Book Discussion: Gorilla, My Love (Toni Cade Bambara, 1972)

"That was the year Hunca Bubba changed his name. Not a change up, but a change back, since Jefferson Winston Vale was his name in the first place. Which was news to me since he'd been my Hunca Bubba my whole lifetime, since I couldn't manage Uncle to save my life. So far as I was concerned it was a change completely, to somethin soundin very geographical weather like to me, like somethin you'd find in a almanac."

So begins the title story in this collection, in which Hazel, a young girl in midcentury Harlem, laments the treachery of grownups. From there, Bambara takes us through a wide range of slices of Black life in the 60s and 70s. The character (or maybe just the name?) of Hazel recurs several times in stories that are by turns hilarious, irreverent, and thought-provoking.

A good palate cleanser after Lolita - in this one, the kids are alright 😉