3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Selection, December 31, 2006
This review is from: All in the Seasoning (Paperback)
Katherine V. Forrest is a legend, in my opinion. She is an editor of great skill and experience, and an author of sterling reputation, well-deserved. She has put together an extraordinary group of stories centered around the holidays. I hardly know where to begin to describe the depth of these offerings. This time, it may be best to let the words of the authors speak for themselves.
"All in the Seasoning" written by R. Gay, from which this anthology takes its title, sets the style and the bar for all the others that follow. This story is centered around a family tradition on New Year's Eve, with the cultural mix of Haitian, Creole, and American. Lillian, of Haitian descent, takes her lover of three years home for this family tradition of making soup, an all-day affair. They are not allowed to sleep in the same room, but Sabrina, Lillian's partner, is more understanding of this than Lillian: "You know what this is all about. . .mourning the person they wanted you to be before they can accept the person you are. . ." p13.
In "A Hot Christmas Lunch" by Cynthia Price, the setting is South Africa. In this story, a mere touching of hands between partners is admonished: "Please! Not in front of the children!" p24. Later, the same-sex lovers who have been excluded and ignored discover just why that is.
My favorite, and in my opinion, the best of these stories is "The Illegals" by Kathy Porter. This one is set around Thanksgiving in the Southwest desert of Arizona, where Border Patrol agent Mary Pat has moved from Boston, as far away as possible from her Irish family, to live with Fran, a school teacher. "I rely on the same half grin I learned as a teenager to use on my father. It's a good little smile; it lets me guard something, hold something quiet. My father doesn't know Fran isn't just my roommate. His life is black and white, simple. American or illegal. Normal or queer. Cop or criminal. The complexity that coats my life is sticky, and yellowish." p37. Again on p45: "She listens to me say one thing, then, months later, another little thing, . . .[she] stores up a cache of innocuous comments and rolls them together into a medicine ball,. . .when exactly the right moment arrives between us, she hurls the medicine ball with unflinching accuracy and I end up on my ass. . ." From Fran: "You're protecting some kind of border, all right--" And toward the end of this remarkable short story, and believe me, there is nothing shorted on detail of character or plot, tension, brilliant delineation of both: when Mary Pat has to return an illegal woman and two small children back to the immigration checkpoint, she says: "'I'm sorry. there's nothing I can do. I can't do anything.' I could hand her the compass and never be caught. But then I'd need to go home and tell Fran. . .She'd make me talk about the faultline that my incremental choices have been built upon. Then she'd realize she's perched as precariously as I am. Fran doesn't have much patience for unstable structures." p49.
So, from across the country, across the holidays, across ethnic and racial boundaries, these stories, some of then sad, some funny, all touching and achingly beautiful, including "My Country Wrong" and "Sightseers in Death Valley" by the marvelous Jane Rule, one from Ms. Forrest herself that will break your heart, and two by Lee Lynch, ending properly with a holiday weekend in an English country manor, a delightful story provided by Val McDermid, this collection of stories reflects our experiences, our own traditions, our lives.
Holidays have always been special touchstones for gays and lesbians; the need to sometimes create new families and new traditions for ourselves due to exclusion forced on some of us by ignorance and misunderstanding, or by a lack of the spirit of tolerance and forgiveness and giving thanks and acknowledgement that that most holidays encompass.
This book says it best in these words, from Lillian in the title story: "I love everyone that I love, unconditionally."
Do yourself a favor, and buy this book. You'll read it, reflect upon it, and want to share it, as I have, with everyone you know, those you love, those you wish to love better, and those who might be moved to do the same. Shalom.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written, December 30, 2006
This review is from: All in the Seasoning (Paperback)
How can you not adore a book that has two marvelous stories each from Lee Lynch and Jane Rule?
This is fabulous anthology with terrific writing by the best authors
I loved Val McDermid's story
I was delighted by the stories from these authors - each of them were excellent -
R. Gay
Kathy Porter
Valarie Watersun
Kris Brandenburger
Barbara Kahn
Holly Ferris
Zonna
Don't miss reading them, they are standout.
This fabulous book will be read more than once
This is a keeper
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
