Weekly Reader: All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones; Anthology is Filled With Memorable Slice of Life Stories and Characters

Weekly Reader: All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones; Anthology is Filled With Memorable Slice of Life Stories and Characters

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Edward P. Jones knows a lot about writing stories about African Americans in Washington DC. He grew up in D.C. and was familiar with the various ethnic groups and income levels of people who lived there. His book All Aunt Hagar's Children is an anthology filled with excellent stories about African Americans in the nation's capital. The title comes from an expression that his grandmother used to say that African Americans are the “children of Aunt Hagar” (the concubine of Abraham the biblical character.)

Even though it is set in D.C., the stories are free of politics. Civil rights receive some mention and some characters trace their lineage back to slavery.

The majority are slice of life tales involving relationships between lovers, parents and children, family members, and friends. They are filled with rich characters caught up in situations that cause them to question the world around them.

The stories are very well written but the ones that stand out are:


"In The Blink of God's Eye"- Aubrey and Ruth, a married couple in the early 20th century have problems in their marriage.
Aubrey suffers from the memories of his childhood when his philandering mother left his father. His wife, Ruth becomes attached to an abandoned baby that she cut down from a tree.Aubrey's past traumas with his mother make it very difficult for him to bond with the baby to the point that he isolates himself from Ruth.

"Old Boys, Old Girls"-The life of a convict during and after his imprisonment for second degree murder. Caesar, the protagonist, is never wholly unrepentant. He is portrayed as someone who has grown comfortable with the daily routines in prison and his rivalries with his fellow convicts but stumbles when his time out of the slammer is through.

Caesar's culture shock is felt as he tries to reconnect with estranged family members and an old flame who has her own issues. Caesar's reunion with his ex takes a very Gothic turn that causes him to isolate himself further.

"All Aunt Hagar's Children"- A Korean War vet investigates the murder of his cousin before he leaves for a new life in Alaska. The narrative is clever as it plays on hard boiled detective stories and gives a character who is dry, witty, and uses that dry wit to discern the truth.

When his aunt weeps how they killed her son, Ike, the narrator muses that Ike “was only one of sixty-six people who were murdered the year I was away.” The story not only plays on the detective genre but also reveals the changing nature of family ties as the Narrator interrogates various family members and is forced to reveal secrets about his cousin that they wished he hadn't.

"Root Worker"-While many of Robinson's stories are set in the real world, he takes a dip into fantasy and magical realism on occasion. “Root Worker” and the following two stories have a more fantastic bent but still retain Jones’s rich writing and excellent characterization offering people caught up in difficult situations with the people around them.

“Root Worker” is a strange metaphysical story about a young medical student caught between the worlds of modern medicine and voodoo. She studies medicine but still has a toe in the folk medicine of the past. The descriptions of the spiritual aspects are memorable as one patient feels like “witches are all over her.”

Jones neither condemns nor favors magic or science. Both paths are treated with respect and neither are any better or worse than the other. The medical student ultimately respects both paths as different means of achieving the same purpose.


"The Devil Swims Across the Anacostia River"-A dark comic tale is a modern day send up of the Faust tale.
A woman is tempted to sell her soul to someone who might be the Devil. This story offers a few clever twists to this old legend in which the Devil appears in a fancy suit, purple tie, and expensive shoes. He is less the Prince of Darkness and more like the CEO of Slightly Dim Lighting.
The Devil's dialogue with his victim is clever as he tries to verbally trick her into the contract but she outwits him.

"Tapestry"-Another Jones story about an unhappily married couple but with a more fantastic bent. The two are at an emotional crossroads and are contemplating separation.
While the two have real world issues, the story is filled with paragraphs that suggested an alternate fate for the characters suggesting that if they had gone one way instead of another, their lives would have been different. For example the female protagonist takes a train and the narration says if she missed the train, she would have met and married another man, gave birth to his children, and died after a long and happy marriage. Unfortunately, the narration then says she met a baggage handler on the train and the two entered an unhappy marriage. This is the perfect story for Readers who are obsessed with turning points in their lives and wondering how their lives would be different.

Even though his stories are short, Edward P. Jones give us some brilliant characters in brilliant situations whether real or fantasy as their lives and relationships change.