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Title: Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones ISBN: 0-06-056628-0 Publisher: Amistad Press Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: an obliterated community brought back to life
Comment: I lived in DC from 1991 to 2002 and I always wondered about the boarded up storefronts and houses that peppered downtown some streets away from the Smithsonain mall and monuments. Well, here they are brought back to life, with 14 tales that take you from street to street through what is largely a ghost town. I was genuinely excited to recognize names of stores that have long since been closed, to know a bit of who once shopped there and how they interacted. Most of this takes place in what is now called Metro Center, an area that is only now experiencing a comeback.
The stories I loved best -- perhaps because they made me so sad --- were "The Store", about a young man who only intends to work at a store for a week but ends up staying for years, befirending the proprietress he initially hated, "An Orange Line train to Ballston", not just because I used to commute on it but surely everyone who takes public transportation anywhere sees the same people at the same time every day -- ever wonder what would happen if you connected with one of them? And especially "the Sunday Following Mother's Day", about three generations of men named Sam and two women named Madeline, where the father kills the mother and its consequences reverberate for decades through so many lives.
Rating: 4
Summary: Just enough for the city
Comment: It seems as though some of my favorite books of all time had a strong emphasis on the setting in which they took place. Rainelle Burton ingeniously incorporated Detroit into her novel, The Root Worker. Zora Neale Hurston's writings were all heavily emphatic on the southern setting in which her characters resided. Not unlike these, Edward P. Jones' collection of short stories entitled LOST IN THE CITY not only uses Washington, DC as its backdrop, but the city's intricacies and nuances are woven together with each storyline he presents. He uses this setting so competently that we are led to the notion that the city of Washington itself is the protagonist as it jumps out as a recurring character in all of the pieces.
There truly wasn't one story that I felt lukewarm toward, however, some of them do stand out among the rest because of both their plots and characters. One of my favorites, entitled "The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed", was a day in the life of Cassandra, a tough teen who also happens to be the local vocal starlet's best friend. Throughout the course of the story, Cassandra's personality came to the forefront, allowing the reader to walk with her through her adolescent journey.
Jones is a great writer, and an excellent storyteller. His characters are the folks you know from next door, from down the street, or from the church choir. Emblazoned with universality, even those who have never been to Washington will know how it feels to be lost in its grandeur. Edward P. Jones has a novel due out this year as well. You can trust that I will be reading it.
Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating: 5
Summary: I agree: truly is a crime that this is out of print.
Comment: (That's really all I have to add. Why don't they reissue it?)
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Title: The Known World by Edward P. Jones ISBN: 0060557540 Publisher: Amistad Press Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Love by TONI MORRISON ISBN: 0375409440 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Namesake : A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri ISBN: 0395927218 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer ISBN: 1573222348 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 10 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Brick Lane: A Novel by Monica Ali ISBN: 0743243307 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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