A beautiful collection of short stories that explores blacks and whites today, Elbow Room is alive with warmth and humor. Bold and very real, these...
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reviews
Oct 22, 2007
Brie
rated it: 
This book includes one of my favorite quotations ever.
"I think that love must be the ability to suspend one's intelligence for the sake of something. At the basis of love therefore must live imagination."
This is a really amazing collection of short stories, highly recommended.
"I think that love must be the ability to suspend one's intelligence for the sake of something. At the basis of love therefore must live imagination."
This is a really amazing collection of short stories, highly recommended.
Aug 28, 2010
Agnes
rated it: 
When I saw that the Pulitzer prize winning author James Alan McPherson was currently teaching at the school I may attend in the fall (the University of Iowa), I decided it was time I got around to reading Elbow Room. It had been on the to-be-read shelf for years, mostly because it's a collection of short stories - and I'm not generally a huge fan of short stories.
I can't really say that there was a particular story in this collection that stood out to me, or that I found particularly More...
I can't really say that there was a particular story in this collection that stood out to me, or that I found particularly More...
May 27, 2010
Paul
rated it: 
Extremely well written, but very traditional. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for something so straightforward. The first story was lovely, but over the course of the collection I became bored. Which is really a shame, because the language is pretty masterful. But it has that sort of Updike-y, New Yorker-y feel, just no surprises at all. The final story pushed things forward a bit, so I appreciated that one, but by that time I was ready to be done.
Mar 09, 2009
Marissa
rated it: 
It is amazing.
Any writer would be happy to do half of what McPherson does in the title story.
Not easy, but worth your time, patience and care.
Brilliant. And it makes me sad how many people refuse to engage in the complexities here, who get defensive and wary...
Any writer would be happy to do half of what McPherson does in the title story.
Not easy, but worth your time, patience and care.
Brilliant. And it makes me sad how many people refuse to engage in the complexities here, who get defensive and wary...
Feb 03, 2012
Stasia
rated it:
I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't come through for me. I never really felt like the stories ended, just that they kind of stopped arbitrarily. And though some of the characters stuck with me, I never really enjoyed reading any of their stories. I'm not sure what it was exactly, I just wasn't into it.
Jan 04, 2009
I started with the last story, following a reference in a Charles Baxter essay. Now that I've pulled the book off my shelf, I figure I might as well read it. So far, the writing feels dated, in the sense the stories a very much of their time and rooted in a specific social consciousness. This doesn't bother me, but I think some readers might feel excluded or like the stories require too much work. I'm thinking of title story specifically, which has a interesting narrative structure, that del
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Aug 30, 2010
Sterling
rated it:
One of the best short story collections ever written by an American, and way ahead of it's time.
Jul 28, 2008
Mike
rated it:
There are 12 stories here. My favorites were A loaf of bread, The story of a dead man, Just enough for the city, A sense of story, and Elbow room. I assigned each story a rating 1-5 and the average rating came out to 3.167; hence three stars.
Dec 17, 2009
Leslie
rated it:
This was the first book I ever picked up by James Alan McPherson. Now, I've marked all of his other stuff "to read." Oh, and, more specifically, I recall being struck by the barber shop in "The Faithful" (can still see it now) and "Just Enough for the City" overall. Others too... but my mind is going...
Jan 22, 2008
Nicole
rated it:
And yet another book I have to read for my Intro to Literary Studies class...
So, I finished this book tonight. It was interesting to say the least. It's not one of my favorites, but I didn't dislike it either. Each story was... odd. Is it because I'm white?
So, I finished this book tonight. It was interesting to say the least. It's not one of my favorites, but I didn't dislike it either. Each story was... odd. Is it because I'm white?
Oct 20, 2008
Mary
rated it:
The writing is terrific, but my tastes tend toward sweet, funny, or reminiscent stories like "Why I Like Country Music" and "I Am an American" rather than the ethical and moral quandaries that are so many of the other stories.
Jun 05, 2008
Hudak
rated it:
Read it in an African American Lit class... an interesting collection of stories. The writing was truly impressive and, if memory serves me right, I believe "A Loaf of Bread" was my favorite.
Mar 12, 2010
Jan 11, 2009
Kelly
rated it:
I just felt like I was missing something the whole time.
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Pulitzer winner from 1978.
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Pulitzer winner from 1978.
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