Heads of the Colored People
Ratings9
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings9
Average rating4.1
"Calling to mind the best works of Paul Beatty and Junot Diaz, this collection of moving, timely, and darkly funny stories examines the concept of black identity in this so-called post-racial era. A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes. Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous--from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through notes in their kids' backpacks, to the young girl contemplating how best to notify her Facebook friends of her impending suicide--while others are devastatingly poignant--a new mother and funeral singer who is driven to madness with grief for the young black boys who have fallen victim to gun violence, or the teen who struggles between her upper middle class upbringing and her desire to fully connect with black culture. Thompson-Spires fearlessly shines a light on the simmering tensions and precariousness of black citizenship. Her stories are exquisitely rendered, satirical, and captivating in turn, engaging in the ongoing conversations about race and identity politics, as well as the vulnerability of the black body. Boldly resisting categorization and easy answers, Nafissa Thompson-Spires is an original and necessary voice in contemporary fiction"--
Reviews with the most likes.
It's hard for me to rate this book, part of me feels like I might have missed something about it, like I can't get the whole picture or like I'm lacking something to really GET it.
So much happened here but the lasting sentiment for me is how complex these narrators and main characters are. Most if not all of these characters make decisions and have grown into their distasteful personalities as a means of survival and, whether they realize it or not, as a response to trauma. But most of them are so SO awful. I loved these stories the most. Awful characters doing awful things but with backgrounds that make this awfulness make sense. I felt this most intensely in “Not Today, Marjorie”. I found her, in the beginning, to be an objectively awful and un-selfaware MC. But the author has expertly weaved in details of childhood and past which complicates this one-note personality. She becomes complex. I don't know whether to hate her shamelessly or to admit to myself that I understand how she ended up this way (how I would most definitely end up this way too if I'd suffered in such a way). There's not a single story here I didnt love. I didn't quite understand “A Conversation About Bread”, but enjoyed the writing nonetheless. I also enjoyed this because of how often the author utilized characters from other stories.
Brilliant. Characters are captivating. The stories take you so many places and make you feel so deeply.
4.25
I would recommend this to anyone who thinks that short stories are not for them. 1. because it'll either scare you away from them entirely or attract you to them forevermore. 2. because this is the second collection I've read that's absolutely enthralling in a “holy-crap I get it but did you have to paint such a vivid picture” kind of way. and 3. because it wouldn't live rent-free in my head if the picture it painted was any less real.
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