You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down

As with any collection, this one's a mixed bag. While the stories cover a range of themes—mostly dealing with the struggles faced by black women in America—some of them are dealt with in quite a heavy-handed way. The latter ones epecially, read like non-fiction that I'll often forget I'm reading from a fictional character's point of view (and I'm not talking about the one originally written as an introduction in Ms. Magazine). I guess the author has a very strong voice, to the point where I conflate her with her characters.

There were a few standouts though (again, in my own opinion). Nineteen Fifty-five, the opening story deals with the commercial exploitation faced by black musicians and was supposedly inspired by the life of Elvis Presley and Big Mama Thornton. While How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State?... is an unnerving revenge story dealing with abuse. Another of my favorites in this volume is The Abortion which was a visceral examination of the hard choices women make about their own bodies. I also particularly like the last story, Source which is about a lifelong friendship between two women who deal with race in very different ways.

Overall, I'm glad that I've read this collection. It is an important work and is especially relevant to the current political landscape in America. I just couldn't distinguish between Ms. Walker and her characters which is a probably a failure of my own imagination as much as hers.