Miss Muriel and Other Stories

by Ann Petry

“Petry is the writer we have been waiting for; hers are the stories we need to fully illuminate the questions of our moment, while also offering a page-turning good time. Ann Petry, the woman, had it all, and so does her insightful, prescient and unputdownable prose.” — Tayari Jones, New York Times Book Review

From the author of the bestselling novel The Street, comes a powerful collection of stories that captures a remarkably diverse panorama of African American experience in the 1950s and 1960s.

Asmall-town pharmacist’s decision to take a day off leads his wife to an agonizing encounter with the police. A retired Black college professor teaching at a predominately white high school is kidnapped and forced to witness an unthinkable horror. A young Black girl watches her aunt’s suitors threaten her family’s wellbeing, with repercussions that reverberate for decades. Ann Petry wrote these and the other extraordinary stories in this collection ** over half a century ago, but the problems they interrogate still exist today, incisively uncovering the consequences of America’s pervasive racism, while telling timeless stories of everyday lives, of aspiration, frustration, and love. Miss Muriel and Other Stories is “a delicate, unflinching probe into African-American existence” ( Boston Globe ) from one of the most gifted writers of the twentieth century. Originally published between 1945 and 1971, Petry’s stories are “a delicate, unflinching probe into African-American existence” ( Boston Globe ) and an assertion of her status as one of the most gifted writers of the twentieth century.

“I’ve recently had my brain re-wired by Ann Petry, and it’s that exhilarating feeling of falling in love with one of your lifetime writers for the first time.” —Brandon Tyler

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, African American, Race, Literature, The United States Of America

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 1971

About the author

Ann Petry (October 12, 1908 – April 28, 1997) was an American author who became the first black woman writer with book sales topping a million copies for her novel The Street.

The wish to become a professional writer was raised in Ann for the first time in high school when her English teacher read her essay to the class commenting on it with the words: “I honestly believe that you could be a writer if you wanted to.” The decision to become a pharmacist was her family’s. She turned up in college and graduated with a Ph.G. degree from Connecticut College of Pharmacy in New Haven in 1931 and worked in the family business for several years. She also began to write short stories while she was working at the pharmacy.

On February 22, 1938, she married George D. Petry of New Iberia, Louisiana, which brought Petry to New York. She not only wrote articles for newspapers such as The Amsterdam News, or The People's Voice, and published short stories in The Crisis, but also worked at an after-school program at P.S. 10 in Harlem. It was during this period of her life that she had realized and personally experienced what the majority of the black population of the United States had to go through in their everyday life.

Traversing the streets of Harlem, living for the first time among large numbers of poor black people, seeing neglected children up close – Petry's early years in New York inevitably made impressions on her. Impacted by her Harlem experiences, Ann Petry used her creative writing skills to bring this experience to paper. Her daughter Liz explained to the Washington Post that “her way of dealing with the problem was to write this book, which maybe was something that people who had grown up in Harlem couldn’t do.”

Petry's most popular novel The Street was published in 1946 and won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship with book sales topping a million copies.

Back in Old Saybrook in 1947, the writer worked on Country Place (1947), The Narrows (1953), other stories, and books for children, but they have never achieved the same success as her first book. Until her death Petry lived in an 18th-century house in her hometown, Old Saybrook. She drew on her personal experiences of the hurricane in Old Saybrook in her 1947 novel, Country Place. Although the novel is set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Petry identified the 1938 New England huricane as the source for the storm that is at the center of her narrative. Ann Lane Petry died at the age of 88 on April 28, 1997. She was outlived by her husband, George Petry, who died in 2000, and her only daughter, Liz Petry.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Tim Null · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born in 1908 Ann Petry was just five years older than my father, but they were from different worlds.
Quote ...--it had become the world that had taken her son, and she was wreaking vengeance on it. Unquote p. 277

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rather captivating collection of tales - each told with economic precision and a directness that keeps a sharp focus on the simple point of each story. 

What will be clear to the reader is the depth that Petry draws out of the deceptively ordinary, bull's eye-exact title of each tale. As well, there's not a bad story in the bunch. Reviewers often make a point of letting us know when a short story collection is felt to be a mixed bag. That can be true of many collections and authors can sometimes seem to be coasting somewhere along the line when short fiction is grouped together. 

But that doesn't happen here. Petry shows herself to be rather adept at hooking the reader early on with each addition, regardless of the amount of time a story requires attention. She writes neither too much nor too little. 

The volume opens with a trio of stories set in a pharmacy; memory captures that appear autobiographical - at least in part. These may be my favorites, precisely because they feel so personal and, as such, are particularly richly textured.

The rest of the volume diverts from that, featuring a panorama of dynamic chapters of African American life. 

The stories are deeply felt and psychologically sound in character detail at every turn. The reader should be prepared that the collection generally becomes progressively dark, as it often mainly deals with avenues of racism that prevent this work from feeling dated (sad as that is to say, considering how racism continues its tragic hold on humanity).

I recently read Petry's 'The Street' and found it a satisfying work - but 'Miss Muriel and Other Stories' feels even more impressive. Perhaps because the time constraints placed on the short story allowed Petry the benefits of 'the punch'.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read "The Bones of Louella Brown", one of thirteen stories in Ann Petry's "Miss Muriel and Other Stories". The Bedford Abbey was a private chapel which the prominent, wealthy Bedford family would utilize for their family weddings and funerals. The Bedfords had been buried at the Yew Tree Cemetery, so their remains were to be exhumed and reburied in the crypt in the chapel. A black laundress, Louella Brown, was also buried at the Yew Tree Cemetery. Louella's bones were brought to the funeral home for reburial at a black cemetery. Her bones and the bones of Elizabeth Bedford, the Countess of Castro got mixed up. Both skeletons were of the same height and build, and the two women had died in the same year. "People are saying it's some kind of trick, that we're proving there's no difference between the races. Oh, we're ruined--ruined--ruined--" Young Whiffle, a mortician, moaned.

Ann Petry wrote an engaging story that makes an important point about segregation. The story is humorous on one level as people try to resolve the problem and Louella haunts the funeral home director. On another level, we can see the serious problems of racism and classism. I enjoyed Ann Petry's writing so I would like to read more stories in this collection.

[Reggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

More on this, but ain't nothing changed.

#ReadAnnPetry

[La Tonya Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous read. It starts off with the only black family living in Wheeling, NY who owed a drug store. There name is Layen. Aunt Sophronia comes to live with them. She is young, beautiful like an Egyptian Queen, and a recent graduate of a druggiest school. In today's term this would be a pharmasicts. Old Mr. Bemish falls in love with here. He is an old white man who repairs shoes. He loves her so much he kneels down and proposes marriage and clicked his heels three time. He is run out of town in one night with all is worldly goods by Chink Johnson and Uncle Dottle. Completely hilarious.

The story of the black statue given to a black junk man who thinks the statue is stating to come alive. He sees her curves and breast of metal in the full moon. He shaves and gets a hair cut for the first time in twenty-five years because of her. Then he finds out about the black metal.


Pink and William son Sam is in the army stationed in Georgia. He has stopped writing to them. They do not know why. Sam is from New York. Black's are treated differently down south. They find out why and a riot pursues.

Love can carry you from Barbados to New York. Only the obeah can carry them back to Barbados. Who can tell the difference between black bones and white bones? Apparently the Beford Abbey cannot a private chapel in Massachusetts dedicated to the arisocrate family of Boston.

Quotes:

In fact, there is a family rule that we must walk any distance under three miles.

Ole Aunt Frankie
Black as tar
Tried to get to heaven
In a 'lectric car.
Car got stalled in an underpass,
Threw Aunt Frankie right on her ass.

Almost as though she thought he was a fool for working so hard.

When Governor Beford read the Boston Record, he promptly called Whiffle and Peabody on the telephone and cursed them with such violence that Young Whiffle and Old Peabody grew visibly older and grayer as they listened to him.

[Octavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Muriel and Other Stories is a Collection of 13 stories originally published in 1971. In the initial story, "Miss Muriel", Readers are introduced to a young unnamed girl who is the daughter of a druggist (pharmacist) and her Mother. They are the only black family living in Wheeling, New York, in the 1940s with her Aunt Sophronia who is also a druggist; working in the family drugstore. Ann Petry interestingly Intertwines stories with African American characters to reveal Love, Religion, Race, Prejudice, Slavery, and much more. As this collection carries on, "Has Anyone Seen Dora Dean?" brings Greetings to the girl from the opening once again, but now at an older age. This was a very Heartfelt Story ❤️ . ▪️ Rose Pompadour 🌹


Every Single Story ends with a Strong, Powerful Meaning. Yet, there are some that will leave Imprints in your Spirit and Soul for Always.

▪️The New Mirror {My Favorite ❤️}
▪️Has Anyone Seen Miss Dora Dean?
▪️The Migraine Worker
▪️Mother Africa
▪️The Bones of Louella Brown


* The Street, The Narrows, Country Place, Miss Muriel and Other Stories * -Ann Petry 🥀

[freckledbibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Muriel and other stories by Ann Petry is a telescopic sight on an M24 sniper rifle- an almost perfect (shot) depiction of what is going on in the world today.

The stories give the reader a look at the root of the fear and rage of a black person, males in particular. Petry's writing is so keen that the reader can witness and sense the characters' emotions.

The story In Darkness and Confusion will (somewhat) give you a brief X-ray into the pain demonstrators are dealing with globally. I can not formulate a word or sentence as to how meaningful these stories are. One must read them for oneself and be amazed at the relevance of Petry's book.

This read is a solid five star for me. I could tear away pieces of each story and review them, but it would take away from the reading experience of those contemplating reading the book.

[AC]

Read three stories — and underwhelmed

[LaTissia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are those books that seem doomed to be forgotten, and then they go out of print. This unfortunate fate has befallen Ann Petry’s most excellent collection of short stories. Petry’s literary reputation will rest upon her powerful and fine naturalist novel The Street, but Miss Muriel and Other Stories might possibly be her best work. Originally published in 1945, the book features a set of loosely linked stories about African-American characters variously struggling to find and/or maintain community. I used to teach her story “The New Mirror” in a course on place and space in AfAm literature. The story is astonishing in its ability to present and bypass a simplistic dichotomy of black-white racial relations. She understands that racial relations in the US have always been much murkier and more complex. In class I argued that Petry presents a “brown” identity, a kind of third term articulation for the beauty of brown skin, a love for the kind of nurturing environment that the 12-year old narrator’s family provides. In US history, this became the “black is beautiful” mantra. That has always lacked subtlety of what Petry was crafting nearly thirty years earlier. It is that kind of prescience that makes Petry and this collection of stories a must-read. Beg, borrow, or steal yourself a copy.

[caught_in_fairytales · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Miss Muriel“ ist ein Erzählband über AfroamerikanerInnen in den 40er und 50er Jahren in Amerika, der zeigt, wie sehr Rassismus und Diskriminierung Leben verändern und teils zerstören kann. Oft ertappte ich mich bei der Frage, ob die krassen Wendungen in den Geschichten auch heute noch vorstellbar wären. Natürlich gibt es Rassismus heute leider immer noch, und manche Situationen kann ich mir (leider) auch immer noch so vorstellen. Aber es gab auch Erzählungen, die mir gezeigt haben, wie privilegiert ich wirklich bin. Beispielsweise, wenn in einer der Geschichten ein alter (schwarzer) Mann Zeuge einer schrecklichen Tat von weißen Jugendlichen wird, aber statt sie anzuzeigen, flieht, weil er weiß, dass die Polizei ihm nicht glauben wird und die Tat möglicherweise ihm in die Schuhe schieben wird. Um nicht zu viel zu spoilern, belasse ich es bei diesem angedeuteten Beispiel, das mich jedoch am meisten schockiert hat.

Petry gelingt es, in jeder Geschichte die emotionale und psychologische Belastung von Rassismus und sozialer Ungerechtigkeit darzustellen. Die Misslichkeiten und Konflikte, die ihre Figuren durchleben, sind erschütternd und haben richtig Wut in mir geweckt. Sprachlich bietet der Band zwar keine großen stilistischen Überraschungen, doch das tut der Relevanz und Wucht der behandelten Themen keinen Abbruch. Sehr zu empfehlen!

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry was originally published in 1971 by Houghton Mifflin and reissued several times though I've never had a chance to read the full collection until now. I read the short story, Miss Muriel, in undergrad which centers the voice of the daughter of a Black pharmacist in the 1940s and her observations about the men in the community interested in courting her Aunt Sophronia. It was nice to reread this story and to remember how much I enjoyed it many years ago and still do!

The collection consists of 13 short stories that each stand on their own (save Miss Muriel and “Has Anybody Seen Miss Dora Dean?” where we meet the same protagonist grown up).

Each story provides a unique look at an aspect of Black life on the diaspora and each story is written with the wit and skill of Ann Petry's pen. I love the new cover and hope that it will attract a new generation of readers!

Thank you so much net galley and publisher for the e-arc copy!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contained several stories about black people and how they had to contend with prejudice in their lives. It makes you wonder why any person of color, no matter who they are should be treated differently. We are all God's children after all.

Recieved this book through the Goodreads giveaway. Thank you Ms. Petry for your stories.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smart, biting collection of stories. As with her novels, Petry skillfully coaxes out deep character studies and examines the way mistreatment, especially racism, drives people to points of breaking.

[Catherine Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

For whatever reason, the first story was a chore to get through, which hindered my momentum and desire to keep going. I'm glad I did, though, because the rest of the stories were more engaging.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say, they’re all great and I expected nothing less

[Gavin Armour · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Rezension bezieht sich auf die Hardcoverausgabe]

Eine große Ungerechtigkeit ist es, Ann Petry immer und immer wieder als „erste schwarze Bestsellerautorin“ zu bezeichnen, als sei eben dies das Besondere an dieser Autorin gewesen. Eine Ungerechtigkeit, die dieser Text hier soeben wieder begangen hat. Dabei ist das Besondere an dieser Autorin – abgesehen davon, dass sie eine hervorragende, manchmal brillante Schriftstellerin gewesen ist, die über ein unglaubliches Sprachgefühl und Sprachvermögen verfügte und darüber hinaus eine ausgesprochen souveräne Stilistin war – ihre Fähigkeit, zu einer Zeit, da dies keineswegs als normal zu gelten hatte, die Lebenswirklichkeit schwarzer Amerikaner auf eine Art abbilden zu können, die das Bild eines normalen, durchschnittlichen, eines bürgerlichen Lebens zeichnete. Und nicht die Klischees des unterdrückten, armen, ungebildeten Schwarzen zu reproduzieren, welche vor allem, aber nicht nur, durch weiße Autoren, bspw. durch William Faulkner, geprägt wurden. Natürlich spielte in diesen durch Petry beschriebenen Leben die Tatsache, schwarz zu sein eine große Rolle und natürlich waren auch diese Geschichten in einem von weißen Menschen definierten Referenzrahmen angesiedelt. Doch beschreibt Petry immer wieder schwarze Leben, die von Themen und teils Konflikten bestimmt werden, die nur indirekt, manchmal auch nur marginal durch Rassismus und die Behandlung durch weiße Menschen geprägt sind. Und doch werden hier auch universelle, jeden Menschen betreffende Themen – wie die Liebe zum Beispiel – verhandelt.

MISS MURIEL (MISS MURIEL AND OTHER STORIES, Original erschienen 1971; Dt. hier 2024), ein Band mit Erzählungen und Kurzgeschichten, zeugt eindringlich davon, wie weit Petrys literarische Fähigkeiten reichen. In dreizehn, mal längeren Novellen, manchmal wirklich kurzen Stories erzählt Petry von mal mehr, mal weniger dramatischen Begebenheiten im Alltagsleben schwarzer Menschen. Dabei beschäftigen sich die ersten drei Beiträge des Bandes mit dem Leben der Familie Layer, die als einzige schwarze Familie in Wheeling, New York, lebt und dort einen Drugstore betreibt. Und schon nach der ersten dieser Geschichten hat man die Familie derart ins Herz geschlossen, dass man gern länger bei ihr verweilt hätte. Und sicherlich ist die dem Band seinen Titel gebende Eröffnung MISS MURIEL nicht nur die längste Geschichte des Bandes, sondern auch jene, die Petrys Sicht und Anliegen vielleicht am konsequentesten auf den Punkt bringt.

Da bewerben sich ein weißer Schuster und ein schwarzer Klavierspieler um Tante Sophronia, wobei es schon ungewöhnlich ist, mit welcher Selbstverständlichkeit Petry beschreibt, wie Mr. Bemish, der Schuster, hier um eine schwarze Frau wirbt. Das hat schon etwas Märchenhaftes; erst recht, wenn schließlich Chink Johnson, der Klavierspieler, der im Hause der Layers nicht wirklich willkommen ist, da Vater Layer ihn als einen Hurenbock zu identifizieren glaubt und damit auch unter Schwarzen durchaus verbreitete stockkonservative Ansichten zum Besten gibt, gemeinsam mit einem Freund der Familie dafür sorgt, dass Mr. Bemish die Stadt verlassen muss. Gerade in dieser Geschichte spielt Petry auf ungeheuer vielschichtige Art und Weise das Verhältnis von schwarz und weiß und die Wechselwirkung durch, die dieses Verhältnis hat – und bürstet es praktisch gegen die geläufigen Klischees. Als Mr. Bemish die Ich-Erzählerin, die als aufmerksame Zwölfjährige die Geschehnisse beobachtet und erzählt, fragt, weshalb Tante Sophronia ihn nicht wolle, erhält er – wohlgemerkt von einer Zwölfjährigen – die Antwort, er habe leider die falsche Hautfarbe. Es sind Momente wie dieser, die die enorme Spanne der erzählerischen Möglichkeiten dieser Autorin markieren. Sie weiß das Unerwartete mit solcher Beiläufigkeit und vor allem einer Selbstverständlichkeit zu platzieren, dass es auch gelesen wie ein kurzfristiger Schock wirkt – und vor allem weiße Leser mit der eigenen, eben doch wieder klischeehaften Erwartungshaltung konfrontiert.

Eine Geschichte wie DER SPIEGEL erinnert hingegen an eine der besten und berühmtesten Short Stories, die die Literaturgeschichte kennt – Hemingways A DAY´S WAIT (1933). Und steht ihr in ihrer Eindringlichkeit in Nichts nach, wenn sie auch deutlich länger ist. Hier wie dort erwarten alle etwas Furchtbares – wobei das Warten und die Ängste der Familie Layer, nachdem der Vater morgens aus dem Haus gegangen und bis zum Nachmittag nicht zurückgekehrt ist, auch und gerade durch die Hautfarbe geprägt werden, wissen alle Beteiligten doch, was einem schwarzen Mann, der allein unterwegs ist, zustoßen kann – und sind umso erleichterter (und befremdeter), als sich der Grund für all die Besorgnisse als ein vollkommen anderer erweist, denn angenommen. Im Falle der Layers sogar als ein an sich positiver, hat Dad Layer doch schlicht die Möglichkeit in Anspruch genommen, sich ein Gebiss einsetzen zu lassen.

Hier wird die schlichte Könnerschaft dieser Autorin dadurch deutlich, wie es ihr gelingt, auf wenigen Seiten ungeheure Spannung aufzubauen, vielschichtig in das Thema und die Hintergründe einzudringen, dabei niemals didaktisch den Zeigefinger zu heben und die Leser*innen zu belehren und schließlich alle Implikationen sowie die Banalität der Tatsachen so auf den Punkt zu bringen, dass dies weit über die eigentliche Thematik der Erzählung hinauswiest. Brillant.

Man möchte Geschichte für Geschichte, Erzählung für Erzählung durchgehen und sie loben und preisen und sich wundern, dass man als Rezensent, der immer Romane dem Format der Kurzgeschichte vorgezogen hat, so berührt wurde, dass man dieses Buch nicht aus der Hand legen wollte, bis die letzte Seite, die letzte Zeile gelesen war. Und am liebsten gleich von vorn mit dem Lesen begänne.

Doch seien an dieser Stelle nur zwei weitere Beiträge hervorgehoben, die sinnfällig verdeutlichen, wie wenig weiße Menschen wirklich von Rassismus und dem Leiden Schwarzer verstehen und weshalb gerade sie immer und immer wieder diesen Band, diese Seiten lesen sollten.

Zum einen ist da die Geschichte mit dem Titel DIE GEBEINE DER LOUELLA BROWN, die von der Verwirrung erzählt, welche entsteht, wenn man es mit den sterblichen Überresten einer schwarzen und einer weißen Frau zu tun hat und schlichtweg nicht mehr feststellen kann, wem welche Knochen zuzuordnen sind. Das ist komisch, urkomisch erzählt und zudem so treffend in seiner Weisheit, so genau in der Beobachtung vor allem der Weißen und ihrer Ängste, Vorurteile und Obsessionen, dass sich Lesende während der Lektüre ertappt fühlen können. Wir sind alle gleich, das Blut ist rot und die bleichen Knochen sind weiß. Doch die Ängste, die die Vertreter des Bestattungsunternehmens umtreiben, die die Verwirrung zu verantworten haben, beschreibt all die bigotte Haltung eben jener, die sich selbst so gern für aufgeklärt und abgeklärt halten. Und wie es so ist im puritanisch geprägten Neuengland, wo die meisten dieser Stories angesiedelt sind, wird die Angst vor allem von ökonomischen Aspekten geprägt, befürchtet man doch deutlichen Rückgang der Kundschaft, wenn diese Kenntnis von der Verwirrung erhält.

Die zweite, extra erwähnte Geschichte trägt den Titel WIE EIN LEICHENTUCH und beschreibt mit unglaublicher Wucht, dabei aber ohne jedwede Überdramatisierung, fast still, fast beiläufig, das Entstehen von Gewalt als Reaktion auf Demütigung, Unterdrückung und verdrängte Wut, wie man es vielleicht so nicht kannte bisher. Und vor allem: Hier wird, aus der Feder einer Frau, also aus dezidiert weiblicher Sicht, mit allergrößtem Einfühlungsvermögen, doch ohne Apologie, das Entstehen männlicher Gewalt (ist Gewalt nicht in den allermeisten Fällen männlich?) beschrieben. Das ist exakt bis an die Schmerzgrenze des Erträglichen, einfach, weil es so wahr ist. Wie sich ein schwarzes Individuum, ein schwarzer Mann nicht wehren kann in einer Welt, in der sein Leben nicht viel wert ist, nichts bedeutet, und wie er schließlich seine Wut und die daraus resultierende Gewalt gegen die richtet, die er vermeintlich folgenlos angreifen darf: Eine schwarze Frau. Als Leser, also als Mann, auch als Weißer, wird man hier mit einer Motivik konfrontiert, die ungeheuer schmerzt.

Diese Geschichten sind durchweg brillant, es gibt keinen Abfall der Qualität. Petry, deren Romane immer schon gelobt wurden, erweist sich also auch als eine Könnerin der Kurzform, was man nicht von allen Autoren behaupten kann. Vielleicht sind es nur die allergrößten, die in beiden Feldern reüssieren konnten. Aber es bedurfte keines weiteren Beweises, was für eine außergewöhnliche schriftstellerische Kraft Ann Petry verkörperte. So sollte man diese Geschichten einfach lesen und genießen. Mal alltäglich, mal todtraurig, mal lustig und oft von tiefer Einsicht in das allzu Menschliche geprägt. Literarisch wundervoll.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of short stories by Ann Petry, whom I had yet to read or hear of before this. Her book, The Street was a bestseller in its time, and I can't wait to get my hand on a copy.

This collection was a nice blend of authors and style - Octavia Butler, Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Naylor and Bradbury were a few who came to mind - and yet Petry evaded me until now. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of the aforementioned authors and their style of writing about a town in general via vignettes of it's inhabitants.

The first few stories were about a Black family of pharmacists in a predominantly white vacation town, and the rest seemed to branch out from there, circa 1940's. A couple of my favorites include Mother Africa, the title story, Mis Muriel , and The Bones of Louella Brown, which were all a little tongue in cheek imo.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy via Netgalley.

[Beverlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Muriel and Other Stories is a collection of short stories that embody the Black Experience in America. The characters are not written as “tragically colored” or a living minstrel show and that is reason enough to love Mrs. Petry’s writing. Much like the characters in The Street, they are portrayed as human-flawed to be sure because no one is perfect, but not evil. My personal favorite stories are Mother Africa for the perfect surprise ending, The Bones of Louella Brown-a truly haunting tale that should make one think twice of disrespecting people, The Witness & The Necessary Knocking on the Door for it’s take on respectability politics and the what would you do question presented, In Darkness & Confusion for capturing the rage of a people after repeated injustices. I believe these stories are timeless because the topics covered are relevant and still occur today. It’s a reminder that taking a step forward isn’t always easy, there will be an obstacle or several to try to keep success, freedom, happiness an abstract feeling.

[BookChampions · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devastating stories about the devastations of oppression and prejudice. Some are simply heartbreakingly scintillating (i.e., "Like a Winding Sheet"). Petry's stories are like entire novels wrapped up in little packages. Her range of narrative voice--that of child and adult, man and women--is solid.

[Kelly Is Brighid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I selected this collection, mindful of Black History Month. This treasure ought to be shared far & wide! Let me know how You enjoyed this & the region in which you live; we can watch beautiful storytelling spreading.
I live on Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Miami, Sioux, and Peoria lands (Illinois).

[Shell (booksbythecup)]

BEST BOOK DISCUSSIONS

Don't they start with yourself?  And those conversations or discussions are further enriched when you engage in meaningful discussion with others who bring more perspective? Reading this collection makes me feel each few stories need their own conversation, room to breathe.

ᴍɪꜱꜱ ᴍᴜʀɪᴇʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ꜱᴛᴏʀɪᴇꜱ a is collection of 13 short stories by Ann Petry.  I could have finished this collection months ago, but I purposely savored these. #SteepedInShortStories

Petry's craft as a superior storyteller is evident.  Some stories are longer than others but even so, the  stories have an impact—you think about the people, their lives and circumstances after. You see a lot in a little and that makes you think about the applicability of these stories in the time we live in right now. 

𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕤 ���𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕝, the opening story begins with our 12 year old narrator, reminding us how at that age, we say the obvious, no filters. Boundaries between adults and children and musing about when, if ever, they start to fade. Yet there is more. Her understanding of being the only Black family in an all white town. Her beautiful aunt & the men who want to court her. Her uncles that tell her stories and a stranger who causes her to look at the story through a different lens. How things come into a sharp focus for our young narrator.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕄𝕚𝕣𝕣𝕠𝕣 - Petry took me on another journey in story telling I didn't expect. But in hindsight, so much about the title and the story itself give you pause. Image, self-worth, reputation, perception of others, keeping on the mask of, “everything being just fine” although something terrifying has occurred.

“𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕓𝕠𝕕𝕪 𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕦𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕. 𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕣𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕣𝕦𝕘𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕥𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘, ℕ𝕖𝕨 𝕐𝕠𝕣𝕜, 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕓𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕖𝕩𝕔𝕖𝕡𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣...”

𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐧?
Perception vs reality, what's hidden within vs the persona or what we appear to be. I spent a lot of time thinking about Forbes, who was he? What about Sarah, his wife? What was it about the relationship between Forbes and the white lady he worked for, Mrs. Wingate? Was Forbes tired of being the perfect gentleman & decided to do something about it? Are we humming a tune, like Forbes, that only, we truly know the music and lyrics to?

I have many questions in the margins of this story...

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬
“He gave the kids a push here and a hard shove there, which they ignored, making no protest, and Pedro decided they were so accustomed to being pushed around that they accepted it as a normal part of their lives.”

Another story in perception vs reality. I thought initially this story would be about people like Pedro, people who perform essential services, who are often rebuffed and mistreated. [Pedro runs a gas station] In true Petry style, she introduces a larger issue—Black people, ragged, mistreated—being hauled in the back of a tractor trailer truck. Migrant workers, exploited for cheap labor in unsanitary conditions, no doubt being paid very little.

As I read this story, I thought a lot about how Pedro never considered himself from the standpoint of one old man on the truck.

This was one of the books that started the #AnnotationConversation.  Without looking back at my notes, I still see the unnamed narrator in the first few stories, coming of age. That transition from the naivety of childhood to the undercurrents of realization and understanding in the actions of adults around us.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading about Ann Petry's life, you can feel it breathing & flowing within the pages of her work. Miss Muriel & Other Stories is no different. Within the first short story, "Miss Muriel", the character's father owns a drugstore, reminiscent of Petry's own life, as her father ran a drugstore in the predominately white, small town they lived in. ⁣
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I will never stop speaking about the importance & necessity of her work being included among those we list as "Great American writers." Even within Black writers commonly referenced, Ann Petry's name is unfortunately not spoken enough. ⁣
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Petry describes in great detail pairs of shoes, the process of walking miles in them, their need for repair, the physical appearance of the characters' shoes.. the leather, the polish. Or the buzzing of bees in cherry or pear blossoms, a father being mesmerized by the life of bees, smells of sweet violets and daffodils. Or the drugstore's various syrups for sparkling soda fountain: chocolate, vanilla, lemon. This is how Petry crafts the worlds we dip into while reading. The commonplace is ripped wide open, the beauty revealed... which had been there all along. ⁣
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There are very few writers that created setting & characters in such a simple yet layered and complicated way... that tapped into the human experience and shined a light onto social ills almost entrancingly, as Ann Petry did. ⁣
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"I went out the front door and across the street, and sat on the church steps and watched the world go by and listened to the faint hum it made as it went around and around. ⁣
[...] The sun was shining in the window and it reflected the lights from the jars of colored water back on her face and her figure, and she looked golden and rose colored and lavender, and it was as though there was a rainbow moving in the window."⁣
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[Sherriece Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories by the great Ann Petry was first published in 1945 and six other times until 1971. Tomorrow it will be published again and I would say that speaks volumes. Ann Petry is a genius in how she is able to write about the black experience. Perry’s writing is encompasses the perspective of each character. The book begins with a few stories each telling of a young girl and her family living in an all white neighborhood. Then all the other ones are of different characters, but in all the tales, each character is simply living, struggling and surviving.
Although these stories were written over 50 years ago, they are very much prevalent today. In Mother Africa, a man mourns the loss of his wife and child during childbirth. He wonders had they not been a black family from Harlem, would they have survived. A concern many still have today.
As you read each story, you not only see in your mind but a you also feel with your soul, the depths of each character.

[maribelwhatever]

Die Kurzgeschichten sind hart, stark, ehrlich, brutal, schmerzvoll, heftig, uff, da es die alltäglichen Umstände schwarzer Menschen in den USA bis in die 60er Jahre zeigt. TW an dieser Stelle: Rassismus, s3xueller Misbrauch, häusliche Gewalt, Hate-Speech, uvm. In der deutschen Übersetzung wurde sich allerdings dazu entschieden alles eins zu eins zu übersetzen, auch das N-Wort. Meine Bewertung kommt daher etwas vorsichtig. Natürlich hat Ann Petry das damals so geschrieben, weil es so gesagt worden ist. Auch benutzen den Begriff viele schwarze Menschen noch heute in und außerhalb der Popkultur um sich diesem selbst zu ermächtigen. Allerdings fehlt mir hier für die (weiße) Leserschaft einfach eine kurze Einordnung thematisch, historisch, gesellschaftlich, rechtlich. Ich will niemandem absprechen, sich nicht vorher mit dem Thema auseinandergesetzt zu haben, aber ich finde es schwierig, das ohne Vorwort o.ä. einfach so stehen zu lassen?!

[Captain Cocanutty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of all the short stories Ann Petry wrote. Her writing style puts you right in a characters head and environment, some stories in the beginning are from the point of view of the same character, but as the collection goes on you are introduced to new ones each time. They are usually regular people caught up in either mundane or extraordinary events. She does a lot more showing than telling, which I really appreciate.

I think enjoyment of each one will depend on readers preference in short story format and storytelling. I would recommend finding a synopsis of the stories and reading them in order of interest, not in publication order. I did not enjoy Miss Muriel as much as some of the other stories and it almost made me give up on reading the collection as a whole, but it really picks up as you go along if you read in publication order.

[Debra Askanase · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for book club, and it has turned into one of the most powerful reads of the year for me. Each story completely envelopes you - whether it is a 5-page or a 40-page short story. They are stories of black life in America, and almost every one of them includes a white character who influences or adds context to the story. The protagonists are from almost every class (middle class, lower class, working class) and walk of life (a pharmacist, a young child, an artist, a junk dealer, a college professor) and do something that many stories of the time never accomplished: offering a multi-faceted view into black life in America. It's an important set of stories to read, and many could (sadly) be set in America today.

[Hazel Arnett Ervin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her collection of short stories, Miss Muriel and Other Stories, Ann Petry gives us recognizable and unforgettable characters who reside either in small, New England towns or in urban cities. Some critics have written that Petry's short stories will eventually emerge as her best work. Would be interested in learning what you readers think. To broaden your critiques of Petry's settings, characters, and themes in Miss Muriel, may I recommend the following: The Short Fiction of Ann Petry: Critical Essays, edited by Hazel Arnett Ervin and Hilary Holladay (Praeger, 2004) and The 25th Anniversary Edition, Ann Petry: A Bio-Bibliography, edited by Hazel Arnett Ervin (NC: J. H. Publishing, 2021)

[Vnunez-Ms_luv2read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding books of short stories that I am very glad I was able to read. There are a variety of short stories in this book and I must say they all are good. So good you do not want to stop reading. But, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be "The Winding Sheet". Powerful This book may have been written a while ago, but the subject matter still resonates today. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC copy of this priceless book in return for my honest review. This book should be required for all high school students.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann Petry is one of my all-time favorite authors. Her novels The Street and The Narrows are two that stand out in my memory, always. This book of short stories shows Petry's skills of story-telling, character, description, and world-building at its sharpest. The stories describing Petry's own youth (in fictionalized form) are so compelling I wanted to live in that world. This is a book that will remain in my library for treasuring and re-reading.

[Livey · Rating 4 out of 5]

what an interesting collection of tales

I really don’t like short stories but these were detailed enough to get the gist of the characters and become involved in their drama. The writer does an excellent job of engaging the reader even though I hated several of the stories due to racism and brutality. Consider publication is over 50 years the tales are still relevant in the good old US of America!