Elbow Room

This set of twelve short stories is an introspective into the lives of people who live in our very communities but have never gotten around to knowing them very well. James McPherson explores that world and brings it to us in an almost lyrical way from a most colorful experience in the fourth-grade to a pastor who loses his flock because he cannot adjust to modern times to a young couple that must deal with their respective parents in a mixed marriage. This 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a look into a mirror and we see the diversity that has become our culture heritage.

Purposeful or not, the stories get progressively better as you move through the collection. But that does not mean that they do not start off well. The three stories that made the biggest impact on me, however, are the last three. In particular, Enough for the City, a rumination on life and love, is enchanting and complex, and it is quite unbelievable that McPherson was able to achieve those qualities in so few pages. Perhaps the most manipulative of McPherson's stories, it is nonetheless clever and contemplative.Take time to sit with this collection of short stories. I am quite certain that there are many aspects of the book that I missed, but will hope to gain a better understanding of the lives described as I think more about it. Not only are the stories important tales to be told, they are also incredibly pleasant to read- with some very witty lines- such as the Southern African-American child's mother who suggested that if you work hard at being a good and upstanding individual, it meant that when you died, you would finally make it to......New York.

Collected here are a dozen stories which deal with people's lives, families, interactions, relationships, and experiences as a part of African American society. The result is an engrossing group of stories that move quickly and enjoyably. My only qualm is that perhaps I didn't feel it deserved the Pulitzer, but only mildly. It's good reading.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, the author plays on our tendency to see people and events from inside our own little boxes. His characters are snared by assumptions, misled by appearances as they try to "read" experience and find and/or make places for themselves. The prose is gorgeous, full of sensory details and wit.

McPherson has an exquisite ability to create characters full of complexity and move them through stories like a chess master. The stories where white and black American lives intersect are compelling and full of unexpected twists masterfully told.