The Last Suspicious Holdout
Stories
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“Fiercely intelligent, warm in their own way, and absolutely absorbing. . . . Excellent excellent excellent.”—Roxane Gay
“Ladee Hubbard is a true original, and this book is a unique beauty.”—Mary Gaitskill
The critically acclaimed author of The Rib King returns with an eagerly anticipated collection of interlocking short stories including the title story written exclusively for this volume, that explore relationships between friends, family and strangers in a Black neighborhood over fifteen years.
The thirteen gripping tales In The Last Suspicious Holdout, the new story collection by award-winning author Ladee Hubbard, deftly chronicle poignant moments in the lives of an African American community located in a “sliver of southern suburbia.” Spanning from 1992 to 2007, the stories represent a period during which the Black middle-class expanded while stories of "welfare Queens," "crack babies," and "super predators" abounded in the media. In “False Cognates,” a formerly incarcerated attorney struggles with raising the tuition to keep his troubled son in an elite private school. In “There He Go,” a young girl whose mother moves constantly clings to a picture of the grandfather she doesn’t know but invents stories of his greatness. Characters spotlighted in one story reappear in another, providing a stunning testament to the enduring resilience of Black people as they navigate the “post-racial” period The Last Suspicious Holdout so vividly portrays.
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Hubbard's sweeping linked collection (after The Rib King) follows a Southern Black community through decades of inequities and unrest. In "Henry," set in 1993, the title character balances running a bar with advocating for his brother, Leon Moore, whose murder conviction eight years earlier was questioned by members of the community. A newspaper article once called their neighborhood "hopelessly blighted," as if its residents were to blame, but it was cut off from town by a highway project, and the police responded to dissent with violence, prompting Leon, before he was charged with murder, to form an activist group called Creative Unity Incorporated. "Bitch: An Etymology of Family Values" opens with Delia Montgomery, the wife of a Black councilman, receiving a call from a woman named Millie, who tells her about her affair with Delia's husband. Hubbard delves intriguingly into the complex feelings of the two women and their reactions to the situation along with other women in their lives, blending rich dialogue and various points of view. The title story finds Millie working in 2001 for the Leon Moore Center for Creative Unity, which gets a reputation for "lawlessness" after the name is tagged on buildings around town. Meanwhile, an auditor investigates some murky financial accounting at the organization. The final story, "Paulie Speaks," brings a poignant and tragic end to the Moores' story. Hubbard's engaging chorus of voices and well-drawn cast make this resonate.
