I am aware that loyal readers aren’t expecting book reports, but sometimes I have this urge to share. Here is a quote from Wonders of the West, p. 59. The narrator is discussing the kids who live in run-down subsidized housing in Los Angeles.
Our mothers take early morning buses to their jobs. They wear makeup. No one supervises our clothing, irons collars, braids hair, puts in ribbons. No one cooks us breakfast. We are allotted change and buy doughnuts and coffee. We are allowed to cross streets and talk to strangers. We can compute sweet rolls to quarters. When we are young we wear our keys around our necks. We don’t have to do homework. We don’t have braces or Little League, piano or ballet lessons. We are nothing like the children in the pastel ranch houses.
Our clothing doesn’t fit right, shows our scraped knees., Fatigue seems to be coming off our skin, rising like elements that have been tarnished. You don’t want to ask us about our dreams or hobbies. You don’t want to know. We look like we haven’t been eating right. We look like we’re not college-bound.
Why isn’t Braverman well-known? I think she is absolutely wonderful. (OK, maybe not her novel about Frida Kahlo). She was also an excellent poet and prize-winning short story writer. She died in 2019.
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