Evans’s powerful collection renders five uniquely different women fiercely connected by threads of grace, struggle, and the triumph that is womanhood. Each story—aptly titled with a letter that, together, form the word “woman”—features a courageous woman fighting to breathe in a male-dominated world, as in “W,” following Astur, who dissociates during her dangerous childbirth, as her repressed childhood memories of genital mutilation surface, leaving her frightened but resolute in the need to protect her unborn daughter. Evans’s women face down a world that seeks to control them, but readers glimpse their inner resilience as they break the chains that oppress and confine.Trauma, sexual assault, childhood marriage, and human trafficking are prominent themes strung throughout Evans’s debut collection, and he includes stark facts illuminating the chilling prevalence of those practices at the end of the book. Those specifics paint vivid life into the collection’s central characters, as the objectification of women and their bodies rips through each story—desperate subject matter that Evans balances with tender care and well-developed prose, leaving space for a deep emotional impact. In “O,” young Jasmine fights against her mother’s “protection” to maintain her female anatomy, while New York City’s Nancy, in “M,” falls into a deep depression, on the brink of ending her life, after a brutal assault from a powerful “shareholder.” Of that terrifying encounter, Evans poignantly writes, “She was prey, ready to be swooped up by the predator.”
Fans of nuanced short story collections boosted by strong female leads will embrace Evans’s portrayal of the dark acts threatening destruction of womanhood, as he draws readers in and bridges a fiery connection with them, leaving them breathlessly hoping for each woman’s salvation from their enduring traumas. And that hope brightens even the most dismal corners of the collection, as one woman sharply reflects that “a soul bathed in hope [is] a threat.”
Takeaway: Powerful short story collection highlighting women’s resilience.
Comparable Titles: Kathleen Courtenay Stone's They Called Us Girls, Simone De Beauvoir's The Woman Destroyed.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
Woman motivates us as human beings to fight injustice against women who are abused. In his stories, V.P. Evans gives voice to those who have no voice, he grants power to those who are powerless, and he offers hope when things seem hopeless. He shows us not only what is but what could be if we as a civil world society would band together to say “no more.” Just as Woman brings together a collection of stories that opens our eyes to harsh realities, it opens our hearts so that we feel compelled to do something about it.
V.P. Evans' women's issues anthology, Woman: A Collection of Short Stories, is a stark and stunning indictment of female genital mutilation, breast ironing and other social issues affecting women both in third world countries and here in the United States. Each of Evans' stories is eloquently told and the reader can't help but feel for the characters and realize their pain. Woman: A Collection of Short Stories is well written and contains brutal truths which must be exposed to light. It's most highly recommended.
Woman is a very short collection of stories penned by author V.P. Evans which attempts to deliver a cross section of harrowing women's issues through five clearly defined lenses. From female genital mutilation to other brutal body-changing practises, rape recovery and more, the five women who spell out the word WOMAN through the book each have distinct tales to tell. What binds them is the emotive, innate sense of womanhood across all races and cultures, and what it means to live in today's world where women are still belittled for being born the gender that they are.
Five stories. Five amazing and enlightening stories about various means of suppression of women. These stories are told in the first person by women who have been forced into marriage as children, raped, or had their bodies mutilated by procedures that are customary in some cultures. Sad stories, beautifully told. The first letter of a relevant quotation at the start of each story spells the word 'woman'. V.P. Evans says he had doubts, "as an unknown writer" about his ability to "slip into the diversity and complexity of a woman's world". He need not have feared. This is an author with an impressive depth of perception and great empathy. He clearly researched his topics thoroughly. His descriptions were original and vivid. Some of the prose was magnificently poetic, and a joy to read over and over, just for the music the words made. The stories will most likely make you angry. The writing is evocative. The author compels you to walk for a while in the shoes of someone who suffered due to unspeakable wrongs, and you feel the pain. But if you appreciate writers who take you into other worlds and make you truly experience and understand the life challenges faced by others... if you appreciate writers whose writing 'nudges the world a little', driving reflection and possibly - hopefully - motivating some readers, somewhere, to take action to make the world a better place - this is a must-read.
