Ah, fiction. It's one of my greatest pleasures, but as a student I usually have to limit my indulgence to semester breaks. Sometimes, though, I can't resist the temptation to escape into stories of other people's lives. On these occasions, I turn to short fiction. Even with a student's busy schedule, I can squeeze in a half-hour here and there for a good story. And I found plenty of choices in Jewelle Gomez's Don't Explain, a collection of short stories involving strong women characters, most of them lesbian. There's Alberta, a college professor nearing retirement, who must choose whether to enter into a relationship with a woman half her age. And Ramona, climbing the stairs of her childhood apartment house to confront the abusive stepfather she has not seen in years. And Letty, a waitress in 1950s Boston, who worships Billy Holiday and mourns the end of the only lesbian relationship she's ever had.
All these characters--and many others from Gomez's collection--have stayed with me long after reading the brief descriptions of their lives. That Gomez was able to create such lasting impressions with so few pages is a testament to her skill as a writer. Her talent is also evident in the scope of the collection. This one thin book contains a dizzying array of genres, including historical fiction (in the title work of the book), magic realism (in "Ounce of Charm," my personal favorite), erotica (in "Piece of Time"), and fantasy (in the novella "Lynx and Strand"). And for fans of Gomez's earlier fiction, Gilda the vampyre returns for an encore performance in "Houston."
Taken as a whole, this collection of stories can be a bit disjointed. Each selection whisks the reader off to a new place, a new time, and a new style of literature. But read individually, in time stolen from schoolwork and chores, each piece is a delight, well-written and truly captivating.
Reviewed 2 September 1999 by Susan Ferentinos