Opposable Thumbs

by Suzanne Hudson

While certainly evocative of Flannery O'Connor--that old workhorse of the South--and her dark humor, Hudson's stories also evoke empathy for the characters and their situations, no matter how bizarre. Who would ever think to empathize with an incestuous father who's gotten his daughter pregnant? Or with two redneck drunks jabbering their racism and solipsistic pity? Or, on a lighter note, with a teenage boy barricading himself behind loud music as his family argues over possession of a prize mink coat? And when Hudson presents us with two girls, one white and one black, facing the first school desegregation, empathy moves into tragedy, the tragedy that has haunted this nation for living memory and beyond.

Opposable thumbs --
Jesus, sex and sweet tea --
Bonita Street Bridge Club --
See Ruby Falls --
Novena --
Chilling out --
Yard sale --
Summer story --
Mixon, Fla., 1966 --
La Prade

146 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Suzanne Hudson is the author of two literary novels, In a Temple of Trees and In the Dark of the Moon. Her short fiction has been anthologized in almost a dozen books, including Stories from the Blue Moon Café and The Shoe Burnin’: Stories of Southern Soul. Her short story collection Opposable Thumbs was a finalist for a John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her latest work of short stories, All the Way to Memphis, brings characters from the South to life in a way any reader will know and love. She lives with her husband, author Joe Formichella, near Fairhope, Alabama.