A review by crissytrap
Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson

5.0

What I appreciated about these stories is the way that Wilkinson was able to draw us into everyone of her characters' lives and then really just give us these moments in such alluring detail. There is an inherent "life goes on" feeling about many of them and that whether it's a woman trying unsuccessfully to break the bonds of a controlling mother or another keeping a horrible secret from her mother so long that she finally breaks and kills her abusive husband and ends up in prison, these women are so real, but never overly dramatized or sad. I think that's why I liked this book so much. Wilkinson was able to hold that balance between the darkness in the lives of these women and the sense of hopefulness so there is an underlying sense of optimism in many of these pieces, but neither overpowers the other.