{"id":50196,"date":"2023-01-12T12:12:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T17:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=50196"},"modified":"2023-01-03T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T18:28:11","slug":"stories-from-the-tenants-downstairs-by-sidik-fofana-in-booklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/stories-from-the-tenants-downstairs-by-sidik-fofana-in-booklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana [in Booklist]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-50136\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/11\/Stories-from-the-Tenants-Downstairs-Sidik-Fofana-BookDragon-530x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"530\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/11\/Stories-from-the-Tenants-Downstairs-Sidik-Fofana-BookDragon-530x800.jpg 530w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/11\/Stories-from-the-Tenants-Downstairs-Sidik-Fofana-BookDragon.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><strong>*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong><br \/>\nSidik Fofana\u2019s exquisite debut is further enhanced by eight pitch-perfect narrators (but where\u2019s the cast list?!) who embody the collection\u2019s eight interconnected stories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBanneker Terrace on 129th and Fred Doug ain\u2019t pretty,\u201d but evictions are pending because the building has been sold to create \u201cdeluxe apartments in the sky.\u201d Within the \u201ctwenty-five floors [with] three hundred suttin apartments,\u201d single mother Mimi \u2013 wondrously voiced with both bravado and vulnerability by Joniece Abbott-Pratt \u2013 is desperately trying to make rent. Fofana becomes Mimi\u2019s babyfather Swan, who is outwardly casual as his just-out-of-jail buddy drags their crew into illegal adventures.<\/p>\n<p>Bahni Turpin proves her virtuoso versatility as Swan\u2019s mother, sharply observant in her assigned classroom as assistant to an ineffectual Harvard-degreed white teacher; Fofana\u2019s NYC public teacher experience undeniably makes this story his best.<\/p>\n<p>DePre Owens shrewdly observes evicted, expelled Kandese, who is sent to her grandmother for a summer. Andr\u00e9 Santana is heartbreakingly earnest as wannabe hairdresser Darius. Nile Bullock is a tenacious 12-year-old who witnesses death. Jade Wheeler is the Michigan dropout assigned to assist the woman who caused her downfall. Dominic Hoffman deftly closes the collection as an elderly man who doesn\u2019t want to be a community project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody got a story,\u201d and sharing them proves lifesaving &#8230; albeit tragically too late for one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booklistonline.com\/Stories-from-the-Tenants-Downstairs-\/pid=9769141\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Media,&#8221; <em>Booklist<\/em>, November 1, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers:<\/strong> Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*STARRED REVIEW Sidik Fofana\u2019s exquisite debut is further enhanced by eight pitch-perfect narrators (but where\u2019s the cast list?!) who embody the collection\u2019s eight interconnected stories. \u201cBanneker Terrace on 129th and Fred Doug ain\u2019t pretty,\u201d but evictions are pending because the building has been sold to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,142,6,6535],"tags":[10693,563,6608,6668,58,10202,1292,10,11,68,51,9738,9574,13,10200,39,10696,10697,195],"class_list":["post-50196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-black-african-american","category-fiction","category-repost","tag-andre-santana","tag-bahni-turpin","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-coming-of-age","tag-depre-owens","tag-dominic-hoffman","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-identity","tag-jade-wheeler","tag-joniece-abbott-pratt","tag-love","tag-nile-bullock","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-sidik-fofana","tag-stories-from-the-tenants-downstairs","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - 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