Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Office of Historical Corrections

I LOVED the novella, and I would rate that alone at 5 stars. The short stories fell a little flat for me, and I would give them 3.5 stars. Overall, this book hits on difficult topics regarding race in the United States. The title novella does an incredible and devastating job of looking at academia, race, US history and how Americans grapple with the truth of our own past. I think this is an important read and a timely one!

Content Warnings

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This collection is amazing.

Danielle Evans is a force, a talent, a gifted writer, a freaking prose deity, all of the superlatives. Every story in this collection is detailed, gripping, and emotionally charged but also incredibly pedestrian - on the surface.

Some standouts for me:

Boys Go To Jupiter: in which a phenomenally self-absorbed white girl goes to great lengths to justify her blatant racism. I have never felt more uncomfortable while reading a story, in the best way.
Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: in which an artist disappears for years only to reinsert himself in the public consciousness via extremely public and elaborate apologies. Everything about this one is perfect.
Anything Could Disappear: in which a young woman unintentionally kidnaps a toddler.
The Office of Historical Corrections: a novella that is simultaneously deep commentary on history and historians, racial justice, Black womanhood, the federal government, gentrification and white supremacy and also a really interesting near-future story about a woman doing her (boring) job.

👍🏻Recommended for fans of short stories and contemporary fiction. If you liked Milk, Blood, Heat by Dantiel Moniz or Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, you will enjoy this.

Content Warnings

1quillb's review

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I had high hopes for this, but it just didn’t work out. I usually enjoy short stories, but these were just… short. For me, a good short story is only good if it manages to fit some sort of deeper meaning into its pages, and I couldn’t find a meaning in most of these.
I don’t know this author or what they were hoping to accomplish from these, so I don’t know how to judge, but nothing really happened to anyone except in the last story. And the description/title of the book is, in my opinion, misleading, because it doesn’t have anything to do with the actual concepts in the book. I also didn’t really like how it was written, I found it confusing.

Happily Ever After: 2.5/5
Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain: 2/5
Boys Go to Jupiter: 2.5/5
Alcatraz: 4/5
Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: 3.5/5
Anything Could Disappear: 4/5
The Office of Historical Corrections: 4/5

Content Warnings

More...