WOMEN UP ON BLOCKS. By Mary Akers. Press 53. 148 pages. $14.
Women up on Blocks is a welcome change of pace from much of today's women's fiction. No syrupy sweetness or over-the-top sexy adventure here; just realistic women living realistic lives. The book is a collection of 13 short stories ranging in length from four to 17 pages. The stories briefly track the lives and choices of 13 women and subtly point out how their previous choices have led each to the place where she finds herself in her story. All the women are ultimately limited by their choices, and none has been able to reach her full potential.
Mary Akers is courageous in the wide range of topics she addresses and in the manner in which she lifts the veil covering the souls of her female characters. The fictional accounts address drug addiction, cancer, death, motherhood, loveless marriages and unfaithful husbands.
Akers writes with a definite Southern tone. In "Thunderstones," Olivia, finds herself first having breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with her fiancé's parents and then sitting in their fundamentalist church being swept away by emotion. "The Rashomon Tree" introduces us to Henna and Pearl and the child, Sky, who causes their lives to intersect. Henna is a free-spirited, unmarried mother. Pearl, her older neighbor, speaks with a rural Southern dialect and is much more conservative. Each is judgmental of the other. When Sky is attacked by a stray dog that Henna allowed to stay at their home, Henna is frozen in place, unable to come to her child's rescue. It is Pearl who races over from next door to save the child. And it is Henna who learns, "Not all creatures are good. Every person has hard-won wisdom, and a backcountry old woman can teach me things. If I'm respectful and accepting, I just might learn."
But possibly the most unforgettable tale is "Mooncalf," which begins with the haunting sentence, "How you recognize a monster is dependant upon how you view normality." In that moment you know this story will end badly, and in the same moment, you are compelled to see it through to its eerie end. When the end comes, however, you still are not satisfied. You want to know what happens next.
Perhaps this is the greatest testament to Akers' talent as a writer is that the stories end too quickly and leave you wanting to know more about these women you only just met. Akers draws you into the characters' lives by the third page of each tale and makes you forget you are reading a short story rather than a novel. Then suddenly you turn the page and it is over. Not to worry though; a few pages later you will be swept along once again, caught up in the swirl of yet another life story.
Akers grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and is a graduate of Queens University in Charlotte. She lives in western New York.
■ Cindy Bunker is a free-lance writer who lives in Lexington.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement