Stories From the Tenants Downstairs
By Sidik Fofana
207 pages
What’s it about?
This series of eight interrelated stories share the lives of people living in a low-income residential building in Harlem. Told from many perspectives, with a cast of characters that seem to weave in and out of each others lives, these stories highlight the humanity in this community.What did it make me think about?
Everyone has a story.Should I read it?
The cadences of these stories took me back to the halls of my high school, or the classrooms of my children. Maybe that is why my favorite segment of the book is from the perspective of a teachers aide in a classroom in Harlem. Her story was the most impactful for me. I could just picture that classroom. However I assume each story will hit individual readers differently depending on your own experiences. These stories reminded me of how very little we really know of other peoples lives, and how easy it is to judge. This collection of stories will not be for all readers, but it is an interesting look at a community trying their best to make it through.Quote-
“Little bit of everybody here. Young people with GED’s. Old people with arthritis. Folks with child-support payments, uncles in jail, aunties on crack, cousins in the Bloods, sisters hoeing. That’s what everybody want to concentrate on. The shit that be happening only 1 percent of the time. Like that boy that got molested and thrown off the roof. Niggas still talk about that like it happened five times a week. Don’t nobody wanna talk about the cookouts wit beer and wings and aluminum flying off the grill and you be smellin it and thinkin, Can I get a plate? The summertime when the souped-up Honda Civics bumping Lil Wayne be vrooming thru the back parkin lot leaving tire marks. The dudes who be shirtless on small bikes tryna get Najee or some other snotnose to run to the store. How you take a folding chair outside and cornrow people’s hair from sunup to sundown for twenty-five dollars and make a killin. Don’t nobody wanna discuss that. You didn’t come here for no shoot-ups. You came here to make a good life on your own.”
What’s it about?
This series of eight interrelated stories share the lives of people living in a low-income residential building in Harlem. Told from many perspectives, with a cast of characters that seem to weave in and out of each others lives, these stories highlight the humanity in this community.
What did it make me think about?
Everyone has a story.
Should I read it?
The cadences of these stories took me back to the halls of my high school, or the classrooms of my children. Maybe that is why my favorite segment of the book is from the perspective of a teachers aide in a classroom in Harlem. Her story was the most impactful for me. I could just picture that classroom. However I assume each story will hit individual readers differently depending on your own experiences. These stories reminded me of how very little we really know of other peoples lives, and how easy it is to judge. This collection of stories will not be for all readers, but it is an interesting look at a community trying their best to make it through.
Quote-
“Little bit of everybody here. Young people with GED’s. Old people with arthritis. Folks with child-support payments, uncles in jail, aunties on crack, cousins in the Bloods, sisters hoeing. That’s what everybody want to concentrate on. The shit that be happening only 1 percent of the time. Like that boy that got molested and thrown off the roof. Niggas still talk about that like it happened five times a week. Don’t nobody wanna talk about the cookouts wit beer and wings and aluminum flying off the grill and you be smellin it and thinkin, Can I get a plate? The summertime when the souped-up Honda Civics bumping Lil Wayne be vrooming thru the back parkin lot leaving tire marks. The dudes who be shirtless on small bikes tryna get Najee or some other snotnose to run to the store. How you take a folding chair outside and cornrow people’s hair from sunup to sundown for twenty-five dollars and make a killin. Don’t nobody wanna discuss that. You didn’t come here for no shoot-ups. You came here to make a good life on your own.”
