Get Down: Stories - Hardcover

Solomon, Asali

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374299420 ISBN 13: 9780374299422

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2006

Synopsis

Asali Solomon’s characters are vivid misfits—a heathen at Jesus camp, a scheming prep-school student, a middle-aged mom pining for her salsa-dancing salad days, a scheming twentysomething virgin, a college stud in love with his weight-lifting partner, a lonely girl in love with a yellow dress. The kids in Get Down are trapped between their own good breeding and their burning desire to join the house party of sex, romance, and bad behavior that seems to be happening on some other block, down some other more dangerous street. The adults in Get Down are just trying to hold it together.
 Here is a debut that will make you laugh and cringe in equal measure. Set mostly in middle-class black Philadelphia during the crack and Reagan years, the stories in Get Down are antic, poignant, and utterly universal—they’ll bring back memories for anyone who has ever stood in the corner of a darkened school gym wondering whether to dance . . . or duck for cover. They announce a sparkling new talent, a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop whose work has been featured in Vibe, Essence, and the anthology Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Parts.

About this title

Review:

"With a merciless eye and compassionate heart, Asali Solomon draws a nuanced world where pain and class and sex shimmer deceptively under perfectly pitched prose. There's danger here--and, occasionally, the quiet surprise of redemption. Brava!" --Lorene Cary, author of "Pride"
"Asali Solomon's stories are luminous and touching and are an important contribution to the serious literature about the urban lives of black Americans. Solomon's work is sensitively observed and should be applauded from the first words to the last." --Edward P. Jones, author of ALL AUNT HAGAR'S CHILDREN
"With a merciless eye and compassionate heart, Asali Solomon draws a nuanced world where pain and class and sex shimmer deceptively under perfectly pitched prose. There's danger here--and, occasionally, the quiet surprise of redemption. Brava!" --Lorene Cary, author of "Pride"

“American literature tends to offer its black characters only two moods to play: angry or mad . . . which is why Asali Solomon’s debut collection, "Get Down", comes as such a blessed relief. Angry and mad make appearances, but so do confused, awkward, hopeful and sincere.” —Victor Lavalle, "Paste

"“Fresh, intimate portraits of people trying to straddle contradictory worlds. While Asali Solomon writes with uncanny acumen about men, "Get Down "will resonate with anyone—male or female, black or white, young or old—who has ever felt like an outsider.” —Jennifer Egan

"American literature tends to offer its black characters only two moods to play: angry or mad . . . which is why Asali Solomon's debut collection, "Get Down", comes as such a blessed relief. Angry and mad make appearances, but so do confused, awkward, hopeful and sincere." --Victor Lavalle, "Paste

""Fresh, intimate portraits of people trying to straddle contradictory worlds. While Asali Solomon writes with uncanny acumen about men, "Get Down "will resonate with anyone--male or female, black or white, young or old--who has ever felt like an outsider." --Jennifer Egan

American literature tends to offer its black characters only two moods to play: angry or mad . . . which is why Asali Solomon's debut collection, "Get Down," comes as such a blessed relief. Angry and mad make appearances, but so do confused, awkward, hopeful and sincere. "Victor Lavalle, Paste"

Fresh, intimate portraits of people trying to straddle contradictory worlds. While Asali Solomon writes with uncanny acumen about men, "Get Down "will resonate with anyone--male or female, black or white, young or old--who has ever felt like an outsider. "Jennifer Egan""

-American literature tends to offer its black characters only two moods to play: angry or mad . . . which is why Asali Solomon's debut collection, Get Down, comes as such a blessed relief. Angry and mad make appearances, but so do confused, awkward, hopeful and sincere.- --Victor Lavalle, Paste

-Fresh, intimate portraits of people trying to straddle contradictory worlds. While Asali Solomon writes with uncanny acumen about men, Get Down will resonate with anyone--male or female, black or white, young or old--who has ever felt like an outsider.- --Jennifer Egan

"American literature tends to offer its black characters only two moods to play: angry or mad . . . which is why Asali Solomon's debut collection, Get Down, comes as such a blessed relief. Angry and mad make appearances, but so do confused, awkward, hopeful and sincere." --Victor Lavalle, Paste

"Fresh, intimate portraits of people trying to straddle contradictory worlds. While Asali Solomon writes with uncanny acumen about men, Get Down will resonate with anyone--male or female, black or white, young or old--who has ever felt like an outsider." --Jennifer Egan

About the Author:

Asali Solomon was born and raised in West Philadelphia. She received the Rona Jaffe Award for the stories in Get Down. She lives in Lexington, Virginia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0374299420
• ISBN 13: 9780374299422
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 194