You Are Free

March 28, 2011
Senna (Caucasia) moves into short fiction with a mixed bag of eight stories dealing with race, identity, and motherhood. Though the protagonists are largely defined by race and gender, the issues they grapple with are diverse: an inner conflict over whether to send a child to private or public school; a lonely woman's decision to be cruel to a stray dog; the emotional fallout from a neighbor's divorce. One of her longest stories, "The Care of the Self," is also one of the most memorable. It begins with the reunion of two close friends whose lives have taken radically different paths. Livy always played the comically tragic single sidekick to Ramona, whose life was the picture of connubial bliss. Now in seemingly opposite positions, with Ramona divorced and Livy a happily married mother, it becomes increasingly obvious that the image people project of their lives is not always accurate. This collection plays to Senna's strength at portraying mixed-race identity with subtlety and grace. Though the pathos and poignancy sometimes strains credibility, Senna excels at conveying emotion with a powerful restraint.

Like a Greek chorus, four female narrators work together in this short story collection to bring us a range of women's experiences. Adenrele Ojo, January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, and Bahni Turpin are all veteran voices, and it shows in their expert handling of each of these unique narratives. Their transitions between stories are seamless. Whether we're hearing about a young, aspirational couple applying to an elite school for their child or a young woman adopting a mixed- breed dog, we are in the care of supple sentences delivered with an understated lushness that belies the intense feelings of the characters. Told at a quick clip, the stories, each 20 minutes or less, zip by, leaving us wanting more. M.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine