Review 2005-061: Break Any Woman Down by Dana Johnson

Dana Johnson has culled together a collection of nine excellent stories that show her to have excellent control of character development and voice.  Her characters are very diverse - no story feels like it is a retread of any other in the collection.

The title story has La Donna, a stripper, moving in with her porn actor boyfriend and quits her job (at his demand).  She begins associating pretty much only with his acquaintances.  Over time she becomes friends with his friends and one in particular, Frankie, who claims he hasn’t had sex in over four years due to the fact that he’s fat.  She knows that Bobbie tells Frankie every single detail of their sexual life and doesn’t seem to mind at all.  When Frankie begins working her mind, talking directly to her and not through Bobbie is when the breaking down of the title occurs.

The collections opens with Melvin in the Sixth Grade.  The narrator is also in the sixth grade and has just moved to the Los Angeles suburbs from south central L.A.  The only African-American in her class, she is the one left out, made fun of and pointed to for the first half of the school year until Melvin moves into town from Oklahoma.  Johnson’s examination of how she tries to use Melvin to fit in, and how that fails is a great look at how we are often more than willing to step on others to get up into the popular sphere.

Mouthful of Sorrow has a young girl sitting on the porch with her grandmother listening to her tell the story of her youth.  Specifically, about her best friend and how she was treated by her boyfriend back when they were young women.  The tale goes back and forth between happy and sad but mainly shows how her grandmother gave up a bit of her own happiness to make sure her friend didn’t lose her own.

What Johnson’s characters all seem to be doing is trying to determine, through these stories, who they are and what they want to be doing.  They find themselves in situations that get them to thinking about their lives and just how happy they are, or could be.  While the stories are similar in this fact, it’s a pleasure to read about characters that are not all that similar, or finding themselves in situations that are the same over and over again.  She infuses her stories with grittiness, but also with humor, though often dark.  The combination makes for a satisfying read.

4 stars