Maurice Carlos Ruffins’s short story collection is rooted in and about New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. These are desperate times for desperate people resorting to desperate measures. Most are doing their best to survive sacrificing their dignity, pride assuming any and every menial job available in hopes of making enough to care for themselves and their loved ones.
Some of the stories are less than a page (Zimmerman, Spinning) but are weighted with just as much sentiment, melancholy, and depth as the longer pieces. Some of my personal favorites were the title story, The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You, where a young, neglected foster child resorts to a debasing profession to feed his siblings. Beg Borrow Steal features the return of a boy’s father from prison and the havoc that ensues as he looks for employment. Ghetto University examines respectability politics when a college professor and his chemist wife lose their esteemed positions and face eviction.
While unemployment and despair recur throughout many of the stories, there is still hope and determination to rebuild, reclaim, and maintain the city’s spirit and the love of its inhabitants. This collection has heart! Well done!