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A review by beaconatnight
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
3.0
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a collection of nine short stories. They are all about Black women and result from conflicts between sexuality and being a member of church.
I have to admit, it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The prose is very stripped down. I think Deesha Philyaw was going for the neutral viewpoint that frees the reader from a predefined judgment that comes with a more personal or reflective narrative. Instead, the depiction of events is very direct and on-point. Still, to my mind the writing style felt somewhat cold.
Without the more experiential storytelling, I think much depends on whether you can personally identify with the characters. I would be lying if I said I could (which probably shouldn't come as a big surprise). Or to put it differently: although the stories are sad or melancholic, they didn't make me feel sad or otherwise moved on any deeper level.
This is not to say that they weren't full of memorable moments. Philyaw demonstrates a great sense for the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. For instance, the first story tells us of two bachelor women around 40 who certainly have feelings for each other. Even when their relationship becomes sexual, one of them still expresses regret that they never found the right man. She doesn't even consider being with the woman she... well, it's not an easy matter to decide whether they love each other, but the ambiguity only adds to the quality of the story.
The stories hit you when you imagine the people to be real. It's not too difficult, since there really isn't anything too much out of the ordinary. Well, it's the not-quite-ordinary, but you get what I mean. No big disasters or life-changing decisions. Only the hardships of the everyday.
Above I've talked about the sober prose. I should clarify that this doesn't mean that it's simplistic. In fact, the different stories are told in very different modes of narration. We have a letter (to a lost sister), a guide (or a second-person account on how to make love to a physicist), instructions (for how to handle the affair). We have stories that talk of a single episode, and others that span many years. We have diary entries read by, and commented on, by another person with a very different viewpoint (young vs. old). It renders the stories playful even within a rather narrow framework.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies a good book with all the potential to be a very special book. Maybe for me it couldn't have been.
Rating: 3/5
I have to admit, it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The prose is very stripped down. I think Deesha Philyaw was going for the neutral viewpoint that frees the reader from a predefined judgment that comes with a more personal or reflective narrative. Instead, the depiction of events is very direct and on-point. Still, to my mind the writing style felt somewhat cold.
Without the more experiential storytelling, I think much depends on whether you can personally identify with the characters. I would be lying if I said I could (which probably shouldn't come as a big surprise). Or to put it differently: although the stories are sad or melancholic, they didn't make me feel sad or otherwise moved on any deeper level.
This is not to say that they weren't full of memorable moments. Philyaw demonstrates a great sense for the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. For instance, the first story tells us of two bachelor women around 40 who certainly have feelings for each other. Even when their relationship becomes sexual, one of them still expresses regret that they never found the right man. She doesn't even consider being with the woman she... well, it's not an easy matter to decide whether they love each other, but the ambiguity only adds to the quality of the story.
The stories hit you when you imagine the people to be real. It's not too difficult, since there really isn't anything too much out of the ordinary. Well, it's the not-quite-ordinary, but you get what I mean. No big disasters or life-changing decisions. Only the hardships of the everyday.
Above I've talked about the sober prose. I should clarify that this doesn't mean that it's simplistic. In fact, the different stories are told in very different modes of narration. We have a letter (to a lost sister), a guide (or a second-person account on how to make love to a physicist), instructions (for how to handle the affair). We have stories that talk of a single episode, and others that span many years. We have diary entries read by, and commented on, by another person with a very different viewpoint (young vs. old). It renders the stories playful even within a rather narrow framework.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies a good book with all the potential to be a very special book. Maybe for me it couldn't have been.
Rating: 3/5