Stories from the Tenants Downstairs

Starred review from June 13, 2022
The residents of a low-income high-rise apartment building in Harlem form the beating heart of Fofana’s dynamic debut collection. The hardscrabble tenants of Banneker Terrace tread water while their greedy landlord imposes evictions. In “The Rent Manual,” Mimi in 14D remarks on how the building houses “a little bit of everybody,” including “folks with child-support payments, uncles in jail, aunties on crack, cousins in the Bloods, sisters hoein.” Besides raising her young son, she desperately cobbles together the rent before late notices land on her doorstep again. In “The Okiedoke,” Swan in 6B nervously awaits his friend’s release from prison, while in “Camaraderie,” Dary in 12H, who is gay, has high hopes for his future while doing sex work to pay the rent. Quanneisha, the former gymnast at the heart of “Tumble,” also sees better things for herself. But the apartment walls are closing in on her and elderly Mr. Murray in 2E, who has been challenging passersby on the street to a game of chess on a plastic crate for decades, until he realizes the time for games is finally up. Fofana delivers the hardy, profane, violent, and passionate narration in Black English Vernacular, and finds the humanity in all his characters as they struggle to get by. These engrossing and gritty stories of tenuous living in a gentrifying America enchant. Agent: Ethan Bassoff, Massie & McQuilkin.

December 1, 2022

NYC schoolteacher Fofana debuts with a short story collection set in Obama-era Harlem. Each of the eight stories centers on the life of a tenant living in the newly sold low-income apartment building, Banneker Terrace. Pressure to make rent is a stressor in the tenants' already challenging lives and a common thread running throughout. As the tenants know one another and make appearances in each other's stories, this collection begins to seem like a full-length narrative rather than individual parts. Fofana's multigenerational tenants are vivid and fully developed. Within "Ms. Dallas," for example, the unharnessed energy and group-thinking tendencies of the middle-school students are captured just as naturally as the frustration and tired incredulity of the middle-aged public-school paraprofessional. The edgy and raw language against the backdrop of the city enriches and authenticates these robust characters. The audiobook is narrated by a strong multi-actor cast, including the author, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nile Bullock, Dominic Hoffman, DePre Owens, Andr� Santana, Bahni Turpin, and Jade Wheeler. Notable performances are Abbott-Pratt's narration of "Rent Manual," the author's reading of "The Okiedoke," and Hoffman's talent in "Federation for the Like-Minded." VERDICT A vibrant short story collection brimming with NYC culture and authentic characters from a debut author with an insider's perspective.--Kym Goering

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