Holler, Child is a collection of beautifully written but often grim and heartbreaking short stories.

Everyone should read this book. Latoya bridges a story about the dynamics of African American family life and the struggles of the Black family in this beautiful collection of short stories these relationships through this collection of stories are a body of work that will stick with us for years to come.

A short story collection that gets it right!

Almost every story was at least 4 stars for me. I couldn't put it down and I was so enthralled by Watkins' writing. I felt the full range of emotions and I was reminded why short story collections can be so impactful.

WOW! This is, hands down, one of THE BEST short story collections I have ever read. They are dark, gritty, tragic, and all too real. Sensitive readers be ware and check the trigger warnings before you pick this up because it has them all. Watkins writing, though, is so cinematic that I felt transported. I felt like I was an apparition in the room watching these scenes play out. The author evoked so much feeling from me in just 20 short pages per story. I hurt, I struggled, I debated, I empathized. And not a single story lulled for me. Usually, with a lot of short story books, the beginning few stories and a few at the end are usually the strong, solid anchors. Not for Watkins. Every single story is a masterpiece. This book should be in every reader’s collection and should be getting all the attention! Perish just jumped to the rob of my TBR!

This is a beautiful collection of short stories. There is so much emotional impact from each story. I understand why this is getting nominated for so many awards now.

Watkins is not afraid to write into pain and truth of complicated families. It took me a long time to finish this collection because of how layered and detailed it is. However there is healing in her stories, particularly for folks of Black communities and those who have experienced hardship. Through it all, Watkins emphasizes how important family is. The story Cutting Horse took my breath away.

This review will be edited and expanded before adding to Goodreads and IG.

From the author of Perish, this collection of short stories share a feeling of freedom and connection. Betrayal. Forgiveness. And feeling like we're just getting by. I knew the stories would be well-written and intricate, like Perish. It was. Some stories were a bit slow and more difficult to get in to. Overall. I enjoyed many of the stories.

LaToya Watkins’ Holler, Child is a collection of slice of life stories about black people striving and surviving primarily in West Texas, USA.

Gifting her characters each with a distinctly unique voice, Watkins invites readers to settle down in the midst of a variety of complicated and unsavory, yet wholly authentic situations, including a mother grappling with the consequences of her son becoming a predatory cult leader (The Mother); a husband choosing between his dog or his wife (Dog Person); a mother coming to terms with her life after her son’s father proves to be absent (Paternal); a wife carving out a bit of justice in her world after her husband’s affairs (Sweat); and a woman trying to reconcile her feelings for her invalid husband and his dog after a stroke leaves him helpless (Moving the Animal), among others.

Watkins’ stories deal with the things in life many would rather not see, the stuff they’d prefer not to think about; yet, this is life for so many. Holler, Child has grit and it has heart - Watkins is a skilled writer who paints vibrant worlds that while are often dark and dismal, also stir up the emotions. A bold and notable collection of short stories.

TW - Several instances of animal abuse and/or neglect are included in this book.

This collection can be summed up in one word: voice.

Each story in Holler, Child is carried by the strong unique voices of the narrators. From the mother whose voice begins the book, to the momma whose voice rings in the title, "Holler, child," to the strength and power of Lotrece's quiet voice, and the opposing voices of Mary & Bobbie Jean that rise and fall in the final story - each voice crying in the wilderness, a voice begging to be heard.

I think maybe Ridley's is my favorite. Maybe because living in Kansas and Oklahoma has given me a vested interest in horses and their people.
"By the time we got they attention and they star chasing us, yelling for me to stop, threatening to shoot, the horse hooves hitting the street hard and fast and seem like we lifting off the ground."

And yet, though each voice is unique, each carries the weight of a people. A weight of sadness, sure, but also the weight of family, and future, and freedom.

If you're looking for the voice of this age, you should be listening to LaToya Watkins. If you want to see into the heart of America, you should read this book.

By Joyce Sáenz Harris
10:06 AM on Aug 30, 2023

In August 2022, LaToya Watkins’ gritty debut novel, Perish, made an enviable splash with its dark, compelling themes of incest and family dysfunction. Texas Monthly called it “spellbinding” and “buoyant” in a feature story titled: “Has Texas Finally Found Its William Faulkner?” The Millions termed it “exquisite,” and The New York Times praised it as “memorable … a brave triumph.” The Associated Press said: “Like Toni Morrison, Watkins handles her characters with deep respect and care, capturing voice down to minute details and trauma in its most distilled and digestible form without sacrificing impact.”

Now, just over a year later, the Rowlett resident has published a second book, a collection of 11 stories, titled Holler, Child. These tales might remind older readers of another Texas storyteller: J. California Cooper, who had a similar gift for expressing humanity’s pain and joyfulness through her deft use of African-American Vernacular English.

If a reader stumbles and pauses over this vernacular, Holler, Child may be a challenging read. But it rewards readers if they simply allow themselves to get caught up in the dynamic narrative rhythm and the visceral texture within these stories.

For unless you live a very privileged and circumscribed life, Watkins’ characters are people most of us know, or at least people we know about. They live right here in Texas, and they touch all of our lives in myriad ways, be it intimately or merely in passing.

Watkins opens doors and windows into their homes, lives, hopes and sorrows, and in so doing opens our minds and hearts to their humanity and brokenness. Often she ends the story on a hopeful note, perhaps with the discovery of an unknown grandchild or a long-lost brother.

In “Cutting Horse,” for example, there is Ridley Johnson, a cowboy from the east side of Lubbock who loves the horses on his little ranch. Ridley also deals drugs on the side — until he meets Nicole, a Texas Tech student who is way above his pay grade, and they fall in love.

“Them pretty brown eyes and that sugar-brown skin was everything to me.” Ridley stops selling drugs and gives up his cowboy gear and his gold teeth, all to make Nicole happy.

But then they move to Dallas and buy a split-level in an HOA neighborhood full of white folks. As the Black Lives Matter movement crests, Ridley retreats into a backyard tent to read books and watch TV channels that are about two things, “animals and black men dying.” The tent doesn’t sit well with either Nicole or the HOA.

When their neighbors report that a valuable runaway cutting horse has wandered into Ridley’s backyard and is quietly grazing there, he doesn’t do what he knows he should, which is to surrender the animal to authorities. Instead, with Nicole pleading and police sirens wailing, suddenly Ridley and the horse are off: “I’m on her back, looking to her, and she taking the street to the sky with a smile on her face, like this always was our plan.”

We don’t always find out what ultimately happens to these characters. But when they make their choices, we know they are doing what they need to do. It may not be the legal, sensible or ethical thing, but it is the thing that lets them keep going somehow. This is how they endure in a perilously unfair world where the past is, as William Faulkner once said, “never dead. It’s not even past.”

Holler, Child
By LaToya Watkins
(Tiny Reparations Books/Penguin Random House; 224 pages; $28)

If you've read Latoya Watkin's debut novel 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ, you know how powerful and impactful her words can be. This collection of short stories is no different. Each story, while short, is one that grabs your attention immediately. I don't normally read many short story books, but if they hit like this, give me all the short stories. I would have loved a full book for quite a few of them! Some of my favorites were 𝑇𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐷𝑜𝑔 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑, and 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙.

I paired the ebook with the audiobook version and it was also very good as well! The narrators were phenomenal! And... two of my favorites, Joneice Abbot-Pratt, reading 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑡, and JD Jackson (aka Jakobi Diem), reading 𝐷𝑜𝑔 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛, narrated as well.

This is Latoya Watkins' second book, and she is now an auto-buy author for me. I will most definitely be purchasing a physical copy of this one. I truly hope that we get a full book out of at least one of the stories. If not, I will be patiently waiting for her next book!

great book wow. recommend having nothing else to do but read for a day or 2. the character development was great as as well as the plot.

What a captivating collection of short stories I mean out of 11 she for sure snapped with 8 of them. Somebody tell LaToya we need more EXPEDITIOUSLY!!! I’ve really grown to love short stories especially when they’re structured right and I’m not left with to many unanswered questions. Cutting Horse, Moving the Animal, and Time After were my least favorite but still thoroughly engaging as the others.

Her character development was incredible and achieved within only a few pages. We have characters that are layered and seem so realistic that she easily pulls you into their situations. There was a lot trauma, emotion, grief, and depth flowing through each story. The way some of them end I found myself wanting more. But the authors storytelling skills are immaculate you’re literally placed in the center of events that are already happening.

We have a mother being harassed by a journalists regarding her recently deceased adult son, Joshua, who claimed to be the Messiah. Then we have another that follows a woman dealing with past sexual trauma after her teenage son is accused of rape and she turns a blind eye to it. I mean there’s something in every story that stands out and makes you remember the characters. I could really go on and on about this.

Overall, the collection was great lots of trigger warnings and different themes involving sexual assault, loss of a child, marriage, abuse, betrayal, teen pregnancy, and the list goes on. If this isn’t on your TBR I highly recommend you add it. Special thanks to the author, @tinyrepbooks, & @netgalley for my advanced copy!!!

Watkins book "Perish" was emotionally brutal. Although several of the stories in this collection are a lot to process, the fact that they are short makes them easier to confront. Many of the stories have the same type of familial strands that "Perish" has and a similar location. Watkins is a powerful writer.

11 breathtaking short stories that each touch on the pain and heartbreak of humanness. A phenomenal follow up to PERISH, Watkins’ debut, as her voice and style is playful yet grounded with every story.

THAT WAS THE EASIEST 5-STAR RATING I'VE EVER GIVEN.

I am beyond myself and so very thankful to Penguin Random House, Dutton Books, PRH Audio, Netgalley, and LaToya Watkins for granting me physical, audio, and digital access to this gravely profound collection of stories that had me amazed and heartbroken after each conclusion. We, the reader, are hand-delivered stories centered around the strife and struggle that people of color encounter, whether through racist America, within their homes, or their mind, body, and soul.

Holler, Child is projected to hit shelves on August 29, 2023, and you all NEED to take my review and thoughts seriously. This book MUST be on your pre-order list!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read Holler, Child by LaToya Watkins. Beautiful. Heartbreaking.

A short story collection that takes an unflinching look at the lives of black people, the trauma inflicted in personal relationships and by the world in general.

This is such a beautiful collection of stories. Each one focuses on a different character and a different story but they’re all centered around the same shared experience of living as a Black person in West Texas. The stories are beautiful and heartbreaking and powerful. You finish each one feeling some sort of empathy and love for the kind of person each character becomes as a result of their lived experiences. It was beautifully written and so easy to read.

Holler, Child is a collection of short stories largely birthed in West Texas. The history of the region plays into the struggles and challenges that its citizens grapple with throughout the generations as shown in the tellings and remembrances. The stories are reflections and recollections of mostly African American women who search for happiness and purpose amid generational poverty, abusive relationships, familial dysfunction, and systemic racism and discrimination. Some grapple with abject poverty, unplanned pregnancies, deferred dreams, and a plethora of life’s disappointments.

The stories are at times heartbreaking in that we see so much potential lost due to bad choices (ex: collegiate pursuits thwarted due to unplanned teen pregnancy, her college pursuits sidelined because of marriage, the role of religion that limits women’s education, job/career choices, spousal preference, and mobility, etc.). There are repeating cycles of daughters making the same mistakes as their mother despite the mothers’ repeated warnings and interventions. Some of these women are tired and broken – just worn out. Some stories are cautionary tales - reflective in nature, in that women look back and wonder what their lives would be if different choices were made.

Once the book was closed, I marveled at how much there is to unpack from these stories. True to the title, some made me want to holler as one could see the proverbial train-wreck about to happen. Some characters were dealt such a rough hand so early in life (not their fault) that would dump them in a deep, dark hole that it seems like they could/would be doomed or damaged for life. However, hope lines within the pages - so nuanced such that the reader has to truly believe for the characters that they will heal, be whole, get healthy – that somehow, someway, everything will be alright – and that is a beautiful aspect of the stories.

Thanks to Tiny Reparations Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review.