Ancestral House

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The individual stories in this encyclopedic collection are all good, but the aggregate of 70 of them, arranged simply in alphabetical order by author's name, is unwieldy. Rowell, editor of the magazine Callaloo, has excellent taste in literature, but he might have given more of a context than just noting each author's country of origin/residence. Many stories center on disillusion. Tina McElroy Ansa chronicles the disintegration of a marriage, while Trinidad-born Dionne Brand's narrator, who once loved the Dallas Cowboys, learns to hate them when her country is invaded by North American forces. Many of these narrators are sharp, almost neutral observers: John Holman's protagonist listens passively as a man plans to take revenge on his sister; Edward P. Jones's narrator recalls her first day of school, ``long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother.'' In William Melvin Kelley's wonderful story about a Harvard-educated baker who moonlights as a hit man, narrator Calvin Coolidge Johnson notes, ``A few years ago, an Africamerican dressed in clean coveralls and carrying a toolkit could get into any downtown Manhattan building, day or night. Nowadays, it takes more ingenuity to penetrate places.'' Whatever its failings, an examination of the effects of the African diaspora on literature is an intriguing idea, and Ancestral House offers sustaining food for thought on a variety of subjects. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

YAThe diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and writing styles among contemporary African American writers is evidenced in this single-volume anthology. Seventy short stories, written by men and women who can trace their original roots to Africa, are included. Well-known authors such as Rita Dove, Ernest J. Gaines, Charles Johnson, Jamaica Kincaid, Terri McMillan, Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Alice Walker appear, as well as unknown writers in translation. The stories vary in subject matter and tone; among them are voodoo, prison life, murder, rape, death, illicit relationships, sex, and a multitude of other taboo topics, as well as stories about intergenerational relationships, people who live life as it is with feelings of acceptance and self-worth. Because of the inclusion of outstanding African American authors and the high quality of the writing, this book's value to any comprehensive collection cannot be ignored.Dottie Kraft, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Booknews

An anthology of 70 uncut short stories collecting the work of writers from the African Diaspora. The authors, representing an immense range of intellectual concerns and cultural perspectives, include Jose Alcantara Almanzar of the Dominican Republic, Luiz Silva "Cuti" of Brazil, Rene Depestre of Haiti, and Astrid Roemer of Surinam/Holland as well as many well-known and less well-known US authors including Amiri Baraka, Rita Dove, John Edgar Wideman, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)