4.0
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories
By Tananarive DuePublisher Description
In these fourteen powerhouse stories, Due probes history, the grim present moment, and not so far-flung futures, delivering an expansive collection that still hits close to home . . . There are no false notes; every piece is a study in tension, showcasing Due's mastery at balancing action, suspense, and emotion. Centering Black characters and often Black experiences, this is a standout in both Black horror and the genre more broadly.
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4.0
Nilbert
Created 2 days agoShare
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“Loved the more horror leaning stories and sadly those early on that really gripped me were just that; short! Didn’t love some of the later half stories but still kept my attention enough to finish.”chuvlove
Created about 2 months agoShare
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Danielle Hill
Created 5 months agoShare
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“This is my second reading Tananarive Due, the first time was in the Jordan Peele edited anthology https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/142392376.Out_There_Screaming_An_Anthology_of_New_Black_Horror (and that story was awesome), but she has been on my radar for a while. I have watched some video interviews of her and I find her so captivating and fascinating. I love the way she thinks about fiction, stories and writing. Her family background is so impactful (both her parents were civil rights activists, and her mother was injured by tear gas during a march, so she had to wear dark glasses for the rest of her life.) I appreciate how Tananarive puts a lot of herself in her stories in different ways. The stories feel authentic and true to life in that sense. There is a truth to the way she conveys the black experience in her stories as well. I feel as a whole, this is a strong collection, and a good introduction to this author. She writes a type of almost “homey”, misleadingly everyday kind of horror that insinuates itself into the conscience. In a way it’s a lot more disquieting than in your face horror. I will go through and discuss thoughts on the stories and then I will give my final rating at the end.
Apologies, as this will be a long review.
Book 1: Wishes
“The Wishing Pool”--this story hit me in the gut. I recently went through the loss of my mother and it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life (and I thought it was bad when my father passed away some years ago). My sister and I nursed and cared for her, and I saw her deterioration, even though there is a type of denial there that I can acknowledge in retrospect. So, this tale of a woman who is dealing with her father’s progressive demise from dementia was very hard to read. This story was based on Due’s own experiences with her father’s dementia. I can’t say too much about this one, but it has a “Monkey’s Paw” kind of vibe, but in this case, perhaps more of a bittersweet victory in some ways. It’s not really horror, but there’s an underlying feeling of disquiet as one is not really sure about what powers are involved and what was was sacrificed in the process. Four stars.
“Haint in the Window”--is a story about gentrification and about being “othered” and marginalized in one’s own community. A man runs a bookstore in a black neighborhood that has become a hot property for ‘redevelopment.’ With the influx of wealthy white people, cae the overpolicing and criminalization of blackness, and the loss of self. It’s a haunting, but not like one would traditionally label as a ghost story. This was powerful and has an unsettling ending because it feels so real. Four stars.
“Incident at Bear Creek Lodge”--another one that socked me in the jaw. It reminded me of how my grandmother treated us (when she was younger. She was a genuinely kind, sweet person in her later years. God rest her soul). She was not the kind of grandparent who had time for kids, so she definitely was of the “seen and not heard” school. Let me make it clear this character is a whole lot worse. The grandmother is straight up twisted. For me, this story is about how racism makes monsters out of all of us (a society dominated by white supremacy acting as the oppressor and black people as the oppressed), and how this can cause so much damage to the family. Another ending that got under my skin. Four stars.
“Thursday-Night Shift”--definitely more of a sci-fi story. It’s something I can’t even describe too much because it gives way too much away. Suffice it to say, it’s about asking yourself the question, “If you could change something if you knew what would happen, should you or would you?” To me, this one didn’t impact me as much as the previous stories, although it touches on a historical event in the late 1960s that deeply grieves America. Three stars.
Book 2: The Gracetown Stories
“Last Stop on Route 9”– I feel like a foundational part of growing up black is going “down south” to visit relatives. In this case, it’s for a funeral. Charlotte is driving her younger cousin Kai home from a funeral in the Gracetown, Florida countryside. She is an out-of-towner and she doesn’t know the rules about that area. Her cousin Kai’s father has some very bad memories associated with their family and growing up there and has filled his son in on that. Additionally Kai has an ability to sense bad vibes. He is very unsettled driving around the area and repeatedly warns Charlotte. Charlotte rarely comes to Gracetown and is not clued in on the whole dynamic and dismisses Kai’s concerns. It turns out she should have listened better. I felt their fear like I was in that car with them. Living in Texas, I had to be very careful when I was out in the country because there are places where black people are not safe. To be fair, it’s not just in the south. A lot of sundown towns are in the midwest as well. Racism is an evil force in this story, and everyone knows it or finds out the hard way. I think this one of my favorites in the volume. Four and ½ stars.
“Suppertime”--is a coming of age story set in the 1900s from the viewpoint of a young girl named Mat growing in near the bayous of Gracetown. She balances the demands of her role as the oldest girl sibling at home, expectations on her, due to her role as a female, and trying to be free and enjoy her childhood. Her bobcat pet that she nursed back to health comes to visit and brings to her attention a very dangerous creature lurking in the nearby bayou. This was genuinely thrilling, but it also had a beautiful feeling of nostalgia, providing for young black girls the opportunity to feel part of stories that often overlook them. I grew up reading a lot of boy’s adventure. It’s nice to read a girl’s–and a black girl at that–girls’s adventure story. Five stars.
“Rumpus Room”--I had so many feelings with this one. I guess I should have been prepared, but I wasn’t. Jasmine is going through some stuff, and drifting. She ends up taking a job cooking and cleaning for an older man for a place to stay and some money. However there is something off about the rumpus room she’s staying in. This story is disturbing and eerie. The lead character is flawed in a realistic way, but perfectly suited to be the heroine of this story. Four stars.
“Migration”--Whew. I can’t say too much about this one. It’s significantly darker than most of the stories in this volume. Well-written, but not a favorite of mine. Three stars.
“Caretaker”--definitely falls into the weird fiction arena. I’ve never read a story like this. There is some difficult subject matter and it’s dealt with in a very bizarre way. Three and ½ stars.
Part III: The Nayima Stories
“One Day Only”--is the beginning of futuristic/dystopian stories that make up the rest of this collection. I felt the most detached from the futuristic stories because I am not a big reader in these genres. However, the concept was interesting with this one. I like how Nayima sets out to spread joy in the bleak landscape of a society ravaged by horrific events. Three and ½ stars.
“Attachment Disorder”--I appreciated this story very much. It was more of an adventure story featuring an older version of Nayima from the previous story. It reminded me of the strength of black women throughout generations who do incredible things under horrific circumstances, along with keeping their families together through everyday difficulties. Four stars.
Part IV: Futuristic Stories
“Ghost Ship”--pure sci-fi that is really harrowing the more you think about it. In this story, white supremacists manage to kill or kick almost all the non-white peoples out of the United States. And things aren’t much better in the Homeland of Africa. Very bleak. Three stars.
“Shopping Day”--this reminded me so much of https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52397.Parable_of_the_Sower__Earthseed___1_ by Octavia Butler. That book was incredible but it really distressed me, so I was somewhat triggered. Nothing overtly terrible happens in this story, but it’s more about the potential for what bad things could happen under these circumstances. Three and ½ stars.
“The Biographer”--was a dark ending to this collection. It was sci-fi with a horror edge. The further it goes into the story, the more traumatizing it gets. Three stars.
Final Thoughts: The Wishing Pool and Other Stories is a well-rounded collection that tends towards horror, but has some stories that are science fiction with a darker edge. I preferred the first two parts, as I am not a fan of dystopian science fiction. That said, all the stories were good. Due understands humanity and the dark and good qualities of people. Themes of family, love, injustice, society, cultural and ancestral heritage pervade all of the stories. The diversity is a strong point as there is very good representation amongst the characters, racially and also in gender and sexuality. For me, Due’s style of horror feels very distinct. It’s never in your face, but deals with subtleties and unanswered questions. It lets the fearful things in the tales sit with you and simmer in your mind. When you go back to think about it, it makes you shudder. She writes about social horror, which is absolutely relevant, and is in some ways, more disturbing than just the monster or serial killer with unknown motives. Instead, several of these stories are about how regular people can become or are monsters underneath it all based on their socialization or external forces acting on their consciousness. Or maybe they just always were a monster and are just good at hiding it. And scariest of all, about how you exist in a reality where you are othered and considered the monster for some arbitrary reason.”
untidyPlankt0n
Created 5 months agoShare
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bekahmcduffie
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About Tananarive Due
TANANARIVE DUE is an award-winning author who teaches Black horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. Her stories have been featured on LeVar Burton Reads and Realm, and she is an executive producer on Shudder's documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. Due and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote for Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone and for Shudder's anthology film Horror Noire. They also cowrote the Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes cohost a podcast, Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!
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