You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down [Paperback]

Alice Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 1982

A natural evolution from the earlier, much-acclaimed collection In Love & Trouble, these fourteen provocative and often humorous stories show women oppressed but not defeated. “[Walker] shrinks from no moral or emotional complexity, and she writes consummately skillful short stories” (Alice Adams, San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle).

Editorial Reviews

Review

A thin, often didactic, largely disappointing collection of stories from an enormously gifted author of short fiction (In Love & Trouble) and novels - whose storytelling powers seem wasted on the generally simple-minded material here. The book's first story, for instance, jumps right off with a dazzlingly convincing narrative voice - that of a black Southern small-town woman - but interest soon sinks as the story's bland premise becomes clear: it's a fictionalized, sentimental little riff on Elvis Presley and the black blues writer-singer whose music helped make him famous (with unsubtle echoes of the familiar exploitation issue). Likewise, a vignette of an elderly black, much-feted writer - which is deliciously told but holds only the most obvious ironies. And most of the more intensely serious stories here appear to sacrifice texture of character and incident to sociological debate-and-discussion: reminiscences of black/white sex during the Civil Rights years; two contrasted black women's lives over the years; a monologue-anecdote about a black woman who kills her white lover/abuser; plus some unabashed propaganda re pornography (with special reference to the portrayal of black women in porn). When concentrating on love and marriage, however, Walker seems to ease off a bit and does some genuine exploring: "The Lover" - about a black woman having an affair with a charming, intellectually petty New York Jew at a writers' colony - is unformed but alive; "Laurel" verges on melodrama - a now-married black woman haunted by her mad, white-country-boy ex-lover - but has undeniable grab; and best of all is "The Abortion," the painful anatomy of a deteriorating marriage. Ragged, often superficial work, then - with more sociological interest (the black/feminist intersection) than literary. (Kirkus Reviews ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Best-selling novelist ALICE WALKER is the author of five other novels, five collections of short stories, six collections of essays, seven volumes of poetry, including the most recent Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, and several children’s books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (March 5, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156997789
• ISBN-13: 978-0156997782
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,525,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pultizer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Walker's most recent book is The Chicken Chronicles, a memoir. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008

By 

Peter Dykhuis (Grandville, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008

By 

Peter Dykhuis (Grandville, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Can't Keep a Good woman Down (Paperback)

In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant but perhaps over my head., March 31, 2008

By 

Peter Dykhuis (Grandville, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

In Alice Walkers You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down the emotions and ideas conveyed are far more important and poignant then the stories themselves. Each story is told to teach us about an idea or at least educate us on the emotion involved. The stories are a tool and not primarily an entertainment construct.
From the first story Nineteen Fifty-Five to the last story A Sudden Trip Home in spring we are given a number of concepts and emotions to experience. These emotions run from despair to triumph and the ideas we are taught deal with porn, inequality, gender relationships and far more. At initial glance there does not seem to be a common theme until you look at the obvious. The obvious of course is the female perspective and perhaps as important the African American Woman perspective.
Each story told is from the perspective of African American woman. We are told a story of trauma and trial through the eyes of each of these women. The trials are not always unique. We all deal with trials and we are all human. This is nothing new. What is new, especially for readers other then African American woman, is the viewpoint. The viewpoint of common and uncommon situations from a unique and often unobserved vantage point is striking and piercing.
The woman who wrote the novel wrote it in a raw and biting manner. A man reading this or more concisely a white man reading this is given the opportunity to experience emotions and trials that otherwise would never be possible. Does this mean a white man would understand some of the issues dealt with by the author after reading this book? I do not believe this is the case or even the point of the book. Understanding is not asked for merely awareness. You can ignore what is unknown but once awareness is involved a step has been taken.