Her Kind of Want (Iowa Short Fiction Award) - Softcover

Davis, Jennifer S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877458189 ISBN 13: 9780877458180

Publisher: University Of Iowa Press, 2002

Synopsis

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.

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Reviews

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.

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
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Edition details

• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0877458189
• ISBN 13: 9780877458180
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152