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A review by obsidian_blue
Weird Black Girls: Stories by Elwin Cotman
4.0
I thought this was a good collection. Per usual, I rate overall and then for each story in the collection.
Trigger warning: Rape
I feel really bad I accidentally dropped this one in the bathtub the other day. I was reading (as one does) and then slip! And now it's dry, but definitely a little swollen. Oh well!
"The Switchin Tree"(5 stars)-I really liked this story that follows a young girl named Man whose family and community gets turned upside down in 1958. The children of the nearby African American community come to fear their parents and other adults as a malevolent tree in their midst pushes them to punish and even murder their children. It leaves several questions about what the tree is, is it a tree that is really a demon, or is it the spirt of dead slaves or those who were lynched? It never really gets answered, but I liked it that way.
"Reunion" (3 stars)-This one follows a man named Kalonji and his friend, who is white, named Kim. Most of the story is really Kalonji being an absolute F boy and Kim realizing she doesn't really like him, but is somehow still friends with him because she doesn't want to be seen as racist, and also is still attracted to him? I don't know this one also had hands falling off of people's bodies and no one one being shocked. This one cranked the science fiction aspect up so much I was getting confused while reading.
"Owen" (5 stars)-A father dealing with no longer being in his children's lives every day, and trying to teach his son some hard lessons, while also trying to understand why his son is obsessed over the death of a WWF wrestler Owen Hart. I know it sounds weird, but the whole story was very good.
"Triggered" (3 stars)-Honestly this one was hard to get through. We get several depictions of what I perceive as sexual assault. And I just don't know what this was about really. How so called allies are full of crap? I think. I don't even know. I just hated the characters of Spike and Tiffany honestly.
"Things I Learned from Caitlin Clarke's Intro to Acting Class" (5 stars)-A character is somehow tossed back in time to an acting class given by a now dead woman when she touches a young man named Leroy. The main character keeps getting forced back in time and into the present. And the main character rightfully so is confused and does not want to keep having Caitlin Clarke show up every time they touch. And also it's about being unapologetically Black, queer, being angry at being hidden, all kinds of things. And just being able to fall into each other, be better, but then separate again. I think I liked this story the most.
"Tournament Arc" (5 stars)- A character dealing with the world post-COVID. He's a teacher and is leaving in Ohio and dealing with the culling of divisive topics at schools (i.e. Black history). He and his friend Sean (also jobless) are focused on running a LARP. The story is a bit haphazard, but I liked it. Especially reading about another Black geek. This one has a darker tone to it though since you have the main character lashing out against history just being erased. I know this sounds confusing the way I am talking about it, but I liked it.
"Weird Black Girls" (3.5 stars)-Taking place in Boston the story starts off with talking about what they call the Rupture and the pageant that went along with it. This one has jumps around a lot and honestly I got lost a bit here and there on what the story was trying to say, it was a love story in the end, but it just took a while to find the beat of this one.
Trigger warning: Rape
I feel really bad I accidentally dropped this one in the bathtub the other day. I was reading (as one does) and then slip! And now it's dry, but definitely a little swollen. Oh well!
"The Switchin Tree"(5 stars)-I really liked this story that follows a young girl named Man whose family and community gets turned upside down in 1958. The children of the nearby African American community come to fear their parents and other adults as a malevolent tree in their midst pushes them to punish and even murder their children. It leaves several questions about what the tree is, is it a tree that is really a demon, or is it the spirt of dead slaves or those who were lynched? It never really gets answered, but I liked it that way.
"Reunion" (3 stars)-This one follows a man named Kalonji and his friend, who is white, named Kim. Most of the story is really Kalonji being an absolute F boy and Kim realizing she doesn't really like him, but is somehow still friends with him because she doesn't want to be seen as racist, and also is still attracted to him? I don't know this one also had hands falling off of people's bodies and no one one being shocked. This one cranked the science fiction aspect up so much I was getting confused while reading.
"Owen" (5 stars)-A father dealing with no longer being in his children's lives every day, and trying to teach his son some hard lessons, while also trying to understand why his son is obsessed over the death of a WWF wrestler Owen Hart. I know it sounds weird, but the whole story was very good.
"Triggered" (3 stars)-Honestly this one was hard to get through. We get several depictions of what I perceive as sexual assault. And I just don't know what this was about really. How so called allies are full of crap? I think. I don't even know. I just hated the characters of Spike and Tiffany honestly.
"Things I Learned from Caitlin Clarke's Intro to Acting Class" (5 stars)-A character is somehow tossed back in time to an acting class given by a now dead woman when she touches a young man named Leroy. The main character keeps getting forced back in time and into the present. And the main character rightfully so is confused and does not want to keep having Caitlin Clarke show up every time they touch. And also it's about being unapologetically Black, queer, being angry at being hidden, all kinds of things. And just being able to fall into each other, be better, but then separate again. I think I liked this story the most.
"Tournament Arc" (5 stars)- A character dealing with the world post-COVID. He's a teacher and is leaving in Ohio and dealing with the culling of divisive topics at schools (i.e. Black history). He and his friend Sean (also jobless) are focused on running a LARP. The story is a bit haphazard, but I liked it. Especially reading about another Black geek. This one has a darker tone to it though since you have the main character lashing out against history just being erased. I know this sounds confusing the way I am talking about it, but I liked it.
"Weird Black Girls" (3.5 stars)-Taking place in Boston the story starts off with talking about what they call the Rupture and the pageant that went along with it. This one has jumps around a lot and honestly I got lost a bit here and there on what the story was trying to say, it was a love story in the end, but it just took a while to find the beat of this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape