Holler, Child: Stories

These heartbreaking stories are told by Black women and men who can hardly get off their West Texas Striver's Row to make satisfactory lives due to racism and lack of opportunity. Each has had more than their share of unfulfilled hopes, and it is difficult to not conclude that the same generational wealth accumulated by white people, or a guaranteed basic monthly income, or some form of financial reparations, would not have made a tremendous difference in their lives. Mothers and children are the primary protagonists - most of them in conflict but yearning for better connections and more visible love. Among them: a messianic prophet; a former ranch hand brought down by city life; widows and women whose men and children don't survive; a show more gay man whose family cannot accept him; a son who makes the same misjudgment with a girl that was made against his mother; and all manners of painful betrayals. All of the voices are resonant, needful, and unique. show less

Holler, Child is a collection of short stories that drop you straight into a difficult place and then proceed to show you how much worse things can get. The stories are raw and stark, grim and devastating.

Generational trauma keeps perpetuating and no one is safe from betrayal and abandonment. Parental warnings are never heeded, as though familial patterns must play themselves out again and again, wreaking perpetual havoc.

The author’s voice is strong and sure, her characters springing to life on the pages, daring us look away. Their tales are harrowing and heartbreaking. The first two (‘The Mother’ and ‘Cutting Horse’) and the last one, ‘Time After’, are perfectly-crafted stories. ‘Time After’ moved me to tears.

fiction, short stories -- masterful storytelling, each story packs quite a punch with each character suffering their own separate kind of grief or loss or vulnerability. I really enjoyed this collection and am glad I finally got around to reading this.