Break Any Woman Down (Hardcover)
Description
In Break Any Woman Down, Dana Johnson explores race, identity, and alienation with unflinching honesty and vibrant language. Hip and seductive, her stories often feature women discovering their identities through sexual and emotional intimacy with the men in their lives.
In the title story, La Donna is a black stripper whose white boyfriend, an actor in adult movies, insists that she stop stripping. In "Melvin in the Sixth Grade," eleven-year-old Avery has a crush on a white boy from Oklahoma who, like Avery, is an outsider in their suburban Los Angeles school. "Markers" is as much about a woman's relationship with her mother as it is about the dissolution of her relationship with an older Italian man.
Dana Johnson has an intuitive sense of character and a gift for creating authentic voices. She effortlessly captures the rhythmic vernaculars of Los Angeles, the American South, and various immigrant communities as she brings to life the sometimes heavyhearted, but always persevering, souls who live there.
About the Author
A native of Los Angeles, Dana Johnson worked as a magazine editor before completing her M.F.A. at Indiana University, where she now teaches creative writing and literature.
Praise for Break Any Woman Down…
"The stories in Break Any Woman Down are sexy, beautiful, and electric. Dana Johnson inhabits her characters' lives with sympathy and grace, giving voice to a chorus of non-Hollywood Los Angelenos. Through their stories, these characters reveal their hearts to us and . . . we see our own. This is an exciting and gorgeous literary debut."--Jonathan Ames, author of The Extra Man
"A wonderful collection of vivid tales told in fresh voices, Break Any Woman Down showcases Dana Johnson's gift to render with authenticity a range of ages, nationalities, and perspectives with a verve that leaves the reader wanting more."--Janet McDonald, author of Project Girl
"You can hear Johnson's voices ringing long after you put the stories down; you feel purged and rested and in the company of good friends, not strangers. No character could stay a stranger long in this writer's hands."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A subtle and sometimes compelling vision of Los Angeleno life."--Kirkus Reviews
"The nine stories collected here deservedly won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. In each, Johnson explores the interactions among men and women, women and women, parents and children, whites and blacks, young and old, and the living and the dying most vainly searching for a place to be, physically and/or emotionally. . . . The stories are full of the small details and disappointments of life, the missed opportunities and the inopportune moments that change one's trajectory. . . . This collection challenges the emotions and requires contemplation."--Library Journal
Rick Bragg in the Movies
Even though you weren’t able to attend the September 26, 2011, sold-out world premiere of Alabama’s Rick Bragg: Out of the Dirt, here’s your opportunity to view the entire movie at home, as well as much bonus footage not seen in the original documentary.
Listen in on distinguished Alabamaians, local friends and family tell inside tales on Rick as a child and award-winning best-selling author. Rick also gives his life’s philosophy in many scenes. Find out about his mother’s poetry; hear his aunt tell of dressing him as a girl when he was a tot. If ever there was a priceless gift, this is it.
You may order the two DVD (22.95) set through our secure, encrypted link Here
We also have signed copies of every edition of every Rick Bragg title ever written. You may view those by Clicking Here
