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You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down
A natural evolution from the earlier, much-acclaimed collection In Love & Trouble , these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. These are hopeful stories about love, lust, fame, and cultural thievery, the delight of new lovers, and the rediscovery of old friends, affirmed even across self-imposed color lines.
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First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
Alice Walker
248 books7,376 followersNoted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as
The Color Purple
(1982).
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
August 3, 2015
The more I learn about black-, especially African-American history and culture, the more I understand how great Walker’s writing is and how well she uses her fiction to impart knowledge. Sure, stories are meant to entertain but in Walker’s case they are also clearly written to educate. Every single one of these stories taught me something. For that reason I think of Walker’s short stories as essays, in a sense.
Walker discusses lots of topics, including difficult ones such as interracial relationships, abortion, and pornography. Perhaps some of those topics aren’t for everyone (and a few of the stories were quite explicit) but if there’s anyone who can handle such topics, it’s Walker. I get the feeling that Walker weaves in some of her own experiences in her stories because quite a few of them did seem to have a semi-autobiographical feel.
As the title suggests, the main topic of this book is women, in particular black women. One of the most interesting stories was “Nineteen Fifty-Five,” which was about an older black woman who sold some of her songs to a white male singer. Walker managed to address so many things that I’ve been thinking about art and appropriation, and she also got me thinking about the disparity between group needs and what people from other groups (race, class, gender, etc.), think they want; this is something that she illustrates quite well without explicitly stating it as such.
I know a little about the history of black music in the States and of how it has often been appropriated. Yet, the whole point about art is that it’s supposed to come from within, from our experiences. But so much art has been appropriated anyway:
“Everybody still loves that song of yours. They ask me all the time what do I think it means, really. I mean, they want to know just what I want to know. Where out of your life did it come from?”
“They want what I got only it ain’t mine. That’s what makes ‘em so hungry for me when I sing. They getting the flavour of something but they ain’t getting the thing itself. They like a pack of hound dogs trying to gobble up a scent.”
The story “Coming Apart” was just a masterpiece. In it Walker uses excerpts of an essay I hadn’t heard of, by Tracey A. Gardner, about the racial aspects of pornography. I’ll let the following excerpts speak for themselves:
“For centuries the black woman has served as the primary pornographic “outlet” for white men in Europe and America. We need only think of the black women used as breeders, raped for the pleasure and profit of their owners. We need only think of the license the “master” of the slave woman enjoyed. But, most telling of all, we need only study the old slave societies of the South to note the sadistic treatment — at the hands of white “gentlemen” — of “beautiful”, young quadroons and octoroons” who became increasingly (and were deliberately bred to become) indistinguishable from white women, and were the more highly prized as slave mistresses because of this.”
“Because Tracey A. Gardner has thought about it all, not just presently but historically, and she is clear about all the abuse being done to herself as a black person and as a woman, and she is bold and she is cold—she is furious. The wife, given more to depression and self-abnegation than to fury, basks in the fire of Gardner’s high-spirited anger.”
I’m always interested by exotification being a rare minority where I live. In the story “A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring“, the female protagonist realizes that she is constantly being othered; I could relate so much to that:
“How could they ever know her if they were not allowed to know Wright, she wondered. She was interesting, “beautiful,” only because they had no idea what made her, charming only because they had no idea from where she came. And were they came from, though she glimpsed it—in themselves and in F. Scott Fitzgerald—she was never to enter. She hadn’t the inclination or the proper ticket.”
Like I always say, Walker is one of the bravest and most honest writers I’ve ever come across.And she’s adept at creating multidimensional black women characters. She illustrates black women with agency, and with a (much often denied by society) inner life. For me, a black woman who not so long ago rarely read of black women’s experiences in literature, Alice Walker’s work is so important. Her brand of feminism, womanism, is something I can feel comfortable with as encompassing of the black woman’s experience, which is very often so different from those in mainstream feminism. Additionally, black feminist heroes are included in Walker’s writing and to me that seems like not only is she paying homage, she is also encouraging us to read up on these greats and learn from them. As I learned from doing my thesis, the main way that black women learn is from each other, and from reading black women’s literature as a way to understand their complex identities. Audre Lorde, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells…I’ll be reading you all soon.
Walker discusses lots of topics, including difficult ones such as interracial relationships, abortion, and pornography. Perhaps some of those topics aren’t for everyone (and a few of the stories were quite explicit) but if there’s anyone who can handle such topics, it’s Walker. I get the feeling that Walker weaves in some of her own experiences in her stories because quite a few of them did seem to have a semi-autobiographical feel.
As the title suggests, the main topic of this book is women, in particular black women. One of the most interesting stories was “Nineteen Fifty-Five,” which was about an older black woman who sold some of her songs to a white male singer. Walker managed to address so many things that I’ve been thinking about art and appropriation, and she also got me thinking about the disparity between group needs and what people from other groups (race, class, gender, etc.), think they want; this is something that she illustrates quite well without explicitly stating it as such.
I know a little about the history of black music in the States and of how it has often been appropriated. Yet, the whole point about art is that it’s supposed to come from within, from our experiences. But so much art has been appropriated anyway:
“Everybody still loves that song of yours. They ask me all the time what do I think it means, really. I mean, they want to know just what I want to know. Where out of your life did it come from?”
“They want what I got only it ain’t mine. That’s what makes ‘em so hungry for me when I sing. They getting the flavour of something but they ain’t getting the thing itself. They like a pack of hound dogs trying to gobble up a scent.”
The story “Coming Apart” was just a masterpiece. In it Walker uses excerpts of an essay I hadn’t heard of, by Tracey A. Gardner, about the racial aspects of pornography. I’ll let the following excerpts speak for themselves:
“For centuries the black woman has served as the primary pornographic “outlet” for white men in Europe and America. We need only think of the black women used as breeders, raped for the pleasure and profit of their owners. We need only think of the license the “master” of the slave woman enjoyed. But, most telling of all, we need only study the old slave societies of the South to note the sadistic treatment — at the hands of white “gentlemen” — of “beautiful”, young quadroons and octoroons” who became increasingly (and were deliberately bred to become) indistinguishable from white women, and were the more highly prized as slave mistresses because of this.”
“Because Tracey A. Gardner has thought about it all, not just presently but historically, and she is clear about all the abuse being done to herself as a black person and as a woman, and she is bold and she is cold—she is furious. The wife, given more to depression and self-abnegation than to fury, basks in the fire of Gardner’s high-spirited anger.”
I’m always interested by exotification being a rare minority where I live. In the story “A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring“, the female protagonist realizes that she is constantly being othered; I could relate so much to that:
“How could they ever know her if they were not allowed to know Wright, she wondered. She was interesting, “beautiful,” only because they had no idea what made her, charming only because they had no idea from where she came. And were they came from, though she glimpsed it—in themselves and in F. Scott Fitzgerald—she was never to enter. She hadn’t the inclination or the proper ticket.”
Like I always say, Walker is one of the bravest and most honest writers I’ve ever come across.And she’s adept at creating multidimensional black women characters. She illustrates black women with agency, and with a (much often denied by society) inner life. For me, a black woman who not so long ago rarely read of black women’s experiences in literature, Alice Walker’s work is so important. Her brand of feminism, womanism, is something I can feel comfortable with as encompassing of the black woman’s experience, which is very often so different from those in mainstream feminism. Additionally, black feminist heroes are included in Walker’s writing and to me that seems like not only is she paying homage, she is also encouraging us to read up on these greats and learn from them. As I learned from doing my thesis, the main way that black women learn is from each other, and from reading black women’s literature as a way to understand their complex identities. Audre Lorde, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells…I’ll be reading you all soon.
September 6, 2019
I really do prefer Walker's novels to her short stories. "The Color Purple" is an undisputed classic & Walker's main master work. "The Third Life of Grange Copeland" is a brutal tale that spectacularly transcends the characters themselves-- it was anecdote and myth made tangible. Walker is like Woolf in that she creates a creature made up wholly of atmosphere and stalled, lonesome expectation alone. Here in this particular short story collection, she's all about women's independence & personal freedom.
January 7, 2021
These excellent short stories are told in the first person, and the essence of Alice Walker can be felt in each one. All deal with reality in a straightforward way with much insight and a tad of humor. The strengths and weaknesses of the characters are shown through a range of emotions. From the black female songwriter exploited by a thinly disguised Elvis Presley, to two women, one dark-skinned and one appearing white, reflecting on their shared college days and their past blindness to the needs and feelings of each other. The stories dealing with the degradation of abortion and pornography are through the experiences of black women but are universally felt and experienced.
Walker's book was published in 1981. The stories are set in the 60's and 70's. Gender bias, sexism and racism are just as relevant today. They may have been in remission; there, but unseen for a while but not anymore. Do we have the cure or will these issues still exist in 2041?
Walker's book was published in 1981. The stories are set in the 60's and 70's. Gender bias, sexism and racism are just as relevant today. They may have been in remission; there, but unseen for a while but not anymore. Do we have the cure or will these issues still exist in 2041?
May 13, 2016
3.5 stars.
I'm not sure how to review this collection really. I liked it for the most part, but the stories within didn't ever really blow me away. Alice Walker deals with some pretty serious topics (rape, murder, etc.), but a lot of the time I never felt like I was reading from a character's point of view, instead just Walker's. I think I would have preferred this collection if it had been a collection of essays, as I think Walker has a strong mind. I would love to read her in a non-fiction guise as she is incredibly passionate with a lot of knowledge to share.
Saying that, there were some stories in here that I really enjoyed and made me think. Source dealt with the complexities of what it is to be black, and the act of passing. The Abortion focuses on possession of one's own body and making difficult choices for yourself. And Nineteen Fifty-five - possibly the most lighthearted story in the collection - sent me into an Elvis Presley internet wormhole. For real.
I'm glad that I read this collection, as it is different from a lot of short story collections I have read before, and I'm glad I gave Alice Walker another chance after not really enjoying The Color Purple all that much. It's not one of my favourite collections though.
I'm not sure how to review this collection really. I liked it for the most part, but the stories within didn't ever really blow me away. Alice Walker deals with some pretty serious topics (rape, murder, etc.), but a lot of the time I never felt like I was reading from a character's point of view, instead just Walker's. I think I would have preferred this collection if it had been a collection of essays, as I think Walker has a strong mind. I would love to read her in a non-fiction guise as she is incredibly passionate with a lot of knowledge to share.
Saying that, there were some stories in here that I really enjoyed and made me think. Source dealt with the complexities of what it is to be black, and the act of passing. The Abortion focuses on possession of one's own body and making difficult choices for yourself. And Nineteen Fifty-five - possibly the most lighthearted story in the collection - sent me into an Elvis Presley internet wormhole. For real.
I'm glad that I read this collection, as it is different from a lot of short story collections I have read before, and I'm glad I gave Alice Walker another chance after not really enjoying The Color Purple all that much. It's not one of my favourite collections though.
September 26, 2020
فشلت كل قصص المجموعة في اجتذابي إليها .. لم أحسّها.
May 29, 2016
This was the May read for the Feminist Orchestra group here in Goodreads. I enjoyed the opportunity to read more of Alice Walker, knowing her first through The Color Purple (as most of us do) and more recently through Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete.
These stories were all written in the 1960s and 1970s, and it helped to remind myself of that context while I read, because they really do capture a very specific moment in time in American feminism, but not only feminism, civil rights in general. The stories are bluntly titled - examples like "The Lover," "The Abortion," and "Porn" give the reader an exact idea what the story will contain! Others are more clever, like "A Letter of the Times, or Should This Sado-Masochism Be Saved?" and "How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy."
The story that I connected with the most was "A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring," about a woman who is the only African American at Wellesley returning home after the death of her father. She tries to explain how she feels by bringing up Richard Wright, which of course nobody else has ever read.
These stories were all written in the 1960s and 1970s, and it helped to remind myself of that context while I read, because they really do capture a very specific moment in time in American feminism, but not only feminism, civil rights in general. The stories are bluntly titled - examples like "The Lover," "The Abortion," and "Porn" give the reader an exact idea what the story will contain! Others are more clever, like "A Letter of the Times, or Should This Sado-Masochism Be Saved?" and "How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy."
The story that I connected with the most was "A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring," about a woman who is the only African American at Wellesley returning home after the death of her father. She tries to explain how she feels by bringing up Richard Wright, which of course nobody else has ever read.
"'...From what you've said, Wright earned the freedom to be whoever he wanted to be. To a strong man a father is not essential.'And then later to her brother:
'Maybe not, said Sarah,'but Wright's father was one faulty door in a house of many ancient rooms. Was that one faulty door to shut him off forever from the rest of the house?'...
'...You're thinking of his father more as a symbol of something, aren't you?' asked Pam.
'I suppose,' said Sarah, taking a last look around her room. 'I see him as a door that refused to open, a hand that was always closed. A fist.'"
"You are the door to all the rooms... Don't ever close."
August 1, 2025
{4.5*}
The last time I read this was with Alice Walker’s journal, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, thinking it would furnish my understanding of these stories better. It kind of did but the journal mostly focused on her loves rather than her life experiences; I wanted to see her world of an African American woman living through the 60s. There were glimpses of this, and her writing, but it was mostly a very dragged-out kiss and tell.
So, this time I read it without the journal, and discovered these stories could stand up on their own. Between them they are a variety of vibrancy, wit, gusto, being sassy, and funny. And I didn’t mind that at times it felt like I was reading nonfiction than fiction.
What makes these stories is how they boldly discuss sensitive topics from gender identity, autonomy, racial identity, sexual assault, romance, family and friendship. All told with a matter-of-factness that is full of hope.
The last time I read this was with Alice Walker’s journal, Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, thinking it would furnish my understanding of these stories better. It kind of did but the journal mostly focused on her loves rather than her life experiences; I wanted to see her world of an African American woman living through the 60s. There were glimpses of this, and her writing, but it was mostly a very dragged-out kiss and tell.
So, this time I read it without the journal, and discovered these stories could stand up on their own. Between them they are a variety of vibrancy, wit, gusto, being sassy, and funny. And I didn’t mind that at times it felt like I was reading nonfiction than fiction.
What makes these stories is how they boldly discuss sensitive topics from gender identity, autonomy, racial identity, sexual assault, romance, family and friendship. All told with a matter-of-factness that is full of hope.
July 29, 2014
This short book of short stories is thirty years old. Some of the stories in the book are over forty years old. That is another era. Some of the stories were previously published in the magazines Ms., Mother Jones, Essence and others. Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 for The Color Purple so you see she can write.
Just to indicate the range of topics here, a few of the story titles are: The Lover, Coming Apart, Fame, The Abortion, and Porn. Just in case you are wondering, there are several titles with more than two words. For example: How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy. Eighteen words. So now you see how averages can sometimes be deceiving.
Alice Walker is passionate and political. Maybe even fearless, but you will have to ask her about that. It is just my impression. Here is a little bit of Alice on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJR86n...
Alice Walker had a few things to teach even three decades ago. And I have a few things to learn even today. So we are a perfect match. This is a perfect lesson book for me; it is short, to the point, sometimes funny, sometimes challenging. The stories were written in the 1970s, a time of change and rebellion. The settings range back to the 1950s and then through Colored to Negro to Black.
If you are old enough to remember the 1960s and 1970s, you may find that this book feels familiar. And if you did not experience those times, much of the writing and most of the feelings maintain an authenticity that will take you to the decades when the War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Movement happened, when President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, when Black Power made its demands and when the War in Vietnam raged. You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down reflects that turmoil.
If you run across this book one day, and that might be very unlikely since the book is so thin and disappears on a bookshelf among its larger siblings, and have time to read just one story, read Laurel. It is short and strange and sweet.
This book will have to be four stars. It reminded me of some of my Good Ole Days and exercised my brain. Alice Walker is two years older than I am and I wonder what we would have thought of each other if we met in the 1980s when I think we were both pretty radical.
Just to indicate the range of topics here, a few of the story titles are: The Lover, Coming Apart, Fame, The Abortion, and Porn. Just in case you are wondering, there are several titles with more than two words. For example: How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy. Eighteen words. So now you see how averages can sometimes be deceiving.
Alice Walker is passionate and political. Maybe even fearless, but you will have to ask her about that. It is just my impression. Here is a little bit of Alice on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJR86n...
Alice Walker had a few things to teach even three decades ago. And I have a few things to learn even today. So we are a perfect match. This is a perfect lesson book for me; it is short, to the point, sometimes funny, sometimes challenging. The stories were written in the 1970s, a time of change and rebellion. The settings range back to the 1950s and then through Colored to Negro to Black.
If you are old enough to remember the 1960s and 1970s, you may find that this book feels familiar. And if you did not experience those times, much of the writing and most of the feelings maintain an authenticity that will take you to the decades when the War on Poverty and the Civil Rights Movement happened, when President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, when Black Power made its demands and when the War in Vietnam raged. You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down reflects that turmoil.
If you run across this book one day, and that might be very unlikely since the book is so thin and disappears on a bookshelf among its larger siblings, and have time to read just one story, read Laurel. It is short and strange and sweet.
This book will have to be four stars. It reminded me of some of my Good Ole Days and exercised my brain. Alice Walker is two years older than I am and I wonder what we would have thought of each other if we met in the 1980s when I think we were both pretty radical.
August 2, 2017
Complete review - https://africanbookaddict.wordpress.c...
Lovely, lovely, lovely collection of 14 short stories. This is a classic and a must read! Most of the stories are pretty deep though. Alice Walker tackles issues from feminism/womanism to porn to death to poverty to fame, abortion, the civil rights movement etc etc. You actually learn a lot from this book. I love how she makes reference to Ida B. Wells and Audre Lorde and other prominent black women who have helped shape (black) American lives for the better. When I read this again, I will surely learn more stuff that I didn't acquire from this 1st reading. You have to be 18+ to read this though!! Some descriptions are QUITE explicit lool! Note: Prior knowledge on the Civil Rights Movement is needed for you to thoroughly appreciate the stories in this book.
My favorite stories were:
"How Did I Get Away With Killing The Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy" (crazy story! Some women are crazy yo. Loved it)
"Coming Apart" (I think every married couple should read this story- together. Its sooo deep! It has you thinking about sex in such a different, non-flippant way. I'll have to read it again to fully understand the concepts discussed in the story)
"The Abortion" (I just felt sick to my stomach reading this story. There weren't many gory descriptions, but it was just sad and miserable - from beginning to end)
"Laurel" (pretty creepy story hahaa)
"A Sudden Trip Home In The Spring" (I loved the calmness of this story. Some bits reminded me of my college experience at Middlebury).
Lovely, lovely, lovely collection of 14 short stories. This is a classic and a must read! Most of the stories are pretty deep though. Alice Walker tackles issues from feminism/womanism to porn to death to poverty to fame, abortion, the civil rights movement etc etc. You actually learn a lot from this book. I love how she makes reference to Ida B. Wells and Audre Lorde and other prominent black women who have helped shape (black) American lives for the better. When I read this again, I will surely learn more stuff that I didn't acquire from this 1st reading. You have to be 18+ to read this though!! Some descriptions are QUITE explicit lool! Note: Prior knowledge on the Civil Rights Movement is needed for you to thoroughly appreciate the stories in this book.
My favorite stories were:
"How Did I Get Away With Killing The Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy" (crazy story! Some women are crazy yo. Loved it)
"Coming Apart" (I think every married couple should read this story- together. Its sooo deep! It has you thinking about sex in such a different, non-flippant way. I'll have to read it again to fully understand the concepts discussed in the story)
"The Abortion" (I just felt sick to my stomach reading this story. There weren't many gory descriptions, but it was just sad and miserable - from beginning to end)
"Laurel" (pretty creepy story hahaa)
"A Sudden Trip Home In The Spring" (I loved the calmness of this story. Some bits reminded me of my college experience at Middlebury).
June 9, 2020
خيبة كبيرة... للأسف ليست بذلك الحسن الذي تذوقته في اللون الأرجواني... مخيبة للأمال... يشعر بالإحباط...
June 11, 2021
I loved all these stories. Alice Walker can do no wrong in my eyes. These were cerebral, cutting and affirming.
December 19, 2018
Wow.
...wow.
While not every story hit the mark for me--the first one especially was dull and completely forgettable, so don't give up after that one!--this compilation of 14 short stories was fantastic in so many ways. Below are summaries of the four stories in this collection that really made this book for me. I apologize if they're too detailed. I couldn't bear forgetting their substance, and this review will help me remember when I look back. I hope they'll intrigue you into reading this collection too! In order of favourites.
~~~~~~~~~ELETHIA~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to be thinking about this one, playing it over and over again, in my head for a long, long time. It's one of the shortest of the stories, but to me it said so much with so little.
The titular character lives in a small town. There’s a whites-only diner called Uncle Albert’s, and in the window is a dummy of Uncle Albert himself, carrying a tray and a napkin draped over his arm. The elderly black people in the town “appeared grateful to the rich man who owned the restaurant for giving them a taste of vicarious fame . . . even though n— were not allowed in the front door, ole Albert was already inside, and looking mighty pleased about it, too.”
Elethia, who works in the kitchen of the diner, realizes that Uncle Albert isn’t a dummy; he’s the stuffed body of a real man, taxidermied. He was born into slavery and, according to those who had known him, was quite the opposite of the servile, smiling way he’s posed in the window.
Elethia and her male friends break into the diner one night and burned Albert, and they each kept a small bottle of his ashes. “And for each of them what they knew and their reaction to what they knew was profound.”
As she and her friends grow up— she went to college and her friends to the army—they discovered Uncle Alberts all over the world, in museums and textbooks and museums and media. “But she had her jar of ashes . . . and she was careful that, no matter how compelling the hype, Uncle Alberts, in her own mind, were not permitted to exist.”
~~~~~~COMING APART~~~~~~
This one is about a husband and wife, both black, and the husband likes to look at porn containing white women. She expresses the fact that she’s not comfortable with that, so he brings home a new set of porn, now containing black women. But this porn is no better, for different reasons.
Her husband calls her a prude. She looks at herself in the mirror and realizes that her husband wouldn’t consider her mother sexy, and since she’s aging, this frightens her. But then she realizes that she herself considers her mother very sexy, and “at once she feels restored. Resolves to fight.”
She hands him an essay by Audre Lorde. He throws it away. “No dyke can tell me anything.” She hands him the porn magazines filled with women, white and black, eating each other out.
As they debate, "he feels oppressed by her incipient struggle, and feels somehow as if her struggle to change the pleasure he has enjoyed is a violation of his rights.” He condemns her as being like one of those white feminists marching in the streets. Is it because he can now ogle white women in freedom and she has no similar outlet of expression that he thinks of her as still black and himself as something else?
She reads him something: This obscene, inhuman treatment of Black men by white men has a direct correlation to white men’s increasingly obscene and inhuman treatment of women, particularly white women, in pornography and real life. White women, working towards their own strength and identity, their own sexuality, have in a sense become uppity n——. As the Black men threatens the white man’s masculinity and power, so now do women.
The wife goes on, quotes Frantz Fanon at her husband: By loving me, [the white woman] proves that I am worthy of white love. The wife pauses, looks at her husband: “So how does a black woman feel when her black man leaves Playboy on the coffee table?”
For the first time he understands fully a line his wife read the day before: “The pornography industry’s exploitation of the black woman’s body is qualitatively different from that of the white woman.”
And “what [the husband] has refused to see is that where white women are depicted in pornography as “objects,” black women are depicted as animals. Where white women are depicted at least as human bodies if not beings, black women are depicted as shit. [The husband] begins to feel sick.”
~~~~~~ADVANCING LUNA~~~~~~~
The narrator and a white girl named Luna, along with a number of other people both black and white, men and women, spend the summer in Georgia working for civil rights, living with local families willing to take them in.
The narrator and Luna become friends, and later end up living together in New York. Luna confides in the narrator that a black man who had been part of the movement in Georgia, Freddie Pye, had raped her. “Why didn’t you scream?” the narrator asks. “You know why,” says Luna. The narrator does know—she thinks of all the black men lynched for looking at white women the wrong way.
Later on, the narrator sees Freddie Pye coming out of Luna’s room in their apartment. She can’t understand this, because she thinks Luna is telling the truth. The disclosure, though, causes a rift between them, and the friendship dissolves.
Many years later, the narrator is talking about this event to a new friend, who suggests that perhaps Freddie Pye had been paid to rape Luna by white men who wanted to disrupt the movement for civil rights; this friend, himself, had been offered such work before and had refused. But what about Freddie’s second visit, the narrator asks?
“Probably nothing will explain that,” the friend says. “But assuming Freddie Pye was paid to disrupt—by raping a white woman—the black struggle in the South, he may have wised up enough later to comprehend the significance of Luna’s decision not to scream.”
~~~A SUDDEN TRIP HOME IN THE SPRING~~~
The main character, Sarah is the only black girl at Wellesley College, and she has just learned her oppressive father has died. As she prepares to go home for the funeral, she talks to her roommate about the writer Richard Wright and his relationship with his father, who abandoned him and his mother. The roommate says she doesn't understand why Wright went looking for his father when Wright was an adult, a successful writer: "Wright earned the freedom to be whoever he wanted to be. To a strong man a father is not essential."
"Maybe not," said Sarah, "but Wright's father was one faulty door in a house of many ancient rooms. Was that one faulty door to shut him off forever from the rest of the house? That was the question."
Later in the story, Sarah wonders if Richard Wright had had a brother. "You are the door to all the rooms," she said. "Don't ever close."
And he said, "I won't," as if he understood what she meant.
...wow.
While not every story hit the mark for me--the first one especially was dull and completely forgettable, so don't give up after that one!--this compilation of 14 short stories was fantastic in so many ways. Below are summaries of the four stories in this collection that really made this book for me. I apologize if they're too detailed. I couldn't bear forgetting their substance, and this review will help me remember when I look back. I hope they'll intrigue you into reading this collection too! In order of favourites.
~~~~~~~~~ELETHIA~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to be thinking about this one, playing it over and over again, in my head for a long, long time. It's one of the shortest of the stories, but to me it said so much with so little.
The titular character lives in a small town. There’s a whites-only diner called Uncle Albert’s, and in the window is a dummy of Uncle Albert himself, carrying a tray and a napkin draped over his arm. The elderly black people in the town “appeared grateful to the rich man who owned the restaurant for giving them a taste of vicarious fame . . . even though n— were not allowed in the front door, ole Albert was already inside, and looking mighty pleased about it, too.”
Elethia, who works in the kitchen of the diner, realizes that Uncle Albert isn’t a dummy; he’s the stuffed body of a real man, taxidermied. He was born into slavery and, according to those who had known him, was quite the opposite of the servile, smiling way he’s posed in the window.
Elethia and her male friends break into the diner one night and burned Albert, and they each kept a small bottle of his ashes. “And for each of them what they knew and their reaction to what they knew was profound.”
As she and her friends grow up— she went to college and her friends to the army—they discovered Uncle Alberts all over the world, in museums and textbooks and museums and media. “But she had her jar of ashes . . . and she was careful that, no matter how compelling the hype, Uncle Alberts, in her own mind, were not permitted to exist.”
~~~~~~COMING APART~~~~~~
This one is about a husband and wife, both black, and the husband likes to look at porn containing white women. She expresses the fact that she’s not comfortable with that, so he brings home a new set of porn, now containing black women. But this porn is no better, for different reasons.
Her husband calls her a prude. She looks at herself in the mirror and realizes that her husband wouldn’t consider her mother sexy, and since she’s aging, this frightens her. But then she realizes that she herself considers her mother very sexy, and “at once she feels restored. Resolves to fight.”
She hands him an essay by Audre Lorde. He throws it away. “No dyke can tell me anything.” She hands him the porn magazines filled with women, white and black, eating each other out.
As they debate, "he feels oppressed by her incipient struggle, and feels somehow as if her struggle to change the pleasure he has enjoyed is a violation of his rights.” He condemns her as being like one of those white feminists marching in the streets. Is it because he can now ogle white women in freedom and she has no similar outlet of expression that he thinks of her as still black and himself as something else?
She reads him something: This obscene, inhuman treatment of Black men by white men has a direct correlation to white men’s increasingly obscene and inhuman treatment of women, particularly white women, in pornography and real life. White women, working towards their own strength and identity, their own sexuality, have in a sense become uppity n——. As the Black men threatens the white man’s masculinity and power, so now do women.
The wife goes on, quotes Frantz Fanon at her husband: By loving me, [the white woman] proves that I am worthy of white love. The wife pauses, looks at her husband: “So how does a black woman feel when her black man leaves Playboy on the coffee table?”
For the first time he understands fully a line his wife read the day before: “The pornography industry’s exploitation of the black woman’s body is qualitatively different from that of the white woman.”
And “what [the husband] has refused to see is that where white women are depicted in pornography as “objects,” black women are depicted as animals. Where white women are depicted at least as human bodies if not beings, black women are depicted as shit. [The husband] begins to feel sick.”
~~~~~~ADVANCING LUNA~~~~~~~
The narrator and a white girl named Luna, along with a number of other people both black and white, men and women, spend the summer in Georgia working for civil rights, living with local families willing to take them in.
The narrator and Luna become friends, and later end up living together in New York. Luna confides in the narrator that a black man who had been part of the movement in Georgia, Freddie Pye, had raped her. “Why didn’t you scream?” the narrator asks. “You know why,” says Luna. The narrator does know—she thinks of all the black men lynched for looking at white women the wrong way.
Later on, the narrator sees Freddie Pye coming out of Luna’s room in their apartment. She can’t understand this, because she thinks Luna is telling the truth. The disclosure, though, causes a rift between them, and the friendship dissolves.
Many years later, the narrator is talking about this event to a new friend, who suggests that perhaps Freddie Pye had been paid to rape Luna by white men who wanted to disrupt the movement for civil rights; this friend, himself, had been offered such work before and had refused. But what about Freddie’s second visit, the narrator asks?
“Probably nothing will explain that,” the friend says. “But assuming Freddie Pye was paid to disrupt—by raping a white woman—the black struggle in the South, he may have wised up enough later to comprehend the significance of Luna’s decision not to scream.”
~~~A SUDDEN TRIP HOME IN THE SPRING~~~
The main character, Sarah is the only black girl at Wellesley College, and she has just learned her oppressive father has died. As she prepares to go home for the funeral, she talks to her roommate about the writer Richard Wright and his relationship with his father, who abandoned him and his mother. The roommate says she doesn't understand why Wright went looking for his father when Wright was an adult, a successful writer: "Wright earned the freedom to be whoever he wanted to be. To a strong man a father is not essential."
"Maybe not," said Sarah, "but Wright's father was one faulty door in a house of many ancient rooms. Was that one faulty door to shut him off forever from the rest of the house? That was the question."
Later in the story, Sarah wonders if Richard Wright had had a brother. "You are the door to all the rooms," she said. "Don't ever close."
And he said, "I won't," as if he understood what she meant.
January 17, 2023
And so, Lucy, you and I will be friends again because I will talk you out of caring about heroines whose real source of power, as well as the literal shape and condition of their bodies, comes from the people they oppress. But what of the future? What of the women who will never come together because of what they saw in the relationship between "mistress" and "slave" on TV? Many black women fear it is as slaves white women want them; no doubt many white women think some amount of servitude from black women is their due. But, Lucy, regardless of the "slave" on television, black women do not want to be slaves. They never wanted to be slaves. We will be ourselves and free, or die in the attempt. Harriet Tubman was not our great-grandmother for noth-ing; which I would advise all black and white women aggressing against us as "mistress" and "slave" to remember. We understand when an attempt is being made to lead us into captivity, though television is a lot more subtle than slave ships. We will simply resist, as we have always done, with ever more accurate weapons of defense.
- A letter of the times : You cant keep a good women down by Alice Walker
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Visceral, Gripping and Hard Hitting stories. Alice Walker can do no wrong to me and once again she proved it in this book. In her stories, we found many black women - all crafted with different kind of shades and personality that has suffered , dealt with rape, abortion, lust, racism, pornography, body image and even infidelity. I dont think i will be able to summarize each stories featured in the book , scared that i could not do justice to her craft. Funny how despite not knowing much about Elvis Presley as i am not American but when i finished first story, i knew right away it is about Elvis Presley (and how he ‘allegedly’ has profit off from black musician). Once i researched it, only then i knew it is based on Elvis Presley’s relationship with Mama Thornton. Another story, Advancing Luna - and Ida B. Wells left me speechless. Imagined that your friend , a white woman told you that she were raped by a black man. What would you do with that information? When you asked your friend why she didnt report it and she said ‘have you seen what they did to Emmet Till”? as so many black men were lynched for just looking / seducing / accused of sleeping / raping white woman. Do you stand up for your stance as woman or do you keep silence to protect your own people? She captures the nuances and questions about race and feminism into this story brilliantly. Another story that i would like to highlight is the depiction of Black Women in Pornography in the story titled ‘Apart’. As the husband felt it was harmless hobby or indulgence and the debate that went back and forth between them. The body image and the question of exploitation on women. White women were seen as an objects but black women were seen as an animals. As both were equally bad for women in general, you can see that one was placed slightly upper than the other. Ultimately, this book should have been a required reading for black and feminist literature. These stories are made for women , about women and written by a great woman herself. Despite this book being published in the 80s, and some of the stories set between the 60s - 70s , some issues are just prevalent until today. I dont have favorite stories as i think it will be a disservice to rank or rate it due to to how distinctive each story is with many issues that she raised in it. I believed Alice walker wrote these stories to educate her readers and i considered myself slightly learned / educated once i finished the book. I would recommend this to everyone! I did not give this 5 stars because i wanted more stories. This is not enough 🥲
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- A letter of the times : You cant keep a good women down by Alice Walker
.
.
Visceral, Gripping and Hard Hitting stories. Alice Walker can do no wrong to me and once again she proved it in this book. In her stories, we found many black women - all crafted with different kind of shades and personality that has suffered , dealt with rape, abortion, lust, racism, pornography, body image and even infidelity. I dont think i will be able to summarize each stories featured in the book , scared that i could not do justice to her craft. Funny how despite not knowing much about Elvis Presley as i am not American but when i finished first story, i knew right away it is about Elvis Presley (and how he ‘allegedly’ has profit off from black musician). Once i researched it, only then i knew it is based on Elvis Presley’s relationship with Mama Thornton. Another story, Advancing Luna - and Ida B. Wells left me speechless. Imagined that your friend , a white woman told you that she were raped by a black man. What would you do with that information? When you asked your friend why she didnt report it and she said ‘have you seen what they did to Emmet Till”? as so many black men were lynched for just looking / seducing / accused of sleeping / raping white woman. Do you stand up for your stance as woman or do you keep silence to protect your own people? She captures the nuances and questions about race and feminism into this story brilliantly. Another story that i would like to highlight is the depiction of Black Women in Pornography in the story titled ‘Apart’. As the husband felt it was harmless hobby or indulgence and the debate that went back and forth between them. The body image and the question of exploitation on women. White women were seen as an objects but black women were seen as an animals. As both were equally bad for women in general, you can see that one was placed slightly upper than the other. Ultimately, this book should have been a required reading for black and feminist literature. These stories are made for women , about women and written by a great woman herself. Despite this book being published in the 80s, and some of the stories set between the 60s - 70s , some issues are just prevalent until today. I dont have favorite stories as i think it will be a disservice to rank or rate it due to to how distinctive each story is with many issues that she raised in it. I believed Alice walker wrote these stories to educate her readers and i considered myself slightly learned / educated once i finished the book. I would recommend this to everyone! I did not give this 5 stars because i wanted more stories. This is not enough 🥲
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January 4, 2015
At last! I have learned to appreciate the art of the short story! Alice Walker has put together a collection of strong, buoyant heroines I want to be friends with. And then I want to organize with them.
The back of the book advertises itself as a natural progression from its predecessor: "No longer do her heroines lean toward death or even toward the past; no longer do they excuse the aggression of others; no longer are they suspended in their unhappy condition. The women here claim every bit of space they make." I thought this was a curious blurb to put on the back of the book; it certainly did make me want to read this one, but took away any inclination I might have had to read In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women.
It's true, though. And it's beautiful to read the stories of smart, strong women; and validating, too, after a summer of being told that people were uncomfortable when I said anything that made them think and that I should probably not play the piano so much. It's great to feel in good company with other women who stand their ground.
More than that, though, these stories are just so well crafted. And remember, this is coming from someone who has previously claimed to enjoy pretty much only the short stories of Jhumpa Lahiri. These stories each have vividly painted protagonists with clear, distinct inner lives, and relatable but never hackneyed conflicts. The often omniscient viewpoint of the narrator adds a lot. And these stories are often not more than ten pages long. How does she do so much in just ten pages??
We wrestle along with our characters as they spar along with various topics and how they relate to their particular lives--racism, abortion, rape, pornography (reading these stories as I waited for my first graders to come back from lunch made me feel rather deliciously scandalous)--but the questions they are asking never take away from the worlds they create and define for themselves. YEAH. These stories and conversations actually made me feel in some ways like I was back at Carleton, in a very satisfying way; the constant self-questioning over a sometimes very academic background.
(Actually, I thought the most academic story was the weakest; written as an introduction to a book of essays by Audre Lorde & co., it features a woman researching and quoting academia to her husband as a way to explain why his porn collection makes her uncomfortable. Alice Walker has a preface to this story saying she thinks it works on its own; I politely disagree, or am at least unconvinced by it.)
After each story, I had to put the book down, stop, think, and digest. And I put off reading the last story for an entire week (after reading almost the whole thing in one week) because I didn't want the book to end.
I've previously criticized Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories for having too much biographical similarity between the characters--and I suppose I could make that criticism here, but it doesn't ring true. Many of the characters, like Alice Walker herself, came from Georgia and went to college in New York, and then after college engaged in various nonprofit/writing activities. But, this did not bother me. Partly because the characters were so completely distinct--different lives, situations, interests, even (take note, Jhumpa Lahiri) social class backgrounds; and probably partly because I find these themes quite easy to relate to.
At any rate, I absolutely loved this book and didn't want it to end. Along with Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, I will be lending this one out and recommending it for some time to come. I can't believe I hadn't read any Alice Walker up till now. I must continue to fix this, starting immediately. Also, happy (almost) Banned Books Week!
The back of the book advertises itself as a natural progression from its predecessor: "No longer do her heroines lean toward death or even toward the past; no longer do they excuse the aggression of others; no longer are they suspended in their unhappy condition. The women here claim every bit of space they make." I thought this was a curious blurb to put on the back of the book; it certainly did make me want to read this one, but took away any inclination I might have had to read In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women.
It's true, though. And it's beautiful to read the stories of smart, strong women; and validating, too, after a summer of being told that people were uncomfortable when I said anything that made them think and that I should probably not play the piano so much. It's great to feel in good company with other women who stand their ground.
More than that, though, these stories are just so well crafted. And remember, this is coming from someone who has previously claimed to enjoy pretty much only the short stories of Jhumpa Lahiri. These stories each have vividly painted protagonists with clear, distinct inner lives, and relatable but never hackneyed conflicts. The often omniscient viewpoint of the narrator adds a lot. And these stories are often not more than ten pages long. How does she do so much in just ten pages??
We wrestle along with our characters as they spar along with various topics and how they relate to their particular lives--racism, abortion, rape, pornography (reading these stories as I waited for my first graders to come back from lunch made me feel rather deliciously scandalous)--but the questions they are asking never take away from the worlds they create and define for themselves. YEAH. These stories and conversations actually made me feel in some ways like I was back at Carleton, in a very satisfying way; the constant self-questioning over a sometimes very academic background.
(Actually, I thought the most academic story was the weakest; written as an introduction to a book of essays by Audre Lorde & co., it features a woman researching and quoting academia to her husband as a way to explain why his porn collection makes her uncomfortable. Alice Walker has a preface to this story saying she thinks it works on its own; I politely disagree, or am at least unconvinced by it.)
After each story, I had to put the book down, stop, think, and digest. And I put off reading the last story for an entire week (after reading almost the whole thing in one week) because I didn't want the book to end.
I've previously criticized Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories for having too much biographical similarity between the characters--and I suppose I could make that criticism here, but it doesn't ring true. Many of the characters, like Alice Walker herself, came from Georgia and went to college in New York, and then after college engaged in various nonprofit/writing activities. But, this did not bother me. Partly because the characters were so completely distinct--different lives, situations, interests, even (take note, Jhumpa Lahiri) social class backgrounds; and probably partly because I find these themes quite easy to relate to.
At any rate, I absolutely loved this book and didn't want it to end. Along with Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, I will be lending this one out and recommending it for some time to come. I can't believe I hadn't read any Alice Walker up till now. I must continue to fix this, starting immediately. Also, happy (almost) Banned Books Week!
September 9, 2010
From the back:
"A natural evolution from the earlier, much acclaimed short story collection In Love and Trouble, these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. No longer do they excuse the aggression of others; no longer are they suspended in their unhappy condition. the women here claim every bit of space they make.
These are modern stories: About love, lust, fame, and cultural thievery; the perils of pornography, abortion, and rape; the delight of new lovers; and the rediscovery of old friends, affirmed even across self-imposed color lines."
My remarks:
A delightful read of some of Alice Walker's earlier work. Her voice is strong and confident; her characters well-drawn and complex; and all the stories make you think. Highly recommend.
"A natural evolution from the earlier, much acclaimed short story collection In Love and Trouble, these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. No longer do they excuse the aggression of others; no longer are they suspended in their unhappy condition. the women here claim every bit of space they make.
These are modern stories: About love, lust, fame, and cultural thievery; the perils of pornography, abortion, and rape; the delight of new lovers; and the rediscovery of old friends, affirmed even across self-imposed color lines."
My remarks:
A delightful read of some of Alice Walker's earlier work. Her voice is strong and confident; her characters well-drawn and complex; and all the stories make you think. Highly recommend.
May 6, 2016
After the wonder that was her debut novel and this wonderfully written and painfully human collection of short stories, Alice Walker is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.
In this short story collection, you're going to find the complex lives of several different women. Proud women, women who've suffered through real hardships, women who are still going through the death knells of adolescence, women who kill, women who make the hard choices, women who love themselves with every fiber of their being, etc. The only thing I can call this collection is human. It's just so powerful, and I could definitely feel the callbacks to so many great authors in the African-American tradition (like the use of a certain rat).
Even if you're not well-versed in African-American literature, I recommend you pick this book up (or Walker's debut novel). She will not disappoint.
In this short story collection, you're going to find the complex lives of several different women. Proud women, women who've suffered through real hardships, women who are still going through the death knells of adolescence, women who kill, women who make the hard choices, women who love themselves with every fiber of their being, etc. The only thing I can call this collection is human. It's just so powerful, and I could definitely feel the callbacks to so many great authors in the African-American tradition (like the use of a certain rat).
Even if you're not well-versed in African-American literature, I recommend you pick this book up (or Walker's debut novel). She will not disappoint.
June 29, 2015
Each and every one of these stories has a moment that takes your breath away - Walker creates this perfect, revealing web of circumstances in each story, only to sum up the situation - whether through the words of a character, or a reflection, by saying so much with so little. I've wanted to read this book for a long time and I'm so glad I finally did. I would love to pull out the most powerful quotes of each story here, but I feel that would do injustice to them as a whole. Read it for yourself and see. Well worth the time.
May 11, 2016
Giving this 5 stars because it deserves it. Some stories I absolutely adored (The Lover, Petunias, Laurel), some I enjoyed a great deal (The Abortion, A Sudden Trip Home....), others I just enjoyed and a few went over my head. The latter due to ignorance on my part and not having lived in/studied the history of the States. All that being said- this deserves 5 stars and on a re-read I'm sure it will feel like 5 stars to myself at least. 5 stars because this is the kind of fiction the world needs more of.
May 13, 2016
in a word: thought-provoking
January 8, 2018
The cover and title of this book belied its content. At first thinking perhaps it had more to do with surface level relationships - but then quickly realized (shamefully) that the author is of course Alice Walker and anything less than well balanced, sincere, and powerfully intuitive would simply not do. Loved it, hard to believe I had not read it sooner!
February 19, 2023
This was a collection of short stories by Alice Walker, and though I was very excited to read them, I am left somewhat disappointed.
Most of these stories were disjointed and too vaguely written and rambling in their narration to capture my attention, and I feel like the majority of them for several reasons didn't age all too well. There were a few nice ones in there, but most of the stories just didn't resonate with me...
Most of these stories were disjointed and too vaguely written and rambling in their narration to capture my attention, and I feel like the majority of them for several reasons didn't age all too well. There were a few nice ones in there, but most of the stories just didn't resonate with me...
September 15, 2016
This is one I need to read again and again because not only are the stories here so honest- sometimes joyful, sometimes discomfiting- but they stretched my definition of what it means to be a feminist. Wonderful work. Alice Walker is an American treasure.
June 28, 2014
Love it. Alice Walker is fantastic. She writes stories that make you think. They are stories you can read several times and always learn something new.
November 7, 2024
walker is obviously a skillful writer but even she can’t overcome the short story problem. which is to say there will always be some stories in a collection that are better than others, because that’s how interest works.
the first story was the most compelling and deftly written. the stories that followed either held up but never met the 1sts greatness, or felt half done and middling.
this was my first of walker’s fiction and while it didn’t blow me away, her talent was obvious and i enjoyed the frank dialogue and wry humor.
3.5 rounded down
the first story was the most compelling and deftly written. the stories that followed either held up but never met the 1sts greatness, or felt half done and middling.
this was my first of walker’s fiction and while it didn’t blow me away, her talent was obvious and i enjoyed the frank dialogue and wry humor.
3.5 rounded down
February 11, 2019
This is the first book I’ve read by Alice Walker and I have to say it was better then I expected. At first I thought the book may have some correlation with relationships based on the cover and summary I read before hand. I later realized when reading that it didn’t take the path as I wrongly assumed it was going to. I truly thought her writing style in the short stories were very entertaining and kept my finger turning the pages. A great read that I suggest to others.
April 15, 2019
Sorry but I just didn't get it. I was just hoping for more, like something that would transcend racial themes and expand my understanding of women. There were moments but never the real "aha" moment where I felt connected with the author or the message.
August 29, 2022
It's been a long time since I've read an Alice Walker book. I don't know why. I always enjoy her books.
This is a book of short stories. Like most short story compilations, some are better than others. These stories will make you think.
This is a book of short stories. Like most short story compilations, some are better than others. These stories will make you think.
Read
October 11, 2022DNF. I liked the first story 1955 but the rest of the stories don’t seem to be my thing. I doubt I’ll revisit this.
I am struggling to get through every story, they just aren’t resonating with me at all.
I am struggling to get through every story, they just aren’t resonating with me at all.
February 6, 2025
I find it incredibly hard to rate short story collections. Because some of these stories were INCREDIBLE! others not so much? But all in all Alice Walkers writing can be so so introspective and she truly writes about the struggles of that time in a way that forces you to think!
Read
October 15, 2023think this is my fav short story collection I’ve ever read god she’s so good
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