Mississippi History: Stories - Softcover

Evoking neither larger emotional resonance nor a particular setting, this collection of nine stories are largely forgettable bouts with misery. Sharecroppers contrast with a conservative elite as both worlds live through difficult times. The trouble is that neither world is depicted clearly enough to capture the reader's sympathies. It's like Yarbrough's town, Indianola, Miss.: Although filled with Southern landmarks-the Piggly Wiggly, Ole Miss, the Delta-the familiar names are ciphers that substitute for setting. Again and again, the narration's broad strokes leave little to the reader's imagination. "Stay-Gone Days" and "Hungarian Stew" rely on absent emotion and lengthy flashbacks to tie up their plots, while the social and racial undertones of "Black Angus" and the title story read like contemporary parables. Unfortunately, most of Yarbrough's (Family Man) characters suffer a dull voicelessness and a dim likeness to any number of Southern cliches.
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