Her Kind of Want (Iowa Short Fiction Award) [Paperback]

Jennifer S. Davis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Iowa Short Fiction Award | Publication Date: August 21, 2002

Set mainly in the small towns of Alabama, the stories in Her Kind of Want ache with the relentless longing of the poor, struggling, usually discarded southern women who tell us their lives—lives that seem to revolve around men whose only presence is their absence.

Bebe, Luna, Melly, Little Hula, Dena. These are just a few of the women we meet in Jennifer Davis's award-winning collection. Women who married too fast, had children too young, and drink too much. Yet beneath their unpolished exteriors, these women are flesh and blood, and their wants and needs are as severe and deep as any.

Davis's characters relate their stories in voices as complex and raw as their southern environment. Each tale may sound slightly familiar—an unwanted pregnancy, a fast car flying down a country road—but Davis moves beyond the familiar stories of the rural South to expose the gaps that connect these women, creating startlingly real and vibrant characters.

Although often bleak and sometimes disturbing, Her Kind of Want is a celebration of southern people, their perseverance, their spirit, and their determination to make the ugly beautiful.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The unfulfilled sexual and domestic longings of a series of Southern women are the narrow but surprisingly affecting focus of this debut story collection. Stylistically, Davis's prose is rich with intriguing musings and conceits, and the characters' voices betray a range of humble origins as they relate their heartaches and misadventures. "What Kind of Man" is a funny, poignant account of a woman's attempts to come to grips with her husband's flightiness as he refuses to battle back from unemployment. "Some Things Collide" is a more compassionate narrative about a woman who takes an unsuccessful road trip with a friend to try to distract herself from a breast cancer diagnosis. Davis displays a vivid imagination in "Tammy, Imagined," a bizarre yet effective story about a woman who tries to meet men by presenting different versions of herself in a series of letters she writes to soldiers, a tactic that proves disastrous when she finally meets one of her correspondents. Davis has a flair for creating confused, frustrated female protagonists who have a tendency to wear both their hearts and their libidos on their sleeves, but the nine stories begin to acquire a sameness of tone as the collection unfolds. Winner of the 2001 Iowa Short Fiction Award, this volume demonstrates Davis's keen understanding of the sensibilities and longings of women whom life has cheated. Building on that empathy, she might offer a wider range of protagonists and situations next time.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Southerner Davis offers heartbreaking portraits of ordinary people, making us understand "how deep they want, how hard they labor, the pleasure they take in telling their stories." Her women--Tammy, Bebe, Nadine, Hula--had their children too young, have been abandoned by their men, and often drink too much. They have bad luck and no money, but they also have unexpected strength. Davis' characters are riveting, her dialogue is colorful, her writing is exquisite. This memorable debut won the 2002 Iowa Short Fiction Award. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press (August 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877458189
• ISBN-13: 978-0877458180
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imagined Women, September 26, 2002

By 

Virginia Lore "rumtussle" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Her Kind of Want (Iowa Short Fiction Award) (Paperback)

There are nine compelling stories in Her Kind of Want by Jennifer S. Davis. For the most part, Davis's characters are women trapped and betrayed by either their bodies or men or both.

In "Only Ends" Sissy is a 14-year-old whose best friend is 9 and whose Grandma tells her she's lucky that because of her bad brain she won't have to worry about men. In "Some Things Collide" Nadine is a woman alone with breast cancer. In "The One Thing God'll Give You" Hula's Momma warns her that "there ain't but one kind of man" and that is borne out by what happens when Hula starts dating Willie. Most of these stories are domestic tragedies, as depressing as a fat-fingered man with a wet toupee and a pinky ring drinking sugared iced tea and Jack Daniels while hitting on the 13-year-old next door. But they are also beautifully written.

Although the events of the story are as heart-wrenching as the events in the other stories, "Tammy Imagined" breaks from the pack in that it is written from a point in the future that implies hope. By its placement in the collection, "Tammy Imagined" highlights the complexity and dignity of the characters in previous stories. The collection as a whole is poignant and unforgettable.

Like Southern women writers before her, Davis writes colorfully with great attention to the telling detail. Her Kind of Want would fit in well on the shelf next to anything by Bobbie Ann Mason.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HER KIND OF WANT leaves me wanting more!, March 16, 2003

By 

Lynne P. Caldwell (Dadeville, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Her Kind of Want (Iowa Short Fiction Award) (Paperback)

Jennifer S. Davis' first book, "Her Kind Of Want" definitely deserved the Iowa Short Fiction Award; her writing is absolutely stunning. Although the stories in this book are not my usual 'reading fare,' (I prefer Austen, Gabaldon, Pilcher--something uplifting with happily ever after endings) I do make exceptions if the writing is extraordinary. I loved Kingsolver's "Poisonwood Bible" because of the beautiful writing (even though the story was quite sad). Both women have similar writing styles.
I read somewhere that a writer should write what she knows and Davis has written stories about women (albeit damaged) from her native Alabama. All the women are products of their dysfunctional families with the exception of Dena (who is a product of events surrounding her life).
Davis' writing is deep, rich, and poetic. Only a gifted author could have written the subtle differences in each woman's personality. I was enthralled with every story and the lovely and poignant way each was presented. The characters are so well developed that by the end of the book, I felt that I knew them personally. I could not put this book down! Jennifer Davis is a remarkable writer and I know we will see great things from her in the future (a Pulitzer?). I also hope her next book will be more uplifting. I love Southern Writers and am so glad I can add Jennifer to the top of my list!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roll Down the Window and Crank Up the Radio, October 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Her Kind of Want (Iowa Short Fiction Award) (Paperback)

If the stories in Her Kind of Want were a song, I'd crank it up, roll down the windows, and light a Marlboro. These women, hailing from the University of Been There Done That, have a gorgeous resilience, an awkward gift for recognizing that their own yearnings somehow aren't justified by the world and probably never will be. Davis's prose is lyrical and swoony, the kind you like to read aloud and listen to...She also takes on the daunting task of deconstructing the redneck/southern female stereotype. "Rewriting Girl," the introduction, frames the rest of the collection, by inviting us to witness how girl/southern has been written (by men? by Sean the male protagonist?) and how
it will be (inevitably) up to Southern Women (capitalization intended) to re-write their own narratives-- secretly, subversively, cunningly and quietly-- in bars and backseats and with lovers who don't really get their mystery. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Davis's style is darkly Carson McCullers-ish but it has a sense of humor that is purely original and real. A real ...kicking collection. Poetry. One of the best books I've ever read.