All Aunt Hagar’s Children

With only his third book in 14 years, Edward P. Jones erases any doubt that he 'œbelongs in the first rank of American letters,' said Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post. He is 'œone of the few contemporary American writers who is more interested in the world around him than he is in himself,' and his latest story collection is crowded with characters he clearly loves even though some 'œvex or infuriate him.' The collection re-creates a century in the life of black Washington, D.C., and mourns the loss of the social bonds that the sons and grandsons of slaves once enjoyed, said Laura Demanski in the Baltimore Sun. Racism is more a backdrop than a focus of the characters' struggles, though, and no one character is like another. In fact, 'œI can't remember when I last met fictional characters as autonomously alive as those who live in this book.'
A caveat: Jones may be overly nostalgic about 'œthe middle past,' said Dave Eggers in The New York Times, the period immediately following the black Northern migration.

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