This is a book of short stories by John Edgar Wideman.
Wideman is often referred to as an experimental writer, but he also writes a great deal of excellent traditional prose.
In this collection a number of the stories are connected, a number being about his family members who were imprisoned.
Although Wideman never formally published poetry, to my eyes lots of his writing is poetry, albeit often blank verse, sections can stand alone as beautiful words. He also philosophises, or just recounts tales within tales.
I didn’t get on with some parts of some stories in this collection, but even those stories that I didn’t enjoy so much had bits that I liked, sometimes liked very much.
Wideman says so much that very few people can like everything that he says, but by the same token I don’t believe that there is anybody that wouldn’t like at least big chunks of his work.
A collection of stories that is bang up to date, and a worthy addition to his catalogue of work.
Overall very very good.

Very hard to read, an awful lot of stopping and starting. I didn't really get a feel of what the point was or where the author was aiming to go, each page felt like it dragged on and I found myself re-reading.

While this collection is bound to appeal to fans of poetry I find the author's prose to be too stylised. Many of the stories are so short that I was unable to immerse myself fully into the narrative.

This book of short stories is full of discrimination and injustice that is so thought provoking and incredibly emotive. My heart broke with every story and when I finished it I was so angry. I really enjoyed them and will read them over and over.