Women Up On Blocks

by Mary Akers

Whether it's a young co-ed who has lived her life succumbing to passion and authority, a woman struggling with the intense demands of motherhood, or a newlywed whose new mirror-filled home proves too... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0981628060
• ISBN13: 9780981628066
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Press 53
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

I devoured this collection!

I never like to read a whole short story collection in one go, but in this case, during a bout of insomnia, I simply couldn't stop. Each of Mary Akers' stories has a unique voice, a different tone and style, and they are quirky and poignant, thoughtful and thought-provoking. They do not tie up neatly, they linger on long after this slim book has been put down. I don't recommend reading it straight through, only because of the sense of disappointment when you read your last story, that there is no more. Of course, short stories lend themselves most beautifully to being read again, and again, revealing new layers each time, and I am already looking forward to exploring Women Up on Blocks many more times. For a longer review, read what our reviewer on The Short Review had to say: [...]

Great reading

The title is a grabber, the photo more so. I didn't know what to expect. You CAN judge this book by it's cover though. This book of short short stories of women and their lives captured me from the first page and I didn't put it down. I KNOW so many of these women! They are friends and familly members, acquantances and people I hear about. These stories touch me and I'm sure they will anyone who knows women and wish for more in their lives. Great writer. I will look for more of Mary Akers books.

Undone

I finished this book about a week and a half ago and have been meaning to write about it. But I've been trying to figure out exactly what it is that I wanted to say. I can't come up with any other word except "undone." I mean, I know that kind of sounds pretentious or too literary, but it really fits the way this book made me feel. It was beautifully brutal. I loved loved loved it, and highly recommend it.

To Be Savored, Not Gulped . . .

I sat, one particular afternoon, in the middle of downtown Phoenix, reading Women Up On Blocks. It was lunch hour, so there was plenty of pedestrian traffic, including the expected share of vehicular traffic. Yet there I sat, reading the story "No Reason Not To," all the while almost entirely oblivious to everything around me. Such was Mary Akers' ability to fully draw me into her story. Her characters have beautiful depth, flesh, and soul. Poignancy and unfiltered honesty are concepts not merely touched upon but treated with broad, colorful strokes of her brush. There's no two-dimensionality to her stories, they all breathe life and emotion one word to the next. She'll break your heart, make you smile, and even nod knowingly. The earthiness that permeates these stories is nothing less than a sometimes poetic extrapolation of little bits of life. If you care for a genuinely entertaining, thoroughly good read, then you'd do well to add Women Up On Blocks to your list. Wonderfully written, and worth every moment I spent reading it.

Collection of Great Stories

Shapely bare legs and red spike heels, rust and grease on the back of a Jerr-Dan tow truck. "Women Up on Blocks" delivers on the promise of its cover: These precisely rendered stories show women in struggle. Mary Akers uses language that is rich and clear to show us lovers and mothers, daughters and wives, struggle with lives that threaten to overwhelm them.