Book Review of Break Any Woman Down - Dana Johnson
In the review essay I will be referring to the
following material: Dana Johnson and Charles East, “Break Any Woman Down”. The
book consists of compilation of multiple short stories. This book was published
in 2001. The central theme of the book revolves around feminism. Women sexuality was considered as a
taboo for a very long time, and women expressing their sexuality were not
excepted easily in the society and sometime considered as prostitutes. But in
this particular book Dana Johnson has mainly focused on women discovering their
sexual identities in relation to men in their lives. The intimacy that women
feel towards men is explicit in the book.
Also the language used is very strong, straightforward, intimate and
vibrant in nature. Also the book focuses on racial identity.
One story in the book is of three ladies drinking tea in the Persian garden and talking
amongst themselves about the whereabouts about them and their relationship with
their men. They also have arguments but get along very well. They share
intimate relations with one other. The language used in the story is not
censored and is very straightforward. It was womanhood and sisterhood that made
them spell out their secrets to each other. They were confident of themselves
and also comfortable with each other.
The
book involves a lot of explicit sexual activities and sexual connotations. The
book gives a voice to women’s expression of sexuality and her preferences. One
more story in the book is about a girl Avery falling in love with a boy named
Melvin. The title of the story is Melvin in the sixth grade. In this also the
sexual feelings of the girl are depicted openly and in explicit manner, so much
that in the story she is been heard out from her room and her brother warns her
that he will complain to their father. Avery had Melvin in her mind all the
time and fantasized about him. She treated him like her entire world and she
didn’t feel ashamed about it. The book
also consist of a story of La Donna a black stripper whose white boyfriend
working in adult film industry stops her to be a stripper and the tussle
between them is very vivid and grave.
The entire book is fascinating because of the language depiction it has which gives essence to the book.
Reviewer: Ruth D’mello, Roll no: 10
Bibliography:
Johnson, D. (2012). Break any woman down : Stories. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
https://images.app.goo.gl/gZusWmahrtu4zZjr8
Johnson, D. (n.d.). Break any woman down. Google Books. Retrieved October 19,2021, from
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