Things My Mother Said by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, 2014
The magic trick:
Using what at first seems like a clichéd format to tell a specific, original story
“Things My Mother Said” plays like a gimmick early on when the reader realizes it truly is, as the title suggests, a story built on various quotes remembered from the narrator’s childhood. You’ve probably read something like this before. Then again, probably not…
As you read on – and it won’t take long because the story is literally only two pages long – you see these quotes are painting a picture not often seen in American literature. This is a childhood of heartbreaking poverty. The possibility of over-familiarity or cliche initially seen in the quotes soon is revealed to be something truly specific.
And that’s quite a trick on Adjei-Brenyah’s part.
The selection:
My mother’s favorite thing to say to me was “I am not your friend.” She’d often say, “You are my firstborn son, my only son,” as a reminder not to die. She loved saying, as a way to keep me humble, “I didn’t have a mother. You’re lucky. You have a mother.”
When the TV went dark, my mother said, “Good. Now you can read more.” Then our house at the bottom of a hill lost all its life: gas, water, electric.
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