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A neighbor of mine recommended this book by ZZ Packer because she said the first short story in this collection, “Brownies,” is probably her favorite short story ever. Personally, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was really good. As I was reading this book, I felt like each short story was better than the last. I don’t normally like to sit and read short story collections all the way through, but I couldn’t help myself with this one. Instead of taking a break between stories to read other stuff, I found myself diving right into the next one.
Packer is a black woman and all these stories have something to do with race, but they’re about so much more than that. They’re all incredibly insightful stories about human nature (the good and the not so good) across all races, and “Brownies” is a perfect example of that.
It’s about a group of black Girl Scouts who decide to take revenge on a group of white Girl Scouts for allegedly using a racial slur. But when they confront the white girls, it soon becomes clear that all the white girls are in a Girl Scouts program for special needs kids because they all have some form of learning disability. Talk about a twist!
I don’t think Packer was trying to excuse or justify all the awful things white people have done to blacks over the centuries, but black people don’t come off like saints either. The part that resonated with me the most was towards the end of the story when the main character talks about her father asking a Mennonite to rebuild his porch for him because he wanted to see a white man on his knees for a black man. Personally, I find it hard to blame him for that sentiment, but the main character points out that what her father did, and his reasoning for it, were not very nice.
My favorite story in this collection was the one from which the book took its title: “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.” It’s about a black girl, Dina, who goes off to college and she’s a loner, but this white girl, Heidi, manages to worm her way into her life. They become close friends and it quickly becomes clear it’s more than just friendship.
But when Heidi stands up at an LGBT rally and announces how proud she is to be a lesbian, it brings their relationship to a grinding halt. Dina is most likely a lesbian as well, but is not ready to admit that yet, certainly not to the world and probably not even to herself. So she stops talking to Heidi.
I loved this story because it was so easy to sympathize with Dina, although she did not come off as blameless. I felt so sorry for Heidi when Dina stopped talking to her without bothering to provide an explanation (I’ve been there too many times not to sympathize), but it was also hard to blame a girl who doesn’t want to come out as gay for cutting off contact with her one friend who is openly gay. Honestly, I saw it coming as soon as Heidi stepped up to the mike because what else could Dina have done in that situation?
I loved every page of this book and I’m so glad my neighbor recommended it to me!
What did you guys read this week? Any other awesome recommendations?