J. California CooperSometimes the bad get away with being bad; the hurtful seem to get off scot-free, and the heartless can cut their way through others hearts without getting snagged. In Homemade Love, however, the “go-around” comes around by the end of each well-told short story: the kind get kindness, the underdog has his/her day and the helpful get help. Homemade love is not like store bought love. You have to make it. Real love doesn’t come easy. Her characters got through the mill of pain and put-downs and you’ll root for them and their hard-won victories. This is one truly satisfying collection of short stories.
“Cooper’s work reminds us of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.” –Alice Walker”Cooper knows how to ‘talk’ her stories to us, as though each of them is told by a kindly and concerned friend. The sound of them is lovely, memorable, haunting.” –San Francisco Chronicle“Gutsy and familiar . . . Cooper’s power comes from sticking to her instinct, which is to tell a story, plain and simple.” –The Washington Post“Ms. Cooper is as down-home as Zora Neale Hurston, thank you, and blooming into as skilled a storyteller. Cooper’s characters are the folk heroes of Black culture . . . Tales of triumph that give you reason to keep reading.” –Essence
“These stories are jazzy, clubby, folksy, small towny, populist, perky, and if you don’t like them, you must be in an absolutely unshakeable bad mood . . .” –Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times
“Both men and women are treated with such bemused love that these tales of passions gone astray are transformed into celebrations of life.” — MS
In one of the best-loved volumes of her work, J. California Cooper tells exuberant tales full of wonder at the mystery of life and the hardness of fate. Awed, bedeviled, bemused, all of Cooper’s characters are borne up by the sheer power of life itself.
Paper 14.95
