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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2023, 240 pages
Paperback:
Jul 30, 2024, 240 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Jacob Lenz-Avila
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In his second short story collection Witness, Jamel Brinkley takes surprising but deeply resonant paths to explore how memory, community, and change affect his cast of Black New Yorkers. Inspired by the artists and everyday people who "recognize the presence and power of what haunts us," Brinkley's writing has all the peculiarity and interconnectedness that make ghost stories moving.
The three epigraphs to the collection form a perfect introduction to the kind of subtlety Brinkley enjoys. Each conceptualizes witnessing in a slightly different way: James Baldwin writing, "the line which separates a witness from an actor is a very thin line indeed;" Robert Stone implying that "identifying and acting upon what's right" go hand in hand; and Gina Berriault's exhortation "Be an eyewitness to this too…" emphasizing physical presence. Witnessing, we're shown, is as variable an act (or a...
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