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I’m not the intended audience for this collection, Get Down, by Asali Solomon, which is mostly about young African American girls growing up in Philadelphia, but some of it speaks to me anyway. The most powerful story here is “First Summer,” which is about a young unmarried couple with a new baby and how they are both struggling to do the right thing. The father, Rufus, is tempted to stray when he meets a girl he knew in high school, but he hates doing it. Plus, he knows it isn’t the end of temptation, but for now he does the right thing–more or less.
It’s a fine debut collection; the novel she’s working on should be more rewarding.
