Rating: 
Summary: A new literary star
Review: 'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere' is an absolute knockout. You may or may not have heard of ZZ Packer already [she had a story 'Brownies', in the New Yorker]but if you don't know her, you should.
The eight stories in this collection are all wonderful, but my favorites are 'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere' [about a students alienation at Yale] and 'The Ant of the Self' [about a son having to deal with his problem father]. I cannot say enough good things about ZZ Packer- the early reviews have been great, and rightfully so for this collection. Hard to believe this is her first book. This could be the next great American writer.
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Summary: BLACK BOOK LOVER TOP 10 of 2004!!
Review: AS THE NEW YEAR IS UPON US, I OFFICIALLY OFFER YOU MY LIST OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS THAT I'VE READ IN 2004. THIS IS OUT OF ABOUT 84 BOOKS THAT I'VE READ THIS YEAR. EVERY SINGLE BOOK ON THIS LIST IS A MASTERPIECE WORTH BUYING. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED WITH GREAT LITERATURE LIKE THE FOLLOWING:
"THE DARKEST CHILD"--Delores Phillips
The finest, most dramatic debut I've read in years. Top notch and gut-wrenching. This is by far the best book of 2004.
"BRICK LANE"--Monica Ali
Superb entry into a world foreign yet all too familiar. Flawless, beautiful writing.
"HOTTENTOT VENUS"--Barbara Chase Riboud
A True Story. Which makes this book all the more shocking and tragic. By now you've heard of the kidnapped and dehumanized South African woman paraded in the 1800's Europe as a "freak" because of her huge posterior and the apron over her genitals. Chase Riboud chronicles the tale perfectly and makes it far more interesting than just history. The fact that "Sarah" was like a Pop Superstar of her day makes it all the more chilling in my opinion. A definite Must-Read.
"FLESH AND THE DEVIL"--Kola Boof
Totally original, unexpected black love story. Chock full of African history, U.S. black history, fantastic plot twists, pulsating sex, equally dazzling "lovemaking", brilliant observations about race, color and sexism and plenty of risk-taking by the sensational Sudanese-born Kola Boof, truly a NEW STAR in the "epic" sense. Fabulous!
"ERASURE"---Percival Everett
I know. I'm late reading this one. But it's classic, fantastic, the greatest book ever written about being a "black" writer today. SUPERB. 10 Stars.
"A DISTANT SHORE"--Caryl Phillips
Great novel about "human beings" ripped apart in their own world and then thrown together in new equally dreadful surroundings. A black man and a white woman are juxtaposed in England with terribly beautiful insight by the writer. It's a hard book to explain, except that it's about human beings finding their real true minds. Superb!!!! I give this one 10 stars.
"DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE"--Z.Z. Packer
The breakout debut of the new Alice Walker and Toni Morrison rolled into one. Z.Z. Packer is outrageously talented and brilliant. These sparse, witty, intelligent, insightful short stories will bring you to tears, make you laugh and truly astonish you.
"THE KNOWN WORLD"--Edward P. Jones
This book starts off kind of "slow", but once you get into it, it's quite shocking, easily one of the most important stories told in a decade. Jones deserves all the accolades and awards he's received for this masterful masterpiece of the new century.
"LOVE"--Toni Morrison
Still the undisputable greatest writer writing. Toni Morrison offers up one of her very best novels, the most underrated and overlooked novel of the year. Absolutely meszmerizing, a bute.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening short-story collection!
Review: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is quite a unique and enlightening short-story collection centered on various aspects of being an African American in this day and age. The stories have a combination of earnest humor and tear-jerking poignancy. The stories and their characters make you feel the emotions and messages that they intend to convey. My favorite stories are "Speaking in Tongues," "Brownies," "Our Lady of Peace," "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," and "Geese." The aforementioned stories are enriching and empowering. I love ZZ Packer's style. Her style is a cross between Zadie Smith and Toni Morrison. I will look for this author's work in the future. I cannot recommend Drinking Coffee Elsewhere enough.
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Summary: A blackadelic Flannery O'Connor in the making
Review: I gotta agree with Gregory Baird. These fics are very much hit-and-miss. EVERY TONGUE is a brilliant exercise in empathy. The protagonist is a Christian-fundamentalist creep, but ZZ treated her with a certain amount of respect. Clareese gets redeemed thru another person. (Instead of merely thru Jesus.)
Rating:
Summary: LOVE LOVE LOVE this collection
Review: I had previously read a few of ZZ Packer's stories in lit magazines such as ZOETROPE and The New Yorker and I have been anxiously awaiting this collection. I have not been disappointed."Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is a collection of unique, startling and at times, brutally truthful stories by Packer, a new author. All these stories, in some way, touch upon themes of alienation, the search for truth (whatever that truth is for the characters), of approval, and of identity. Stories range from the title piece, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," about a young black woman who enters a ivy league university and must struggle not only with alienation and her identity but the death of her mother, to "Geese," a story about a sister who travels to Tokyo to make loads of money only to find herself destitute and in the company of people just as down and out as she is. What I enjoy the most about these eight stories is that Packer tells stories about black people, but she does so multiculturally, or "realistically". The world isn't full of just black people or just white people. The worlds in Packer's stories travel the globe from Baltimore, to Yale University, to Tokyo. We see a vast array of people and places and situations, and Packer is not afraid to show us all these facets, nor is she afraid to show us the bleakness of reality. Her stories do not end with cotton candy and happily ever afters. Sometimes, life is hard, and Packer portrays these times exquisitely. Anyone who is interested in reading well written stories about the facets of black life, will no doubt enjoy ZZ Packer's debut collection as much as I have. Shon Bacon
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Summary: Left me hanging...
Review: I'd heard so much about this author, even read an excerpt of "Brownies". Packer is an excellent writer but the characters in these stories are not very well developed and the endings were soft. Each story drew me in but once there I lost interest in the characters because there wasn't enough to hold onto. I kept thinking as I read the stories that I would love to see how this writer develops over the next ten-twenty years. I see great things for her future work. This one didn't quite do it for me.
Taxes, Death & Trouble author CM Miller
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely perfect
Review: there's nothing to not love in this collection from packer, not a sentence to stumble over, not a story to discount. absolutely brillant.
Rating:
Summary: No need to think twice
Review: When ZZ Packer writes her first novel, I'll be standing in line with my $25 or $26. This work of short story literature was worthy of my time. The first short, Brownies, transported me back into time into the early 70's when I wore my brownie uniform, and went through similar experiences. The Ant of the Self was an extremely moving story about father and son. This story, I wanted to continue. I applaud ZZ Packer's prose! These are stories you will read again and again.
Rating:
Summary: I PREDICT...These 2 Women
Review: Z.Z. PACKER VS. KOLA BOOF.
TWO NEW BLACK WOMAN AUTHORS, TWO SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS.
AND...THEIR "DUET" APPEARANCE IN YET A THIRD SHORT STORY COLLECTION.
I've read two masterful short story collections in the last 7 days, both by new up and coming Black Women writers (Z.Z. Packer's awesomely nuanced "Drinking Coffee" and Kola Boof's disturbing "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin"), and I find it downright painful to say which one I like better. Both collections, to me, are masterpieces.
Why am I mentioning these two very different women in the same breath? KEEP READING and you'll find out!!
This sensible rainy day collection by Z.Z. Packer is much more publicized by the mainstream media and known to the public, but I can't say that all the praise and adulation isn't well deserved. Z.Z. Packer writes better than Kola Boof, I think, in that she's more focused, professionally trained and clinical. Each story in "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is really rendered as a slice of real life, the author's personal views seeming to be cleansed from the canvas so that the nuances and absurdities of life can seep through, very suttle yet very powerfully. It's amazing how skillful and calm Packer's writing is considering the ferocity of the inner themes, but she pulls it off with such a masterful ease that you almost feel that you're reading a hybrid of Hemingway and Alice Walker with a little Percival Everett (whom I love!) mixed in.
My favorite story, the one that sticks with me, is the one about the little prejudiced black girls. It's a hoot!
"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is a calm, subdued but very powerfully written debut and I look forward to her upcoming novel about Buffalo Soldiers.
As for Kola Boof's "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin", all I can say is WOW. It's hard to describe the book because the author is so non-author-like. Unlike Packer, Kola Boof is from Africa and was never formally educated. Kola Boof's style is totally unorthodox and preachy in a sense, but then so earthy and truthful and emotional in another sense that you simply cannot look away from her creations. She writes like a singer. Her collection is powerful like Packer's "Drinking Coffee"--but ultimately more passionate and shocking. These stories of African women facing issues like skin color prejudice, hair anxiety and genital mutilation and rape by white colonizers is handled so sweeping and matter-of-factly and with such authority that of the two collections, I have to give Kola Boof's the nod for being more unforgettable.
THE REAL TREAT...is that both these two black women writers appear together in the very hip, witty short story collection "POLITICALLY INSPIRED" (edited by Stephen Elliot), showcasing a two very different stories, that somehow (to me), resonate with the same level of consciousness and sadness about one theme--"death and loss".
Kola Boof's story in "POLITICALLY INSPIRED" is the more showy and adventurous one, and actually, it flat out satisfied me more than Packer's contribution, but the voices of the two writers continues to intrigue me as they are both young black women, new on the scene and much talked about. It will be fun to see which of these girls--Z.Z. Packer, Suzan Lori Parks, Kola Boof or ZADIE SMITH takes over the mantle from Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm PREDICTING that the classy, somber Z.Z. Packer and the provocative, wild and mysterious Kola Boof are the clear and present frontrunners. They're both AWESOME and unique, but also seem to write from some driven inner voice, politically, sexually and racially, much like Morrison and Walker once did.
Anyone who reads "Drinking Coffee" and "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin" will see what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Powerful Prose
Review: Z.Z.Packer's much-anticipated short story collection is a celebration of prose perfection. Her critically acclaimed short stories are action packed slices of American, edgy and provocative portrayals of life. Her stories project real people having real issues. "Brownies" is about a Brownie troop of Black girls who are confronted by a white girl troop. "Our Lady of Peace" explores the deterioration of the public school system, while six other stories haunt your soul. I love that!
Her command of the English language is poured into every paragraph. Reading her work gives me more respect for the writing craft. It is a skillful art form that requires study and thought, which proves my point that not anyone who can put pen to paper deserves to be called a writer. Packer's works make that fact evident and makes me want to work on my own re-writes.
If you want to delve into a richly, intoxicating book, then this one is for you. Your five senses will be moved by each story and your intellect, intuition and heart will be challenged. My favorite passage comes from "Our Lady of Peace":
But any place was better than Odair County, Kentucky. She'd hated how everyone their oozed out their words, and how humble everyone pretended to be...Her [Lynnea] family was one of four black families in the county, and if another white person ever told her how "interesting" her hair was, or how good it was that she didn't have to worry about getting a tan- ha ha- or asked her opinion anytime Jesse Jackson farted, she'd strangle them.
I gave this collection 5 pens because it is brilliant without any flaws, worthy of anyone's library. This book is a classic of which I'm sure my three-year-old daughter will have to read in English literature some day. Wonderful!
Dee Y. Stewart
R.E.A.L. Reviewers
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