Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my first short story collection, and what a way to introduce myself to the medium! I was originally introduced to this book through Jacob Geller's video essay on time loops, which prompted me to seek out and read the short story Through the Flash. It has since become one of my favorite short stories of all time, and I found myself thinking about its setting and characters constantly. Because I connected so deeply to Through the Flash, I eventually decided to go ahead and check out the rest of the book it was featured in, if only to own a physical copy of my favorite short story. And I am so pleased to say that the rest of the book does not disappoint.
Each story is original and thought-provoking in its own unique way. The author has this way of writing characters that makes them feel so rough-around-the-edges and real, as if you're sitting in the mind of someone you passed on the street. They really do go beyond protagonists in a story and feel like real people that happen to be narrating a story.
I think every chapter in this book exists best as a short story, as opposed to being developed into a full-length novel. This is my first collection of short stories that I have read in recent memory, so maybe this is true of all short story collections and I just haven't learned it yet, but I really appreciate how concise all of these stories are at introducing their world, characters, and thesis before disappearing forever. A lot of the stories in this book left me to fill in the blanks of what the lives of these characters are like outside of the pages I got to read. Sometimes it left me wanting more, but most of the time I left feeling like I got exactly the right amount out of what the author was trying to say. This book is like the literary equivalent of a very expensive multi-course meal where each individual plate is no larger than a bite, but each dish is so packed full of complex ingredients and flavors that you don't need more than a bite to enjoy it.
I really wish that Goodreads would allow half-rankings, because I am struggling hard to place this book between 4 and 5 stars. I think I am leaning towards 4 stars here, only because the stories are a bit of a grab-bag in terms of how much they resonated with me. Many were fantastic, others introduced interesting ideas that made me fill in the blanks on my own after the fact, and some I found myself struggling to understand at all. I really enjoyed this author's writing style, but I think I'm learning about myself that I really do enjoy deep worldbuilding and long-winded philosophical discussions in my books; both of which are difficult to achieve in a collection of 12 short stories. I am excited to check out his other book, Chain Gang All-Stars, which seems like it could deliver on both of those elements I am looking for. On its own though, judged by its own merits without the biases of what I like from my books, this is a fantastic collection. Very easy to recommend.
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