Rating: 
Summary: BACK IN PRINT...for 2004!!
Review: Thank the powers that be!I'm a white woman in love! This is my favorite short story collection EVER. And I'm not even a "Sista". Sorry all. I love this book and I so admire Kola Boof's valiant struggle. I have been a fan ever since I saw her on FOX NEWS and read about her online. She is such a gifted artist and a brave political thinker. I am so awed by her life story and her determination to be herself. WARNING: As herself--she is not like any other type of black woman you have ever read. She is from Africa. Her books make you uncomforable. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. She poses naked on the back of all her book covers, so let that be a warning. She is NOT the status quo type of author. She's kinda "touched". She wants to abolish men's religions and start a women's religion! But I love this book of stories so much. I can't wait for her novel "Flesh and the Devil" to come out next month. I hear its pretty wild, and although I've warned that she cuts White Women a new "a--ole" in that book, I still gotta read it. I love you Kola if you read this. It's Laurie at Stanford University!! Your books tell it like it is. They entertain and they are so incredibly different from everything else on the market. You have no competition, because you are one of a kind. A true African goddess. Please come to Stanford University when you start doing readings!! I give this short story collection 5 stars. MY FAVORITE STORIES in the book are "Day of Vow", then "Black America Diva Girl", then "The Lioness", then "Boy Magic". Each one of those stories would make a good movie or a good novel all by themselves. ENJOY!!! But beware. It's the strange world of Kola Boof!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and Eclectic Mix...
Review: The Long Train To The Redeeming Sin by Kola Boof is an interesting and
eclectic mix of short stories and poetry that are pro-Africa and pro-woman.
Boof, a Sudanese-American woman, writes in story teller's fashion and
weaves tales that transport readers to Africa. The stories are folksy and could easily make the transition to verbal telling
because they are charismatic and richly layered. Many of the stories speak of
the relationship between Black people and Mother Africa and make comparisons
between Black people born in Africa and Black people stolen from Africa
generations ago. Equally as interesting as the stories is Boof, herself. From her introduction
to her author interview at the end to her semi-nude photo on the book cover,
readers will find themselves searching for validation of truths in Boof's
characters and from Boof herself. Boof tells compelling tales that if the
reader looks closely will hit home, time and time again. Reviewed by Diane Marbury (HonestD)
Rating:
Summary: I PREDICT....These 2 Women!
Review: Z.Z. PACKER VS. KOLA BOOF.
THEIR "DUET" APPEARANCE IN YET A THIRD SHORT STORY COLLECTION.
I've read two masterful short story collections in the last 7 days, both by new up and coming Black Women writers (Z.Z. Packer's awesomely nuanced "Drinking Coffee" and Kola Boof's disturbing "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin"), and I find it downright painful to say which one I like better. Both collections, to me, are masterpieces. I give them both 5 stars.
Why am I mentioning these two very different women in the same breath? KEEP READING and you'll find out!!
This sensible rainy day collection by Z.Z. Packer ("DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE") is much more publicized by the mainstream media and known to the public, but I can't say that all the praise and adulation isn't well deserved. Z.Z. Packer writes better than Kola Boof, I think, in that she's more focused, professionally trained and clinical. Each story in "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is really rendered as a slice of real life, the author's personal views seeming to be cleansed from the canvas so that the nuances and absurdities of life can seep through, very suttle yet very powerfully. It's amazing how skillful and calm Packer's writing is considering the ferocity of the inner themes, but she pulls it off with such a masterful ease that you almost feel that you're reading a hybrid of Hemingway and Alice Walker with a little Percival Everett (whom I love!) mixed in.
My favorite story, the one that sticks with me, is the one about the little prejudiced black girls. It's a hoot!
"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is a calm, subdued but very powerfully written debut and I look forward to her upcoming novel about Buffalo Soldiers.
As for Kola Boof's "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin", all I can say is WOW. It's hard to describe the book because the author is so non-author-like. Unlike Packer, Kola Boof is from Africa and was never formally educated. Kola Boof's style is totally unorthodox and preachy in a sense, but then so earthy and truthful and emotional in another sense that you simply cannot look away from her creations. She writes like a singer. Her collection is powerful like Packer's "Drinking Coffee"--but ultimately more passionate and shocking. These stories of African women facing issues like skin color prejudice, hair anxiety and genital mutilation and rape by white colonizers is handled so sweeping and matter-of-factly and with such authority that of the two collections, I have to give Kola Boof's the nod for being more unforgettable.
THE REAL TREAT...is that both these two black women writers appear together in the very hip, witty short story collection "POLITICALLY INSPIRED" (edited by Stephen Elliot), showcasing a two very different stories, that somehow (to me), resonate with the same level of consciousness and sadness about one theme--"death and loss".
Kola Boof's story in "POLITICALLY INSPIRED" is the more showy and adventurous one, and actually, it flat out satisfied me more than Packer's contribution, but the voices of the two writers continues to intrigue me as they are both young black women, new on the scene and much talked about. It will be fun to see which of these girls--Z.Z. Packer, Suzan Lori Parks, Kola Boof or ZADIE SMITH takes over the mantle from Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm PREDICTING that the classy, somber Z.Z. Packer and the provocative, wild and mysterious Kola Boof are the clear and present frontrunners. They're both AWESOME and unique, but also seem to write from some driven inner voice, politically, sexually and racially, much like Morrison and Walker once did.
Anyone who reads "Drinking Coffee" and "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin" will see what I mean.
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