My Monticello

Stunning short story collection that I'm thinking about over a month after I started. I'm looking forward to more writing from this talented author who is great at capturing different characters and making them breath.

One star for the audiobook version, which I got through Libby/Overdrive from my local library. Each story is read by a different person, starting off with a bang by the great Levar Burton. The title story at the end felt a little dry for some reason, perhaps because the narrator never seemed to change tone all that much (it's a thought-provoking and sad premise worth reading).

The opening story, “Control Negro,” is dynamite and deserving of its appearance in Best American Short Stories. The other stories were also very good, and told from different points of view, which provided for a nice variety. The title piece, a novella, is poignant for anyone who lives near Charlottesville VA, as I do. The horrors of the Unite the Right rally that brought tragedy to the city could easily return and it's not hard to imagine this work of fiction begin prophetic.

I've had a couple of instances this year where I read literary fiction despite knowing I don't like the genre, probably because I thought this could be the one. This collection was as usual not something I had heard of at all. I had just finished reading the book How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith which me rethink a lot about plantations in general and the history of Monticello in particular. So when I saw this title while browsing netgalley, it immediately drew my attention and I wanted to give it a try.

The writing in this collection is wonderful and very effective at tugging our heartstrings or shocking us with the ideas explored. I can't say I understood them all but they were all definitely unique. It was not at all surprising that race and racism forms a major thread through all the stories but what leaves a deeper impression is the strength of family - blood or found. I also listened to the audiobook in parts and I loved the idea of each story having its own narrator, with each bringing their own style to the storytelling. It definitely enhanced the experience.

So if you are a fan of literary fiction or short story collections, you should check this out. And if you only wanna read one story, it has to be the titular one because it's quite unforgettable.

Below are my individual reviews...

Control Negro

CW: racist micro aggressions, assault, police brutality

I am frankly surprised at the premise of this story. It's both horrifying in its idea but also a bit sad because it ultimately tries to answer the ONE question - what is it exactly that Black people have to do to be respected for their humanity and their achievements without devolving into racist diatribe or in the extreme, getting killed by cops for no fault of theirs.

Virginia is Not Your Home

Not my kind of story. It's too realistic and hard hitting to read stories of women stuck in their lives as housewives and feeling like they haven't achieved anything and don't belong anywhere, and I just don't have the appetite for them anymore.

Something Sweet on our Tongues

CW: assault

I had a hard time understanding where this story was going and especially that ending was kinda horrible.

Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse

This felt very prescient with all the preparations the narrator makes seeming very realistic. I especially was hurt by the despair that she was feeling having been unable to do enough for her daughter to be able to own a home.

The King of Xandria

CW: mention of child soldiers

This was heartbreaking. An immigrant father trying to piece his life together after his wife's brutal death and ensuring his children are able to make a better life for themselves in the new country. But he also feels helpless because he can't be the same sole breadwinner of his home in America and even more unmoored when he realizes that his children are growing up, able to make their own decisions and don't always need him. It's a tough situation for a father already dealing with grief and the author captures his anguish very well.

My Monticello

CW: racial violence

This eponymous story is basically a novella which covers almost 80% of this collection in page count, and I have to agree that it's the most impactful. Tracing the story of a young Black woman descendant of Sally Hemmings during a near future America ravaged by effects of climate change, we see how the lack of resources has led to more racial violence, with white people terrorizing and killing Black people. In this backdrop, Naisha is a brave young lady who manages to drive away from her town with a group of neighbors, escaping the violence, taking refuge in the Monticello plantation. It brings up lot of questions in her about her identity and history and her relationship to the place, particularly at a time when her people are being hunted again. But ultimately this is a story of her and the rest of the group coming together despite their differences to struggle and survive and help each other during the direst circumstances. They never lose heart and are ready to fight back for the little home they have been able to carve on the hill in Monticello. Very well written and evocative story which leaves us thinking, and maybe even a bit scared.