Holler by Crystal Wilkinson

The Event

A warm thanks and shout out to the ladies who joined me at The Cheesecake Factory yesterday. It was so very good to see:

• Yolanda, an "OG," founding member of the book club and first on the scene

• Debbie, our guest who made an inaugural visit and newcomer to The City Beautiful

• Adrian, our True-Blue-Tight-Like-Glue, Ride-or-Die member

Thanks ladies for carving time out your their Busy Black Woman lives to spend a little time for lunch and a brief literary discussion of the short story, Holler by Crystal Wilkinson. Good food, good discussion, and good company made for a delightful afternoon.

The Short Story

Wilkinson's 21-page short story immediately immerses the reader into the struggles and dysfunction of an African American family in the Appalachian hollers of Kentucky. The unnamed narrator tells of a close-knit family who has limited abilities to deal with social injustice, racial discrimination, traumatic events and suppressed anger and angst stemming from unresolved issues and insufferable losses. The author deftly moves through a situation that gives us a glimpse of these country people - their pride, their secrets, their way of life, their deferred dreams, and their inevitable, imaged fate.

Within just a few pages, many themes were explored and we discussed the most obvious - domestic violence, social inequality, mental health and its "stigma" within the African American community.

Our Ratings (Average: 4.75, 5 = highest rating)

Adrian: 5

Yolanda: 5

Debbie: 5

Phyllis: 4

Our Thoughts

As you can tell by the ratings, we really enjoyed this offering. Most read the story on the eve of the discussion - and 21 pages proved just enough for everyone.

Adrian enjoyed the short story; she felt the author conveyed a lot in just a few pages; she captured the rural, isolated setting well simultaneously reflecting its own culture and explained the layers of life via the various characters.

She thought the author did an amazing job of illustrating how the multiple themes compounded to have a major (negative) effect in each character's life and in the case of the narrator these experiences - coupled with being black and being a woman - often times become "normalized." Adrian sympathized with all the characters.

Yolanda loved the presentation of the story; and as a testament to the author, a lot was conveyed with very few words. The writing was strong, solid, evenly paced; the story was presented very well and she loved that despite all the dysfunction, there was no judgment or preaching in the telling of the tale.

Debbie's takeaway was that the story reiterated that families are complicated and this one was deeply layered in complexity. It reiterated that despite the craziness; families stick together. She didn't have a reference point, but is willing to read the author again.

Phyllis is a long time Crystal Wilkinson fan since her first release. Enjoyed this short story for all the reasons mentioned above and have enjoyed all her novels over the years. Check out her Amazon 2003 review of Wilkinson's novel, Water Street.

The Give-Away Winner

Congratulations to Debbie - the winner of a copy of Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden. It is our October selection and we hope to see her next month when it is discussed in detail at Cafe Murano!

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