Book Review: Stories from the Tenants Downstairs

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs
by Sidik Fofana
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an interesting 'anthology' of stories. Although it's not really an anthology as the stories all link together somehow. Each story is about or from the point of view of a tenant of the same building. They all share experiences, knowledge, and (in some cases) friendship throughout the entire set of stories.

Overall the stories are very sad. This is a low income building with a lot of barely hanging on, or already two steps into being evicted folks. That's not to say it isn't without its happy moments, as it does have some; but overall do not expect an uplifting set of stories here.

My favourite characters POVs we see include: a single mother with an autistic child and an elderly POC 'Mama' who faces constant, relentless discrimination regarding her skin tone, intelligence, and more. The overall stories themselves are very unique as their POV's are written in the vernacular you would expect from that specific person (yes including the typos of a child). Therefore you can't really get bored as by the time you might be tired of someone's narrative it's time for another one to come into play.

This set of stories does require some patience however. It's not obvious through the first 7 stories that they are actually going to tangibly connect in a meaningful way. It's story 8, the last, that really brings the whole set together. It's well worth the payoff in my opinion! It's a definite tear jerker, and I usually hate those books, so it's a pretty big compliment from me that I thought it was well done. I wouldn't read it again, except maybe for a book club or to discuss with a friend who might benefit from the stories; but I'm glad to have read it this once.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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