Product Description

The nation's capital that serves as the setting for the stories in Edward P. Jones's prizewinning collection, Lost in the City, lies far from the city of historic monuments and national politicians. Jones takes the reader beyond that world into the lives of African American men and women who work against the constant threat of loss to maintain a sense of hope. From "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" to the well-to-do career woman awakened in the night by a phone call that will take her on a journey back to the past, the characters in these stories forge bonds of community as they struggle against the limits of their city to stave off the loss of family, friends, memories, and, ultimately, themselves.

Critically acclaimed upon publication, Lost in the City introduced Jones as an undeniable talent, a writer whose unaffected style is not only evocative and forceful but also filled with insight and poignancy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16579 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Released on: 2004-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060795283
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Young and old struggle for spiritual survival against the often crushing obstacles of the inner city in these 14 moving stories of African American life in Washington, D.C. Traveling street by street through the nation's capital, Jones introduces a wide range of characters, each of whom has a distinct way of keeping the faith. Betsy Ann Morgan, "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons," finds inspiration in the birds she cares for on the roof of her apartment building. Middle-aged Vivian Slater leads a hymn-singing group in "Gospel." The narrator of "The Store" labors to build up a neighborhood grocery; in "His Mother's House," Joyce Moses collects photographs and cares for the expensive home her young son has bought her with his crack earnings. Depicting characters who strive to preserve fragile bonds of family and community in a violent, tragic world, Jones writes knowingly of their nontraditional ways of caring for one another and themselves. His insightful portraits of young people and frank, unsensationalized depictions of horrifying social ills make this a poignant and promising first effort.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- In these 14 stories set in black neighborhoods of Washington, DC in the '60s and '70s, Jones establishes a mood and a specific sense of place, but he also presents universal hopes and aspirations. Beautifully and economically written, the selections are filled with revealing details of poverty and degradation, and yet the protagonists are survivors who look to find hope and meaning in their lives. The haunting, grainy black-and-white photographs add to the real, though slightly hazy, atmosphere and reveal the underlying grit portrayed so evocatively in the prose. A more-than-worthwhile addition. --Susan H. Woodcock, Potomac Library, Woodbridge, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
As Academy Award-nominated director John Singleton said of the violence in his film Boyz N the Hood , "It's what's goin' down in America." Jones addresses similar sociological realities in his collection of 14 short stories, writing affectingly of African American life in our nation's capital. This is not the Washington of monuments, tourists, and the federal government; rather, it is the darker side of the city. Jones describes the harsh realities of life that exist for some African Americans in our society: a young aspiring singer shot dead by her boyfriend (the father of her child), a young man thieving to earn a living, a daughter desperately searching for the "why" in her mother's stabbing death. Although these experiences will be unfamiliar to many readers, Jones instills humanity in his characters and stories. He depicts people struggling to overcome adversity and survive in a dangerous world. For popular collections.
- Kimberly G. Allen, National Assn. of Home Builders Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Phenomenal!
I have a strange suspicion that I would not have read Lost in the City if Edward P. Jones had not won the Pulitzer Prize for The Known World. And I think that would have been a big, big mistake.

This is an excellent collection of short stories, even for someone who doesn't really know a thing about Washington, D.C. or the people who live there. The stories aren't short stories in the most traditional sense - they don't end with surprising or inevitable events or revelations. But each and every glimpse into the lives of these characters is interesting, thoughtful, and specific. Jones manages to paint a colorful, human, and memorable picture of the lives of each of the characters he introduces.

Perhaps the most arresting part of his the stories, for me, is the language. There are so many passages that I will remember, but I will only share a few. In the story "Young Lions," a character named Caesar says to his girlfriend that he loves her:

"I'm glad you told me," she said. "I was beginning to wonder. You made my day."
He promised to fix her dinner before to went to Manny's and he told her once again that he loved her.
"I wish I could record that," she said, "and play it back any time I wanted."

These lines alone told me so, so much about the girlfriend, Carol, and I know that I won't forget her. Later, a character in a story called "The Sunday Following Mother's Day" notes that her father "sounded like every black country person she had ever heard, those people who talked of fetchin this and wearin britches and someone commencin to do such and such." I laughed out loud, because I, too, know some of these country people, and Jones's description is perfect. In the last story, "Marie," Jones write that Marie "was eighty-six years old, and had learned that life was all chaos and painful uncertainty and that the only way to get through it was to expect to chaos even in the most innocent of moments. Offer a crust of bread to a sick bird and you often drew back a bloody finger."

Another delightful aspect of the book is that characters don't disappear at the end of a story. The two teenage girls who appear briefly in "The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed," pregnant and moving in together, show up again as adults with 20-year old sons in "His Mother's House." Two other characters in "Rhonda Ferguson" also appear in their own story in "A Butterfly on F Street." There are a few other characters who appear twice, and I believe that several minor characters in this collection will appear in Jones's next short story collection, which should be published this year. (One of the stories was already published in the New Yorker.) I can't wait to read them all.

He is a master craftsmen
This is one of the best books and best short story collections I have ever read. Jones is so in command of his craft, it is eerie. He is like Iceman in Top Gun, he simply doesn't make false moves or mistakes. He is always in control. He writes in a spare prose but will then sneak up with beautiful imagery and word play. I am an avid reader and so I am even more impressed by this collection. The range of characters ages is wonderful, the sequencing is brilliant, and all the stories were strong, a rarity.

Just enough for the city
It seems as though some of my favorite books of all time had a strong emphasis on the setting in which they took place. Rainelle Burton ingeniously incorporated Detroit into her novel, The Root Worker. Zora Neale Hurston's writings were all heavily emphatic on the southern setting in which her characters resided. Not unlike these, Edward P. Jones' collection of short stories entitled LOST IN THE CITY not only uses Washington, DC as its backdrop, but the city's intricacies and nuances are woven together with each storyline he presents. He uses this setting so competently that we are led to the notion that the city of Washington itself is the protagonist as it jumps out as a recurring character in all of the pieces.

There truly wasn't one story that I felt lukewarm toward, however, some of them do stand out among the rest because of both their plots and characters. One of my favorites, entitled "The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed", was a day in the life of Cassandra, a tough teen who also happens to be the local vocal starlet's best friend. Throughout the course of the story, Cassandra's personality came to the forefront, allowing the reader to walk with her through her adolescent journey.

Jones is a great writer, and an excellent storyteller. His characters are the folks you know from next door, from down the street, or from the church choir. Emblazoned with universality, even those who have never been to Washington will know how it feels to be lost in its grandeur. Edward P. Jones has a novel due out this year as well. You can trust that I will be reading it.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers