![]() This is mostly due to the respect that Brinkley has for his characters and his deep interest in portraying his characters honestly. Jones’s story collections, and Brinkley’s stories also bring to mind the work of William Trevor and Yiyun Li. ![]() The collection will rightly be compared to Edward P. In “Clifton’s Place,” which closes out the collection, a primary theme is the passing of time, and the architecture of the book reflects that theme as well. His protagonists range in age from nine-year-old Freddy in “I Happy Am” to college students in “No More Than a Bubble” to a middle-aged man in “A Lucky Man.” This creates a prism of sorts, as we look at the same world through different eyes. Using both close third-person and first-person points of view, Brinkley examines what it is to be black and male in America. ![]() The nine stories are roughly arranged in a timeline, stretching from the mid-1990s to the present. These are stories that can be read again and again because each time through, the reader learns a bit more: about the characters, about the world, and about themselves. In A Lucky Man, Jamel Brinkley’s stunning debut collection, the stories are not formally linked, and yet they are, implicitly, by their beautiful prose, by their intimate gaze at character, by their focus on black men, by their setting in New York City. ![]() The stories bump up against each other and speak to each other, as well as to the reader, creating a whole that’s significantly more than its parts. There’s something magical about a great story collection. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |