A review by mollyculhane
Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation by John Freeman

4.0

This was a quick, pleasant palate cleanser book. It worked very well as an anthology--it was really interesting to have essays, memoir, reporting, short stories, poetry, and even a comic gathered together, and the theme of American inequality felt broad enough to encompass them all but tight enough to cohere. The only chapter that made me roll my eyes was "American Work" by Richard Russo, which isn't bad in a collection of 36. My favorites were "White Debt" by Eula Biss, "Mobility" by Julia Alvarez, "Some Houses (Various Stages of Dissolve)" by Claire Vaye Watkins, "How" by Roxane Gay, "Looking for a Home" by Karen Russell, and "La Ciudad Mágica" by Patricia Engel.