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For weeks – ever since he found a used paperback by James
McCune Smith – Kevan Peterson had been thinking about a
project. He was an artist, knew a lot of artists and he
wanted to do a book based on Smith’s words. He thought about
it when he spent time with his little daughter and again
when he saw an online newsfeed, complete with “chalk
outlines.” But there was more to that story…
Lucinda Johnston hoped her daughter, Fatima, might make
friends easier at the private school Lucinda paid for. There
was one other black girl at the academy, and Lucinda thought
friendship might happen naturally, but that girl was a bully
whose mother denied her awful misbehavior. In “Belles
Lettres,” the two women square off in writing, though
money talks loud. In “The Body’s Defenses Against
Itself,” there’s proof that the girls’ friendship
wouldn’t have happen as their mothers had hoped. In
“Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story,” you’ll
think you know why.
Jilly, on the other hand, couldn’t think of anything but
herself.
In “Suicide, Watch,” she couldn’t decide: posting
suicidal hints didn’t get enough LIKEs on social media, so
maybe it was time to step up her game. She didn’t want to be
sick or anything – not like that girl, Fatima, she knew in
high school – but she did want more attention. How she was
going to get it, well, that was a good question.
And Alma? Alma always thought she’d be a good mother. She
was willing to go to great lengths to have a child, but in
“Wash Clean the Bones,” worry could get the best of
her – and of her son.
You may not know what to think when you first start
Heads of the Colored People. This collection of short
stories initially seems a bit odd, as life meets literature
in its opening story and author Nafissa Thompson-Spires pays
homage to Smith’s book from the mid-1800s. Indeed, her
overall work here is similarly titled to his but the
difference between the two is like earth and sky.
These stories glitter, every one of them.
Granted now, some don’t seem to be much more than
slice-of-life tales that stop for no apparent reason but
that they were done. Fear not: they circle around, and you
may meet characters again in a layered manner, like building
a sandwich. That’ll make you gasp, and put the book down a
minute to catch your breath.
Even so, these stories aren’t for everybody. If you like
your fiction tied up neat with a bow, take a pass on
Heads of the Colored People. If you enjoy tales that
play with your head a little bit, though, it’s a book
you’ll think is perfect. |
