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A review by allieeveryday
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins
4.0
First book of 2019! When I tallied up all my star ratings for the individual stories, I got 3.4 stars, but I'm rounding up. I think this collection as a whole stands stronger than some of the weaker (and shorter) individual stories, though there were a few that I thought were just fabulous:
• Lifelines - written somewhat through letters between a woman and her husband, who is incarcerated or absent the entire story, and the realization that the relationship is dead, and the moving on.
• Treatment for a Story - so much of this was about the scents that surround the two people in this story; it's not exactly pleasant, but it was so vivid.
• Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? - featuring roommates of different races, and their partners who are of different races than they are, and describes the 1960s in such a beautiful way.
There were several more I really liked (Exteriors, Dead Memories ... Dead Dreams, When Love Withers All of Life Cries), but the thing that stands out to me is the lyricism of the prose. It's just gorgeous.
My biggest complaint is that I am greedy and wanted MORE from some of these. Many of them are very short, only a few pages, so they're very much just snapshots rather than stories. Most of the time, I wanted more than a few pages could give. Most of my favorites were longer-form stories, maybe because I had more investment in them?
• Lifelines - written somewhat through letters between a woman and her husband, who is incarcerated or absent the entire story, and the realization that the relationship is dead, and the moving on.
• Treatment for a Story - so much of this was about the scents that surround the two people in this story; it's not exactly pleasant, but it was so vivid.
• Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? - featuring roommates of different races, and their partners who are of different races than they are, and describes the 1960s in such a beautiful way.
There were several more I really liked (Exteriors, Dead Memories ... Dead Dreams, When Love Withers All of Life Cries), but the thing that stands out to me is the lyricism of the prose. It's just gorgeous.
My biggest complaint is that I am greedy and wanted MORE from some of these. Many of them are very short, only a few pages, so they're very much just snapshots rather than stories. Most of the time, I wanted more than a few pages could give. Most of my favorites were longer-form stories, maybe because I had more investment in them?