New Daughters of Africa
Ed. Margaret Busby
AmistadChampioning the work of over two
hundred women writers of African
descent, New Daughters of Africa beau-
tifully captures the spirit and impact
of Margaret Busby’s original anthol-
ogy. The stories span centuries and
bring together an exquisite selection of
vibrant voices from around the world.
This continuation of Busby’s tradi-
tion pays tribute to the heritage of an
entirely new generation of women.Yewande Omotoso
Bom Boy
Catalyst PressAfter the international success of
Yewande Omotoso’s second book, The
Woman Next Door, the South African
writer’s debut effort, Bom Boy, is being
given its own time in the sun. In it, a
boy in Cape Town plumbs the mys-
teries of his own inner workings by
engaging in compulsive behaviors that
worry his adopted parents. Omotoso’s
concise prose captures the racial com-
plexities of the book’s backdrop while
enabling her protagonist to find his
own way with her evocative plotting.Nota Bene
biobibliographical chronology is all about
her) is not shaped by atmosphere, mood, or
structures of feeling but by unsentimental
acts that the hoaxes of literary patriarchy
studiously impose on her life and achieve-
ments. This counternovel is ultimately
a taxonomy of the ethical boundaries of
authorship, deftly drawing readers to larger
questions.
Will H. Corral
San Francisco
Jacob M. Appel
Amazing Things Are
Happening Here
New York. Black Lawrence Press. 2019.
152 pages.
The title in Jacob Appel’s fifth collection
of stories certainly echoes a thought Philip
Roth articulated in the tumultuous 1960s:
he worried that the rush of events might
block writers of fiction. Reality was outstrip-
ping realistic fiction. Roth found his way out
and so does Appel.
Actually, the amazing things in this
collection are the human beings, the char-
acters and the decisions they make. The
woman who disappoints all expectations
by declaring a former husband who aban-
doned her to be the man she’s waiting for;
the wife who reluctantly agrees to allow
her husband, afflicted with dementia, to
“marry” a woman in the care center; the
boy who decides on his career path when
he puts his hand on the shoulder of a girl he
worships, knowing she will die of leukemia.
These references might be considered
spoilers, except such plot points are hardly
the most interesting aspects of these sto-
ries. It’s how the characters change—their
journey, not their destination. Some sto-
ries progress convincingly; some seem a
bit constructed.
Arlene, the conflicted wife of the man
who wants a second marriage in “The Biga-
mist’s Accomplice,” is quite a creation. A
normal woman, still working, she is faced
with her husband’s demand and appealed to
by the husband of the woman involved. She
is forced to consider the final separation his
death will bring.
“Grappling,” a story out of “Old Flor-
ida,” is another feat of characterization,
in spite of a plot that has all the marks of
a tall tale. The basic situation is enough:
hotel owner on an island decides to have
an alligator-wrestling contest to boost cli-
entele. After the contest is over his teenage
daughter is attacked by an alligator that
clamps on her foot. The winner of the
earlier contest saves the girl, though she
loses her foot. The winner leaves, and she
declares she will marry no one else but
the professional wrestler; her father finally
offers a considerable amount of money
if the man will show up and do that very
thing.
A recently hired naturalist hears this
story from the hotel bartender in the first
two pages. So that’s not the plot. The natu-
ralist laughs at the now-woman’s continu-
ing obsession, then apologizes to her, then
begins to court her—first as a challenge,
then seriously. When the considerably
scarred wrestler shows up to collect the
bounty and the woman, the serious plotWORLDLIT.ORG 101