Short, and, if not quite sweet, then poetic, insightful, and illuminating. One of the many discoveries made during my Brat Pack project is the revelation of writers I had dismissed, or never heard of. Jacqueline Woodson is in the second category; her path lies more with poetry and children, which do not cross my path. But she manages to skillfully fuse the two, in her first novel, "Another Brooklyn," a story of four girls growing up, then apart, in 1970's Bushwick.
August, Sylvia, Angela and Gigi are best friends during their girlhood years. Woodson shows the importance of emotional bonding at that age, and how, though most share the notion it will last forever, Life shows that it really doesn't.
The novel is not sad or depressing, just revelatory written in gorgeous, almost poetic prose that manages to encapsulate incidents in ways it might other writers pages to convey. Which is why, despite this book's brevity, it is wonderfully effective.
Woodson may be done with these four girls, but I am not done with Woodson. I want to hear more from her.
The modern New York writers, unlike the Brat Pack, are more willing to venture outside Manhattan. And that can be refreshing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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