You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down

by Alice Walker

Paperback, 1982

Status

Checked out

Genres

General Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Harvest Books (1982), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 170 pages

Description

Fourteen short stories by the Pulitzer Prize winning author about strong women--their struggles and joys.

User reviews

LibraryThing member monado

The stories are good and... I wonder how many of the most telling touches are experiences that the author heard others relate or even autobiographical. As usual, she mentions the oppression of racial prejudice and discrimination in the U.S. which did not make it into either history books nor most

people's concept of social history.

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LibraryThing member sofree

Beautifully written this classic by Alice Walker captures the experiences of African American women. Walker boldly writes about subject matters that are usually ignored. I absolutely enjoyed this book.

LibraryThing member Muscogulus

This is a great collection of stories. I guess my favorite is the first, "Nineteen Fifty-Five," an entertaining story guaranteed to distress Elvis cultists.

Are you Gracie Mae Still? asked the old guy, when I opened the door and put my hand on the lock inside the screen.

And I don’t need to buy a

thing, said I.

What makes you think we’re sellin’? he asks, in that hearty Southern way that makes my eyeballs ache.

Alice Walker is often pigeonholed as a "women's writer," so of course men especially need to read her. Anyway she won't fit in a pigeonhole.

Titles include "The Lover," "Porn," "The Abortion," and "How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy." If they make you nervous, then you're the man I'm talking about who ought to read this book. Go on, it won't bite you.

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LibraryThing member dwcofer

This collection of short stories by Alice Walker were terribly disappointing. I checked the book out from my library as I was interested in the story, “The Abortion,” but I also read the other stories as well.

Overall, the stories were about black people being black, not being people. The

stories were full of racism, sex-crazed women, pornography, and were misogynistic. These portrayals only further fuel the stereotypical black person. And the author is black. Shame on her. She should be elevating her characters above these images instead of putting them down.

The writing was poor as well. In several stories I noted numerous POV shifts from first person to third person and back to first person, often in the same paragraph. Unfortunately, a waste of time.

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LibraryThing member JReynolds1959

Kya has been abandoned in the North Carolina marsh as a 6 year old. She will be labeled the "Marsh Girl" by others in the town. She learns to survive on her own.
Tate is a friend and comes to visit with her and teaches her how to read and write.
She is always writing things about the birds,

grasses, mushrooms, etc in her environment. The walls of her shack are covered with her collectings. Tate claims to love her and tells her that he is going to college, but he stands her up for his last meeting with her before that happens. This makes her feel very alone.
She then meets Chase, who is the town's football quarterback, but gets used by him. He seems to believe that it is OK to visit and "play" with Kya, saying he wants to marry her and build her a house. Chase is then found dead. The sheriff is looking for answers and comes to the conclusion that Kya is probably the suspect.

This is less of a murder mystery than touted. This is really a story about Kya and all that life throws her.

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