Neighbors and Other Stories, Diane Oliver
Neighbors and Other Stories, Diane Oliver
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Neighbors and Other Stories

Author: Diane Oliver

Narrator: Emana Rachelle

Unabridged: 8 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/13/2024

Synopsis

A remarkable talent far ahead of her time, Diane Oliver died in 1966 at the age of 22, leaving behind these crisply told and often chilling tales that explore race and racism in 1950s and 60s America. In this first and only collection by a masterful storyteller finally taking her rightful place in the canon, Oliver’s insightful stories reverberate into the present day. There’s the nightmarish “The Closet on the Top Floor,” in which Winifred, the first Black student at her newly integrated college, starts to physically disappear; “Mint Juleps not Served Here,” where a couple living deep in a forest with their son go to bloody lengths to protect him; “Spiders Cry without Tears,” in which a couple, Meg and Walt, are confronted by prejudices and strains of interracial and extramarital love; and the high-tension titular story that follows a nervous older sister the night before her little brother is set to desegregate his school. These are incisive and intimate portraits of African American families in everyday moments of anxiety and crisis that look at how they use agency to navigate their predicaments. As much a social and historical document as it is a taut, engrossing collection, Neighbors is an exceptional literary feat from a crucial once-lost figure of letters.

About Diane Oliver

Diane Oliver was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. She published four short stories in her lifetime and two more posthumously in The Sewanee Review, Negro Digest, and Southern Writing. Her short story "Neighbors" was a recipient of an O. Henry Award in 1967. Diane began graduate work at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop and was awarded the MFA degree posthumously days after her death, at the age of 22, in a motorcycle accident in 1966.

About Emana Rachelle

Emana Rachelle is a New York City–based stage, screen, and voice-over actress with more than ten years of experience as a standup comedian. A proud member of both SAG-AFTRA and AEA, she has an MFA from West Virginia University, where she served as a W. E. B. DuBois Graduate Fellow, and a BFA from NYU Tisch. She also trained at The British American Dramatic Academy. She has narrated audiobooks in a wide variety of genres, including YA, fantasy, science fiction, MOCAP, and romance.

Reviews

Goodreads review by emma on December 24, 2024

may diane oliver rest in peace. i so appreciate that her stories were published and we get to read from an incredible voice, even if she was gone far too soon. these stories brilliantly explore race in america, and capture a searing image of a bygone era that is not in the distant past. bottom line:......more

Goodreads review by The Bibliophile Doctor on June 28, 2024

This is going to be a long review but I must say whether you read the review or not, do read this book. So A few months back, a book club friend asked me why do I even need Netgalley? Like what are the benefits? Those were the initial days when I started using Netgalley and even though I told her my......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on March 13, 2024

Diane Oliver was a young writer who passed away in 1966 at age 22. During her short career, she had four stories published in her lifetime and two posthumously.These six stories and eight previously unpublished works have been combined to create a collection that calls attention to the talents of th......more

Goodreads review by Stitching on March 07, 2025

It's really a shame that Oliver's life was cut so short because these stories were written in such that they were almost impossible to date and it really feels like she would have grown to be a literary giant with the caliber she was bringing at the young age she was. A couple of the stories flirt w......more

Goodreads review by luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus) on April 02, 2024

Despite collecting stories dating from the 1960s, Neighbors and Other Stories possesses a remarkable immediacy, its stories achieve a timeless quality that makes them feel as though they were written nowadays. Set against the backdrop of the 50s and 60s, these stories explore race and racism during......more

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