An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge

*I have chosen not to count this book towards my Diversity on the Shelf challenge or my own personal diversity reading challenge because only 3/5 of the stories have main characters of color, I do not think those characters were great representation and the author of the stories is white.

On Shark Tooth's Beach

I enjoyed this story until the end. Then it became too preachy for me. I also hated the bit about mama-san and "orientals" and everyone thinking all Asians are Japanese. A bit of topical racism that could have been handled better. The whole scene would have sat better with me if Ned's mother hadn't accepted President Bob's racism and if Konigsburg hadn't used "slanted" to describe Ned's (and his mother's) eyes. Ew.

The Catchee (spoilers ahead?)

I enjoyed this story more than On Shark Tooth's Beach, but I wish the fact that Avery is black hadn't been held back for so long. I was wondering about his race and knowing he's black changes the way I thought about the story. Also, it seems like a majority (if not all) of these stories feature characters of color. I have to keep reminding myself that it was written in the 70s (not that racism is acceptable at anytime).

In the Village of the Weavers (spoilers ahead)

So far: mentions of "Indian" language (not from India... a specific language is mentioned later though), the Spanish is improperly typed (senorita instead of señorita), weird stilted language when the characters would be speaking Spanish (their native language).

I think the stilted dialogue is because Ampara is telling the story in English (this is emphasized A LOT throughout the story), and at the end it makes sense, but the whole thing could have been structured as just a story without the weird, I'm telling this to you, the reader, conceit.

At the Home

This is probably the best story in the collection. It's also the longest. It drags a little bit in the middle, but the story ended quickly, so it wasn't as didactic as all the others in the book.

With Bert and Ray

I'm disappointed that the two stories with white protagonists (I'm just guessing, but because no race was specified I'm assuming they're meant to be white. In every other story the non-white protagonist was explicitly described as not white) ended up being the best written in the book. The ending of this story is a little on the nose. All of the stories (with the exception of At the Home) explain too much at the ends. It's like Konigsburg didn't know where to go so she threw in a heavy-handed moral to tie everything up.

This story was a little repetitive with all the, "My mother never stood up to my father" stuff, but on the whole I enjoyed it.

This isn't a bad collection of stories. I don't think it's great. It's certainly not Konigsburg's best. But if you're a fan, it's not a bad way to spend a few afternoons.