Customer Reviews

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

ZZ Packer's masterful stories deal with the crisis of belonging that many African-Americans face because, as individuals, people of all races, including their own, have monolithic expectations of them, which their individuality defies. Packer's characters break out of any kind of preconceived molds and faced with Groupthink, pressures to conform, and the patronization and condescension of liberal whites, these characters become infuriated by the stupidity that surrounds them. The style of the stories is intensely realistic, often satirical, bitter, nihilistic. At the same time Packer brings a deep humanity, complexity, and sympathy to her cast of misfits, all who search for belonging and never find it.

In "Brownies" African-American girls stir a brouhaha with a dubious charge of having heard a racial epithet uttered by the white Brownies. The story in many ways is a funny and disturbing exploration of Groupthink whereby the black Brownies never really heard the epithet but get caught up in the self-righteousness and mission of their revenge. In "Every Tongue Shall Confess" a cross-eyed, homely lady, Clareese, plays by the rules, reads her Bible, and works hard as a nurse, only to be exploited by her church deacons who use her as a door mat. We cringe as we watch Clareese sink deeper and deeper into loneliness. In "Our Lady of Peace" a young woman takes on teaching in a public school in order to change nihilistic, lawless high school children, but in a reversal, the children make her a nihilistic misanthropist. The teacher Lynnea Davis not only begins to despise the children, but the teachers she works with. In the "Ant of the Self" a precocious teenage boy named Spurgeon must face the dilemmas of having an alcoholic bully of a father who drags his son to the Million-Man March where Spurgeon, the innocent party, is berated by rhetorically-inflamed black men to respect and love and appreciate his father for taking him to such a great event when in fact his hustler of a father simply took him to the march in order to sell a bunch of stolen exotic birds. In "Speaking in Tongues" a young girl runs away from home where her overly pious aunt subjects her to the abuses of a dysfunctional, abusive church. However, running away to Atlanta to find her mother, the young girl discovers that the secular world-full of pimps, hustlers, and libertines-offers no refuge.

For all the diversity of these stories, we can see Packer's general themes-her animosity against Groupthink, her loathing of convenient stereotypical thinking, her objection to the use of religion and false piety in order to bully others, her disdain for the manner in which clichés offer people false solutions and self-aggrandizement. Packer is a major writer tackling major themes and I am eagerly awaiting her next publication.

I had previously read a few of ZZ Packer's stories in lit magazines such as ZOETROPE and The New Yorker and I have been anxiously awaiting this collection. I have not been disappointed.

"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is a collection of unique, startling and at times, brutally truthful stories by Packer, a new author. All these stories, in some way, touch upon themes of alienation, the search for truth (whatever that truth is for the characters), of approval, and of identity. Stories range from the title piece, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," about a young black woman who enters a ivy league university and must struggle not only with alienation and her identity but the death of her mother, to "Geese," a story about a sister who travels to Tokyo to make loads of money only to find herself destitute and in the company of people just as down and out as she is.

What I enjoy the most about these eight stories is that Packer tells stories about black people, but she does so multiculturally, or "realistically". The world isn't full of just black people or just white people. The worlds in Packer's stories travel the globe from Baltimore, to Yale University, to Tokyo. We see a vast array of people and places and situations, and Packer is not afraid to show us all these facets, nor is she afraid to show us the bleakness of reality. Her stories do not end with cotton candy and happily ever afters. Sometimes, life is hard, and Packer portrays these times exquisitely.

Anyone who is interested in reading well written stories about the facets of black life, will no doubt enjoy ZZ Packer's debut collection as much as I have.

Shon Bacon

The New York Times used the word "superb" in describing this story collection, and it seems completely justified. ZZ Packer has a largeness of spirit, an intellectual curiosity and subtlety, and a flair for marvelous dialogue to go with her brilliant storytelling. I've clipped several of these stories from The New Yorker or Harper's, and am so happy to finally have them in book form. If I were going to think of the writer these stories remind me of most, it would be Chekhov, though ZZ Packer is actually too distinctive in style and subject matter to be compared to anyone else. But, like Chekhov's, these stories have a moral dimension which has nothing to do with primness and everything to do with a sense of the grave consequences of our decisions, even when we're trying to do our best. Also the experience of reading these is a little like that of reading Chekhov's stories; it is impossible to guess where you are going next -- the turns in each story are both surprising and, in retrospect, absolutely convincing.

These stories take huge risks, and they earn them. One question I hear a lot these days is, "what is this writer loyal to?" ZZ Packer is loyal to a deep, beautiful, sometimes painful honesty. She knows how human beings behave, and she lets us experience that knowledge, but, like Chekhov, she has too much generosity and wisdom to condemn the people she describes. She knows exactly how it is that we sometimes find ourselves so far from home, in more ways than one. How can these stories be so truthful and such a pleasure to read?

Among all these beautiful stories, it's hard to pick out any one passage to show the grace, compression, readability, and fierce wit of the writing, but here is one of my favorites from the title story, where an older narrator describes her younger self locked in a struggle with the mostly privileged, mostly white world of Yale. This is from her reaction to the inane ice-breaking games at Orientation, when each person is asked to describe themselves as an object (the narrator has already been -- maddeningly, irrelevantly -- labeled by a counselor during a previous game):

"When it was my turn I said, "My name is Dina, and if I had to be any object, I guess I'd be a revolver." The sunlight dulled as if on cue. Clouds passed rapidly overhead, presaging rain. I don't know why I said it. Until that moment I'd been good in all the ways were meant to matter. I was an honor roll student -- though I'd learned long ago not to mention it in the part of Baltimore where I lived. Suddenly I was hard-bitten and recalcitrant, the kind of kid who took pleasure in sticking pins into cats; the kind who chased down smart kids to spray them with Mace."

If one of the purposes of real literature is to enlarge our ability to feel compassion for ourselves and others, then these stories do that. This may be her first book, but it's already clear that ZZ Packer is a great writer. These stories add to the richness of the world.

People tend to have enough to read, so I rarely foist new things on my friends to add to their pile. But I've made repeated exceptions for ZZ Packer since discovering the title story of this collection several years ago, which sent me scurrying to the library to find whatever else she had written. These emotionally complex and gutwrenching stories showcase a variety of African-American characters struggling to break free of their mental prisons, with realistically mixed results. Like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, race is a context but "on the lower frequencies" (and not so lower ones) the characters speak for all of us. Plus the stories are simply good reads - events move fast and the tension rarely lets up until the finish.

Friends of the extraordinary, give this book a read!

Z. Z. Packer has all the right credentials for a young writer: degrees from Yale and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, a Stegner Fellowship, The New Yorker as her first publication, a contribution to The Best American Short Stories, and even a catchy, initialized name. It turns out that Z. Z. is what she's been called by family as long as she can remember and that all those blessings from the gods of the literary world have not made generic the intricacies of Packer's writing. This debut short story collection leaves readers contemplating the relationship of the despair and hope that collide as we become individuals in our world.

This book is a fantastic debut of eight stories, all except one of which runs between 20 and 30 pages. This length allows Packer the patience to let plot and character develop together. The longest story, "Speaking in Tongues," runs more than 50 pages to follow the church-going Tia on her search for her mother in the far-away streets of Baltimore, where, coincidentally, Packer taught in the public school system.

The strongest, most far-reaching, vivid stories are the opening "Brownies," the title story, and the closing "Doris Is Coming." All three are centered on young, female, African-American characters who struggle to come to terms with the contradictions they see in the society around them. In "Brownies," the narrator, nicknamed Snot ever since she sneezed on a classmate, is part of a group of Brownie Scouts who plan an ambush on another Brownie troop because a girl in Troop 909 has called the quiet Daphne a [bad name.] In "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," the narrator begins her life at Yale by telling the orientation counselor and the dean things they don't like to hear and by meeting up with voluptuous Heidi, who prefers to be called Henrik. In the final story of the collection, which is set in 1961, Doris questions civil disobedience. All three central characters must decide for themselves what appropriate and necessary action to take when they find they don't quite fit into their surroundings.

Z. Z. Packer is now working on a novel about the Buffalo Soldiers. She probably has an impressive career ahead of her, but readers have no need to wait--her debut story collection contains the writing of an already-mature and thoughtful writer. Packer's stories are polished and cohesive in surprising, complicated ways and are a pleasure to read and ponder.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a collection of short stories that speaks of growing up black. It is laced with strong characters, a memorable feat when an author only has a few pages to invoke empathy. Few short stories are able to satiate my reading lust. I find myself surprised by their endings and upset that they are over so quickly. I'm usually irritated that the author has invited me into their world, only to leave me hanging.

I was not similarly frustrated with this collection. Each story is full-bodied, rich, and strong, just like a great cup of coffee. The stories invigorated me like a shot of espresso. I was satisfied that the characters continued their journeys, even if I wanted to know more about where they ended up.

For example, in the Our Lady of Peace, a girl moves to Baltimore to teach in the inner city school system. Frustrated and disgruntled, she struggles to maintain control of her classroom and her urge to move on. She goes through ups and downs, but, in the end, I was certain her journey continued and I was able to formulate my own conclusions about where her destiny led her.

I must commend ZZ Packer for such a bold and raw collection. I was mesmerized by her plots, enraptured by her language, and enchanted by her characters. Packer is definitely a fresh author to watch.

Reviewed by CandaceK
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

ZZ Packer is young and already a very gifted writer. Just read the jacket on her collection of short stories, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. The girl has already garnered more awards, prizes, and accolades than a lot of writers do in their entire careers.

And her writing shows why. As an African American woman, I have to say it's wonderful to finally read fiction by another black woman that covers territory besides the worn-out male/female relationship. Black or white, chick lit is pretty formulaic stuff that grows old very fast.

But ZZ (if I may) covers vast territory in her stories. Childhood friendships; betrayal; racial conflict and the individual (and how friendship overcomes); international travel and finding yourself not only somewhere else, but someone else; black church life and the deceit that often accompanies it (white churches are no different, BTW). This girl's language and dialog are authentic, and nothing is superfluous in her stories. She uses irony with great skill and paints pictures that place the reader squarely in front of the action. We see hope, compassion, humility, loss, and triumph here. And it's all written into captivating stories about people and situations we've known or been a part of.

Here's hoping Ms. Packer doesn't lose interest in writing. I can't wait to read her first novel. I just hope she doesn't lower herself to chick lit. That would be a colossal waste of her talents. But somehow, I don't think she'll have to scrape the bottom of any literary barrels for a very long time to come. Keep your eye on this girl. ZZ Packer is the one to watch.

Though I did enjoy a few of the stories - namely, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" and "Speaking in Tongues" - I was a little disappointed in this much-hyped collection. ZZ Packer has a transparant and fluid writing style, her stories are nicely understated, and the characters all have an accute sense of political and moral consciousness (the Civil Rights Movement serves as a backdrop in several). But what the two stories I mentioned above have that the others lack is a well-developed sense of tension (internal or plotwise), leaving many of these stories feeling quaint and unremarkable and flat.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is quite a unique and enlightening short-story collection centered on various aspects of being an African American in this day and age. The stories have a combination of earnest humor and tear-jerking poignancy. The stories and their characters make you feel the emotions and messages that they intend to convey. My favorite stories are "Speaking in Tongues," "Brownies," "Our Lady of Peace," "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," and "Geese." The aforementioned stories are enriching and empowering. I love ZZ Packer's style. Her style is a cross between Zadie Smith and Toni Morrison. I will look for this author's work in the future. I cannot recommend Drinking Coffee Elsewhere enough.

When I first picked up Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, I was excited to have the chance to read something that so many people seemed to enjoy. And, truthfully, it's not a horrible book. It is entertaining, the style works, etc. On that note, if you're looking for a fun read and don't plan on thinking about it too much, then by all means, get it. My problem with the book is that it doesn't deserve all the acclaim it's getting-- if you want something that breaks boundaries or adds a new voice to the current socio-political situation of America, this is not your book.

Probably one of the major problems with the collection is that it's heralded as a riveting commentary on the plight of the African American female. Packer has very little new to say, and most of the underlying themes of the stories have not only been said previously by Alice Walker and other writers, but have also have been said better by those authors. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is no more than a watered down version of You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, a book that, while having its own problems, would probably be a better use of your time and money if you're really interested in the social commentary in the text.

Even from the literary standpoint, it's not terribly outstanding. The characters are stereotypes; the plots are predictable. The adult female protagonists are all essentially the same person-- an intelligent outsider who struggles with race, religion, and fitting in-- and are generally pretty ornery about it as they do so. The other protagonists are the same, just not so irritable. Similar to this lack of variation in her characters, Packer varies little in her narrative style. Yes, the language is pretty at times, but there is no experimentation with language or structure; all of the writing is in a highly generic voice. Finally, the stories themselves contain scenes that aren't necessary and that detract from the actual narrative.

In short, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere proves that what it takes to sell a lot of books isn't actual talent, but how much your publisher backs you. Packer had the good fortune to have famous mentors and to be the product of some highly acclaimed writing programs, which resulted in her being picked up by a big name publisher who could pay to get her name out.