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We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Published:
HarperCollins 2018
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

In these powerfully rendered, prizewinning stories, working-class African Americans across the South strive for meaning and search for direction in lives shaped by forces beyond their control

The ten stories in this resonant collection deal with both the ties that bind and the gulf that separates generations, from children confronting the fallibility of their own parents for the first time to adults finding themselves forced to start over again and again.

In “Highway 18”a young Jehovah’s Witness going door to door with an expert field-service partner from up north is at a crossroads: will she go to college or continue to serve the church? “If You Hit Randall County, You’ve Gone Too Far”tells ofa family trying to make it through a tense celebratory dinner for a son just out on bail. And in the collection’s title story, a young girl experiences loss for the first time in the fallout from her father’s relationship with her babysitter.

Startling, intimate, and prescient on their own, these stories build to a kaleidoscopic understanding of both the individual and the collective black experience over the last fifty years in the American South. With We Are Taking Only What We Need, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted an incredibly assured and emotionally affecting meditation on everything from the large institutional forces to the small interpersonal moments that impress upon us and direct our lives.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
02/06/2018
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780062749864
ASIN:
B0716GZZ8J
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Stephanie Powell Watts. (2018). We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Stephanie Powell Watts. 2018. We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Stephanie Powell Watts, We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories. HarperCollins, 2018.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Stephanie Powell Watts. We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories. HarperCollins, 2018.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
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Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 16:11:16
Date Updated:
Mar 21, 2024 18:06:21
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 07:34:46
Last Metadata Change:
Mar 22, 2024 18:28:47
Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 07:34:49
Last Availability Change:
Oct 30, 2022 21:48:09
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 28, 2024 08:14:26

OverDrive Product Record

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We Are Taking Only What We Need
fullDescription

In these powerfully rendered, prizewinning stories, working-class African Americans across the South strive for meaning and search for direction in lives shaped by forces beyond their control

The ten stories in this resonant collection deal with both the ties that bind and the gulf that separates generations, from children confronting the fallibility of their own parents for the first time to adults finding themselves forced to start over again and again.

In “Highway 18”a young Jehovah’s Witness going door to door with an expert field-service partner from up north is at a crossroads: will she go to college or continue to serve the church? “If You Hit Randall County, You’ve Gone Too Far”tells ofa family trying to make it through a tense celebratory dinner for a son just out on bail. And in the collection’s title story, a young girl experiences loss for the first time in the fallout from her father’s relationship with her babysitter.

Startling, intimate, and prescient on their own, these stories build to a kaleidoscopic understanding of both the individual and the collective black experience over the last fifty years in the American South. With We Are Taking Only What We Need, Stephanie Powell Watts has crafted an incredibly assured and emotionally affecting meditation on everything from the large institutional forces to the small interpersonal moments that impress upon us and direct our lives.

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      • source: The New Yorker
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        "Cheeky, urbane, and playful. Lorrie Moore meets Eudora Welty. — The New Yorker

        "Watts shows us people, real souls like the people we sit next to on the bus, people who live down the hall, people who could be relatives." — Edward P. Jones

        "These stories celebrate real people and their tenacious ability to break down life's locked doors." — O, the Oprah Magazine

        "Impressive...What is lovely about these stories is that Watts can take a few words and paint a landscape that reveals so much richness about the people and culture." — Library Journal

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      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        September 1, 2017

        Originally published in 2011 and getting a relaunch following the success of Watts's No One Is Coming To Save Us, the inaugural Sarah Jessica Parker Pick for ALA's Book Club Central, this collection focuses on working-class African Americans in the South, from a Jehovah's Witness wondering whether she'll stay with the church to a family tentatively celebrating when a son is released on bail. Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and a finalist for PEN/Hemingway and Chautauqua honors; with a 20,000-copy first printing.

        Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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shortDescription

In these powerfully rendered, prizewinning stories, working-class African Americans across the South strive for meaning and search for direction in lives shaped by forces beyond their control

The ten stories in this resonant collection deal with both the ties that bind and the gulf that separates generations, from children confronting the fallibility of their own parents for the first time to adults finding themselves forced to start over again and again.

In “Highway 18”a young Jehovah’s Witness going door to door with an expert field-service partner from up north is at a crossroads: will she go to college or continue to serve the church? “If You Hit Randall County, You’ve Gone Too Far”tells ofa family trying to make it through a tense celebratory dinner for a son just out on bail. And in the collection’s title story, a young girl experiences loss for the first time in the fallout from her...

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