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soapy's review against another edition
4.0
i really enjoyed this collection! I will say personal preference-wise I didn’t find it as enjoyable as I would’ve liked but the content itself is wonderful and still beneficial to read. the other gripe I’d have is that it doesn’t seem all that modern anymore at least, and most authors seemed to have been born in the 40’s.
otherwise, it was fantastic. Some real gems, and even the ones that didn’t resonate personally had something to say.
Femi Fatoba, Lamuel Jackson, Sipho Sepamla’s poem about peace-loving “what I don’t know is what peace will still be lovable” DAMN. Mukula Kadima-Nzuji’s “the rough backwash of my being” line, Edouard Maunick, “blueing shoulders of the horizon”; Gavriel Okara’s “Moon in the Bucket”, Femi Fatoba’s “In America”
Tchicaya U Tam’si: “I myself will be the stage for my salvation!”; “Tell me in what Egypt my people’s feet lie chained”
Stella Chipasula “I’m My Own Mother, Now”; Emile Ologoudou’s “Vespers” (fav fav fav); Mbella Sonne Dipoko’s “Our Life” & Parisian Diary, and Ayi Kwei Armah’s ravishing “Seed Time”: “all history is foreplay” - Jofre Rocha’s “Poem of Return” & “do not bring me flowers / bring me rather all the dews”
Some lovely finds in here I’ll treasure for a long time!
otherwise, it was fantastic. Some real gems, and even the ones that didn’t resonate personally had something to say.
Femi Fatoba, Lamuel Jackson, Sipho Sepamla’s poem about peace-loving “what I don’t know is what peace will still be lovable” DAMN. Mukula Kadima-Nzuji’s “the rough backwash of my being” line, Edouard Maunick, “blueing shoulders of the horizon”; Gavriel Okara’s “Moon in the Bucket”, Femi Fatoba’s “In America”
Tchicaya U Tam’si: “I myself will be the stage for my salvation!”; “Tell me in what Egypt my people’s feet lie chained”
Stella Chipasula “I’m My Own Mother, Now”; Emile Ologoudou’s “Vespers” (fav fav fav); Mbella Sonne Dipoko’s “Our Life” & Parisian Diary, and Ayi Kwei Armah’s ravishing “Seed Time”: “all history is foreplay” - Jofre Rocha’s “Poem of Return” & “do not bring me flowers / bring me rather all the dews”
Some lovely finds in here I’ll treasure for a long time!
mcloonejack's review against another edition
Not rating this one because I’m coming to realize literary fiction short stories just aren’t my thing (hence taking so long to complete).
I picked this up from the library pretty much entirely because I wanted to read “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, which did live up to its reputation. Some other standouts:
- “A Conversation with My Father” by Grace Paley (a very inventive way to tell a story within a story)
- “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich (a fiction-as-metaphor that didn’t feel as overwrought as some (many tbh) do to me)
- “China” by Charles Johnson (a fascinating exploration of the way an older couple can still surprise each other and, in the process, come apart and maybe together again)
- “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien (I’ve read this one before, and it such a great story device)
- “The American Embassy” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (a compelling portrait of grief both personal and societal)
- “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (fantastical realism to tell a heartbreaking story of how children and their parents grapple with living lives as “others”)
A cool idea for a collection largely without theme with a number of more genre stories (sci-fi and horror, though the King short story falls kind of flat for me) that also loses a little only being organized by date and not say, themes or genre.
I picked this up from the library pretty much entirely because I wanted to read “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, which did live up to its reputation. Some other standouts:
- “A Conversation with My Father” by Grace Paley (a very inventive way to tell a story within a story)
- “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich (a fiction-as-metaphor that didn’t feel as overwrought as some (many tbh) do to me)
- “China” by Charles Johnson (a fascinating exploration of the way an older couple can still surprise each other and, in the process, come apart and maybe together again)
- “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien (I’ve read this one before, and it such a great story device)
- “The American Embassy” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (a compelling portrait of grief both personal and societal)
- “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (fantastical realism to tell a heartbreaking story of how children and their parents grapple with living lives as “others”)
A cool idea for a collection largely without theme with a number of more genre stories (sci-fi and horror, though the King short story falls kind of flat for me) that also loses a little only being organized by date and not say, themes or genre.
mcqconor's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
taylorthiel's review against another edition
5.0
Finished it in the sense that I read all my assigned readings + some for class and I’m calling it good. Full of great stories. There’s a reason each one was included.
robi22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
emmacraig's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
dora_wen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0