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A Failure to Communicate: Stories
S. Andrea Allen's debut collection of short fiction and essays focuses on how communication, or the lack thereof, impacts Black women’s lives. The stories range from the humorous to the heartbreaking: one woman wins a bake-off because her co-worker misunderstands the contest; an overweight woman finally learns to love herself, even though it means leaving her girlfriend.
A teenager reflects on his mother's inability to discuss her depression; a woman realizes that her partner has been hiding a gambling addiction, and has to decide whether to help her or save herself. The women in these stories are often silenced, but Allen imbues them with a voice that demands to be heard.
A teenager reflects on his mother's inability to discuss her depression; a woman realizes that her partner has been hiding a gambling addiction, and has to decide whether to help her or save herself. The women in these stories are often silenced, but Allen imbues them with a voice that demands to be heard.
- GenresShort StoriesFictionLGBT
128 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2017
241 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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January 10, 2017I'm putting this one on the recs list on the strength of the final story, "Truth", a historical #ownvoices-African-American f/f love story that I suspect is set "in the world of" The Color Purple but concerning new original characters (i.e. Shug performs in the story but the main characters are two different women.) It was tender and sweet with just enough danger to give the plot something to hang on.
The other stories leaned mostly literary fiction about Black lesbians, which were of quality but literary fiction is not my usual fare, and essays about various aspects of Blackness and Black lesbian-ness, which were very good. Topics include what James Baldwin means to the writer, miscarriages of justice in the American legal system, and my favorite, which explains why fictional representation needs to be meaningful in order to ring true. She dissects the biracial character in the movie Bridesmaids and explains that making her half-Black but then putting absolutely no Black people in her life starts to make it sound like her Blackness was basically nail polish rather than a fully-fleshed-out, realistic character.
As the Jewish contributor to the WritingWithColor advice blog, I can say that we as a whole get questions about this a lot -- "I'm not in X group, and I'm writing an X character who is either half X or disconnected from X culture or adopted by non-X's," etc. This essay explains, with very concrete and helpful examples about what's missing and what shouldn't have been there, why there's a good chance you will create something that will be recognizably outsidery if you do that. (If you're IN the group, that's fine.)
Of the other stories, the one I enjoyed the most was the second one, about a woman who's at a crossroads in her career and learns she's capable of reaching for more than her white male boss is willing to give her.
I need to warn for suicidal stuff in "Lunch Date" and "Dress Clothes", which are related stories. Additional warnings come with some of the other stories that include the protagonist having abusive or fatphobic girlfriends, and I apologize for the lack of thoroughness of this review due to my own, entirely unrelated, mental distress.
The other stories leaned mostly literary fiction about Black lesbians, which were of quality but literary fiction is not my usual fare, and essays about various aspects of Blackness and Black lesbian-ness, which were very good. Topics include what James Baldwin means to the writer, miscarriages of justice in the American legal system, and my favorite, which explains why fictional representation needs to be meaningful in order to ring true. She dissects the biracial character in the movie Bridesmaids and explains that making her half-Black but then putting absolutely no Black people in her life starts to make it sound like her Blackness was basically nail polish rather than a fully-fleshed-out, realistic character.
As the Jewish contributor to the WritingWithColor advice blog, I can say that we as a whole get questions about this a lot -- "I'm not in X group, and I'm writing an X character who is either half X or disconnected from X culture or adopted by non-X's," etc. This essay explains, with very concrete and helpful examples about what's missing and what shouldn't have been there, why there's a good chance you will create something that will be recognizably outsidery if you do that. (If you're IN the group, that's fine.)
Of the other stories, the one I enjoyed the most was the second one, about a woman who's at a crossroads in her career and learns she's capable of reaching for more than her white male boss is willing to give her.
I need to warn for suicidal stuff in "Lunch Date" and "Dress Clothes", which are related stories. Additional warnings come with some of the other stories that include the protagonist having abusive or fatphobic girlfriends, and I apologize for the lack of thoroughness of this review due to my own, entirely unrelated, mental distress.
August 14, 2022
quiet stories & essays about Black lesbian identity, mostly in the south. I enjoyed the premise of all the stories but would’ve liked a little more from the follow-through of each one. Just somewhat lackluster
May 15, 2017
great book loved the way it drew me in
January 8, 2017
I received an advance copy of the book and found it to be refreshing. It's a different prospective on understanding the necessity of communicating. I feel many people can relate to some of the writer's work because at some point in their life they may encounter similar situation. What I gain from it was the writer way of sharing moments of overcoming self doubt, realization of self-worthiness, self-love and how the pain of lost can cause failure in communicating. In my opinion this is a refreshing set of essay's and short stories.
January 8, 2017
I received my copy via a Goodreads giveaway.
I definitely appreciated that author's style range, but found the mixing of fiction and non-fiction a bit jarring; I also found her fiction a bit 'easier'/more convincing than her non-fiction; even the fiction, though, was just a little bit 'preachy'. The story 'pacings' (lengths) and plots were more convincing than the dialogue, in general. Overall, I'm glad I read this collection.
I definitely appreciated that author's style range, but found the mixing of fiction and non-fiction a bit jarring; I also found her fiction a bit 'easier'/more convincing than her non-fiction; even the fiction, though, was just a little bit 'preachy'. The story 'pacings' (lengths) and plots were more convincing than the dialogue, in general. Overall, I'm glad I read this collection.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews