Customer Reviews

Blackberries, Blackberries

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Blackberries, Blackberries is a fictional debut novel from Crystal Wilkinson. It's a compilation of short stories, about African American women who're struggling to survive in the rural South. Stories of hard-working women that we can identify with and experience their trials & tribulations, their laughter and happiness, and their sorrow and tears. Poignant stories about working woman, their relationships, their families, their children and their friends. Wilkinson's stories penetrate our bones and souls and leave an emotional impact long after we've read the last story. Most of the stories are told in a narrative format and it takes the reader several stories before they get into the flow and style of the author.

With that aside, the reader will enjoy that each story is different and unique and creatively crafted. There are 18 short stories in this 180 page book. Some of my favorite stories were Tipping The Scales a story about a woman who finds Mr. Right when she wasn't even looking; Mules about a young girl who confronts a predator and wins; Waiting on the Reaper about a lady who's young and now is old still waiting for ole man death; and Peace of Mind about a single mom who has a couple of weeks to herself from her 3 young sons who are away at summer camp. I really enjoyed Peace of Mind as it was one of the few stories that involved dialogue.

Wilkinson's stories come from the ordinary and the extraordinary. From black, country women with curious lives. From struggle, from fear, from love, from life, from the gut, from the heart. Black and juicy, just like a blackberry. If you enjoy short stories, stories that are matter-of-fact and told from a narrative perspective then check out Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal E. Wilkinson.

Reviewed by Yasmin A. Coleman

'The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice' is a phrase that is certainly applicable to the nectar that flows from Blackberries, Blackberries.

The short stories of this succulent read are rich, sweet and satisfying. Though the tales are short, they last forever in your memory. After each bite, you'll find yourself saying, "aahhh", "mmm", and other expressions that signify that your appetite has been quenched.

Blackberries, Blackberries is a collection of short stories of beautiful Black, southern women whose ages range from 8-80. Each woman is as uniqe as the tale she serves readers. The stories are creatively seasoned with wisdom, humor, romance, and other flavors that awaken your senses. Wilkinson arrests your attention with vivid scenes, animate characters, soothing sounds and tantilizing scents that will have you going back for 'second helpings'. Don't panic when the images leap from the pages; they are designed to make you feel at home in Kentucky.

Some of the delicacies that had me returning for seconds include: "The Awakening", "Chocolate Divine", "Mine", "Women's Secrets", "Tipping the Scales", "The Wonderer", and "Need". Wilkinson has prepared a delicious feast of stories, and there is plenty for everyone. No sharing please!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of short stories. Wilkinson has a great country dialect and appeal. She reminds me a great deal of another great short story writer, by the name of J. California Cooper. Her characters were real and compelling. Her first literary effort was great and definitely outstanding.

Ms. Wilkinson gave me the understanding and inspiration to complete my own work...hats off to this great author. I will forever cherish this book and I anxiously await her next project.

These short-stories by Crystal E. Wilkinson are absolutely magnificent!! All of them!!!

In my many years of reading, I have discovered some truly great short-story authors (James Alan McPherson, Edward P. Jones, Anika Nailah, and others) but I have never read anyone who could capture the essence of a character and a setting in so few pages like she does. Crystal Wilkinson is a genius, and this collection of stories by a self-proclaimed "Afri-lachian country-girl" is something truly remarkable. But be not deceived: she is witty, urbane, and brilliant. Writing this good by a Black author this talented makes me glad to be both a reader and, now, a fan.

This collection of short stories is told in a wonderful voice that sounds both black and Appalachian, which is no surprise as the stories are set in small town Kentucky with mostly African American characters. There are some real knock-out stories including "Waiting for the Reaper" about how a woman's life is colored by how she's always expecting/wanting to die and be with her loved ones. "Peace of Mind" is a monologue during one afternoon while a woman tries to have some time to herself and gets called by her ex husband and her kids and camp at her best friend while her lemonade melts; "Tipping the Scales" is a novel-in-miniature.

Blackberries, Blackberries is a beautifully written collection of short stories that manage to bring both laughter and tears to the reader as awareness of the realness of the stories captures the heart and mind. The stories explore mother-daughter relationships, love, soul searching, desire, loss, servitude, adultery, violence, and always the struggle to know one's self through characters that leap off the page immersing the reader in their daily lives. Wilkinson's use of vernacular and descriptions provide a taste of Kentucky that is all at once welcoming, unique, refreshing, familiar, provocative, comforting and honest.

Crystal Wilkinson has managed to capture in this text a series of expressive, heartfelt, funny, sorrowful, sentient, and somber vignettes of life amongst folk in the wide open range and spread out places. The problems are the same, but there is a need for a community to draw together even with the distance of two counties between them.

Each story reads like a snapshot. It reminds me of visiting my Grammy Kathy or Great Aunt Ethel and looking through one of their photo albums where each picture had a weaving, winding, and interconnected story behind it that tied richly into every other picture.

Kathy and Ethel made ceramic figurines. So many ceramic figurines. Ethel had an entire addition onto her house filled with these magnificent creations. Each one carried a story or a sentiment filled within it. You could imagine that her library of ceramics were a million little pieces of her life that she was sought to give away before she passed. And give she did. Her and Kathy. Every time we or someone else would visit, they would leave with one of those ceramic figurines.

This series is a book of ceramics that makes you hearken back to your own stories that you carry from before your elder country folk became city folk and life got a little different than it was before.

What an amazing book. This tome is filled with short stories - some long, some only a page or two - all of which capture the attention and fill the senses with the beauty of the "country".

I loved this book. I'm only disappointed it took me so long to discover it. Perfect gift material. I am going to snatch up a copy of her second book as soon as is humanly possible!

really took me back, thought i was living througout the entire read. She has a way of bringing the smalest details alive, look forward to the next one.

What better person to write a collection of short fictional stories about
the lives of African American women who're struggling to survive in the
rural South than the author, Crystal E. Wilkinson whose debut novel,
Blackberries, Blackberries is a winner. Wilkinson self-described Black
Country girl was born and raised in rural Kentucky and teaches creative
writing at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington,
Kentucky.

This book is compiled of eighteen stories in which African American
Southern women speak about their trials, tribulations, sorrows, laughter
and tears. Each story told in narrative form has its own level of
emotion with uniqueness. It's about truth telling and how each woman
deals with her problems. You can feel the emotions of these women as you
read their stories. Some of my favorites were Humming Back yesterday a
story about a woman who looks over her life from twenty years of hiding,
Waiting for the Reaper about a lady who is old and is still waiting for
ole man death, and the best story Peace of Mind about a single mom who
has a couple weeks to herself from her three young sons who are away at
summer camp. This story is hilarious and seasoned with soul.

Wilkinson's stories may be fictional but feel so real. Only a true
Southerner could write such stories. This book is one in which all
African American Women can relate to.

Reviewed by Dorothy Cooperwood