Customer Reviews

Jazz and Twelve O'Clock Tales: New Stories (A Black Sparrow Book)

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For some reason, when I read this book, a thought kept running through my head about the attempts to revive the old Twilight Zone magic on television. These attempts never worked for me because the scripts were too easy, the storylines silly. Yet, reading this book gave me hope. Many of the stories are little brain twisters where the end surprises you. And all of them deal with issues in our culture that blend murkiness and clarity in such a way where we sure know something intense is going down, even if we can't put a finger on it.

In these stories, death is a matter-of-fact part of life. It may be horrible, but horror is upstaged by bewilderment. And sometimes, when you least expect, it isn't death knocking on your door, but an unexpected gift from heaven, be it a random act of kindness or being understood, seemingly for the first time in one's life. In these times where the questions of life change faster than they can be answered, touching base with these short stories reminds us that in the midst of confusion, there is still hope.

JAZZ AND TWELVE O'CLOCK TALES is a collection of short stories about African American life. Most of them are based around characters who perform jazz music.

The stories are interesting, but I could not relate to many of them, as they seem to be from an earlier time period in life--a time my parents could probably relate to well. Because the collection is of short stories, the author could not define many of the characters in such a way that the reader could relate to them, but the entire collection describes life from a unique perspective.

There are many dialogues in these stories that are very amusing, and give a glimpse into what life was like in a time period when we were still referred to as "colored" in many cases. But the overall meaning that I got out of this book is that Black people have always found ways to amuse and entertain themselves, even when life was a struggle. Also, there is a unique bond that Black people share through the music we enjoy.

I would like to read other works by Wanda Coleman because her stories in this book bring tales of life experiences that are unique and leave one with a good feeling, just to be a part of such a rich culture.

Reviewed by Rowena Winfrey
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers