An excellent collection of short stories about "everyday" life - mostly featuring Black Texans, both men and women. A common theme was grief or reckoning within families, including what we will and won't do to save the ones we love (or ourselves). I thought the collection started out very strong with the first story ("The Mother") and my favorite entry was the titular "Holler, Child."

Holler, Child is a poignant collection of short stories that resonates strongly for me as a reader. Short stories are often not my first choice of reading material, simply because I don't have the chance to get attached to the characters and follow their growth--or regression. However, what LaToya Watkins does with her characters is nothing short of amazing. I found myself not needing the arc of a full fledged novel as I was drawn into these characters simply because they existed. Watkins is so skilled in developing her characters. You know who they are and the depth of their psyches; you feel like you know these people as their personalities and quirks jump off the page. She shows people in all of their flawed humanistic glory. These are not short stories with happy endings per se, instead what you have is critical moments in these characters lives and their sometimes flawed, always human responses. With Holler, Child, Watkins gives a master class in writing as she finds the story in simple moments and is able to convey the intensity of the moment with the depth of her characters. I may not read short stories regularly, but I will read anything that Watkins writes.

This short story collection covers multiple points of view about black lives in America today. Subjects touched on include racism, loss, loneliness, and injustice.
Some of the stories were interesting, some not so much. The style of writing makes some of the stories hard to read, and overall I wouldn't say the book is well written.

Holler, Child is a short. story collection consisting of eleven stories centering Black life. There are themes of motherhood, disability, marriage, child loss, racism, and more. Latoya Watkins has a gift for writing the emotional journey of internalized sadness on the page and providing readers with enough nuance to want to keep reading no matter how heavy the narrative feels. Her ability to write the inner life of Black women and to make the reader hold compassion for each character no matter the depth of trauma faced or caused continues to amaze me.

This is a powerful collection of stand along stories that help the reader consider what it means to be in pain, hold onto our pain, and have our inability to let pain go impact our ability to see clearly and not perpetuate the harm that gets caused both on a personal and interpersonal level.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!