. The collection of more than 70 stories is a melange, a gumbo, of styles, rhythms, subjects, characterizations, moods, and sensibilities. Among the contributors are the editors Harris and Golden, Edwidge Danticat, Eric Jerome Dickey, J. California Cooper, John Edgar Wideman, Bebe Moore Campbell, Tananarive Due, Gloria Naylor, and Terry McMillan. Stories are arranged under broad themes of family life, love and romance, racial identity, and religion and faith. Readers who appreciate the diverse genres of African American writing, as well as the heritage wrought by Hurston and Wright, will enjoy this collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)