THE WEIGHT OF CIRCUMSTANCES

DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE
By ZZ Packer
238 pp. New York:
Riverhead Books. $24.95

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

A few years ago, I read a terrific short story in the New Yorker’s Debut Fiction issue, which featured new, young writers. While all of the stories in the issue were good, this one story was particularly good. It captured the essence of a difficult protagonist while at the same time making her completely sympathetic. Best of all, it was so well written that I read the last paragraphs over and over, just for the sheer beauty and resonance of the words. The writer was ZZ Packer, and the story was “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.”

From time to time, I would think about that story and about Dina, the main character, who was angry, fearful, and lonely. I longed to reread the story, but in my disorganized way, I had let that issue slip out of the house (to the town library, where I donate my copies of the New Yorker), and to say that I was disgusted with myself is an understatement.

However, sometimes the disorganized get a second chance, and mine came when I discovered that Ms. Packer had recently published a collection of short stories. Miracle of miracles, not only did her new book include “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” but it was also the title. To the bookstore I went. I bought a copy of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, and on the way home, I felt a little giddy; it was as though Christmas and my birthday had come together in one happy day.

Fortunately, there was no post-holiday letdown. As to be expected, not all the stories in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere are as good as the title story. How could they be? “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” is as close to perfect as a short story can be, and perfection is a rare thing. However, all the stories have the spark that good writers bring to their work, and Ms. Packer’s writing has the same spare elegance as Anne Tyler’s writing. In fact, I found many similarities between Ms. Packer and Ms. Tyler’s work, from the disaffected main characters who don’t seem to fit in anywhere, to the settings, which often feature Baltimore. And, Ms. Packer and Ms. Tyler have the ability to completely draw the reader into the characters’ world, to make the reader care and, at times, even fear for them.

In “Brownies,” Laurel (a k a Snot), a fourth grader, narrates the story: “By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909. Troop 909 was doomed from the first day of camp; they were white girls…with…long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as spaghetti from the box. This alone was reason for hatred and envy.” This description, of course, filled me with dread, and I was afraid for both Brownie troops.

Laurel’s troop has the usual assortment of fourth-grade girls, the few who lead and the rest who follow. Arnetta and Octavia are the self-appointed leaders, who through force of personality, command and bully the rest of the girls, and Laurel wearily reflects, “I wanted nothing more to be through with it all: the bus ride, the troop, school—all of it.” I have known more than a few Arnettas and Octavias, and my sympathies were with the bookish Laurel, who while not completely at the bottom of the pecking order, is pretty close.

The story takes an unexpected turn, which will not be revealed in this review. However, by the end, there is a sadness that comes with the weight of circumstances and the knowledge that this weight will always be pressing against not only Laurel, but also her family, her friends, and even her rivals.

It seems to me that it is this weight of circumstances—of poverty, of religion, of race, of adults who neglect their children or, worse yet, die—that is the common thread in all the stories in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. There are, of course, those who dismiss the weight of circumstances. I suggest that they read The Tipping Point, a nonfiction exploration of the subject, by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, they will discover just how easily swayed people are by circumstances and surroundings. Advertisers use this all too human tendency to their advantage, as do dictators.

But I digress. In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, young African-American women (and one young man) struggle against themselves, their families, and society. For the most part, it seems to be a losing battle, but even in the bleakest moments, Ms. Packer manages to convey not defeat, but rather a weary stoicism. It doesn’t matter whether it’s cross-eyed Sister Clareese, who longs for a husband, or Lynnea, a teacher who can’t keep her class in order, or Spurgeon, whose ne’er do well father is an overwhelming force from which there is no escape. These characters will go on; we know they will. And we are on their side.

My favorite story is still “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.” Dina, a poor young woman from Baltimore, comes to Yale and tells us “Orientation games began the day I arrived…” When it comes to a game called Trust, Dina balks and the counselor states, “you don’t have to play this game. As a person of color, you shouldn’t have to fit into any white, patriarchal system.” To which Dina dryly responds: “It’s a bit too late for that.”

Indeed it is. Through the course of the story, details of Dina’s family life merge with her life at an Ivy League college, and it’s an uneasy mix. On the one hand, there are food stamps and shame and a father who “made her [mother] so scared to live in her own home that she was driven away from it in an ambulance.” On the other hand, there is Yale, with its “gothic buildings,” which might as well be a foreign country. Finally, there is Heidi, the white student with whom Dina falls in love.

However, Dina has learned to cope with the unpleasant parts of her life by “pretending” she was somewhere else, that she was “drinking coffee elsewhere.” This helped her deal with a painful reality, and it was perhaps even necessary when she was younger, but as an adult, it is not good to always dream of being somewhere else. It’s as though Dina is under some sort of wicked enchantment that prevents her from living life where she is, and it becomes a hindrance that nearly paralyzes her.

“Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” and the rest of the stories in this collection show a side of America that most people would rather not face. It deals with people who do not fit in with the American mythos. They have not pulled themselves up by those tiresome bootstraps we hear so much about. They have not made their fortune in this land of plenty. They have been left behind by those who should know better and care more. But, they have survived, and maybe, in the end, that is a kind of triumph.

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