How to Wrestle a Girl

July 15, 2021
Short stories--many linked--about the fraught and fiery rituals of girl- and womanhood. Blackburn's second collection--following Black Jesus and Other Superheroes (2017)--is divided into two parts. In the first, stories that largely clock in at a handful of pages give us lightning-quick glimpses of familial and romantic relationships. The opening story investigates the link between growing up female and social media attention ("Fam"). A struggling couple visit a dog trainer thinking that the key to their problems lies in improving their dogs' behavior ("Thirteen Porcelain Schnauzers"). A biology teacher and her female student have their relationship scrutinized ("Biology Class"). In the book's second part, a clear narrative emerges over the course of the stories, as a series of disasters, minor and major, befalls a high school protagonist in Southern California. Her father dies unexpectedly of sleep apnea ("Fat"); her elbow is crushed by an errant softball pitch ("Grief Log"). Her mother goes off the rails, having an affair with a local pastor ("Black Communion") and subsequently attempting suicide ("Ambien and Brown Liquor"). The protagonist must deal with her broken family, her domineering older sister, and her burgeoning romantic feelings for her best friend, Esperanza. Ultimately, these are stories about the chaos of bodies, from menstruation to athletics, from sex to movie makeup. Rather than tell an overarching narrative, each story acts as a fragment of a wildly patterned mosaic, and through accumulation, patterns come clear, if not exactly a single picture. This structural inventiveness mirrors the formally inventive stories. There are tales structured as crossword puzzles ("In the Counselor's Waiting Room With No Wi-Fi"), as quizzes ("Quiz"), and as instructions, as in the title story. With brash humor and inventive energy, Blackburn sets her stories "on the edge of disorder" and sustains that tension throughout. Boldly styled and deeply original.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2021
Blackburn's second book of short stories is eclectic and satisfying even as it leaves readers with little closure. Part 1 is especially confounding because the stories possibly take place in some sort of alternate, futuristic reality yet are firmly grounded in current issues. There's a machine that takes the body's excess fat and prepares it for consumption, a rundown of alternate Barbies (PTSD Barbie and Sex Offender Ken), a classroom war over a turkey, and communion with ghosts. Part 2 is more straightforward, with stories focusing on a teenage girl grappling with her sexuality, the recent death of her father, and her mother's retreat into drugs and men. She finds power in her body through wrestling and falls in love with her best friend, Esperanza. Woven through both parts, and adding cohesion, are the struggles of coming of age as a Black and queer girl. Written from a distinct point of view and certainly never dull, this collection will appeal to those who enjoy experimental fiction and firmly places Blackburn as a writer to watch.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.