Tayari Jones really is wonderful at writing for a child’s perspective. Tasha and Rodney and Octavia are frightened of the serial killer, but unlike their parents–and this, I think, is the point for Tayari Jones–they are not primarily frightened of the serial killer. Their days are filled with the things kids worry about and adults often forget to take seriously: avoiding conflict with the popular mean girls; having new dresses even if they don’t fit; where to sit at lunch.

You will note that I am not employing my usual review format for Leaving Atlanta (affiliate links: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository). This is related to the problem I had with it. As wonderful as Tayari Jones is at evoking the atmosphere of this time period in Atlanta, that is not enough to hang a whole book on. For me. I am not the woman to appreciate interlocking slice-of-life vignettes, be they ever so well drawn. I YEARN FOR ACTION.

(In books. In life I prefer to be generally sedate.)

I yearn for, anyway, a story. That is the way a book carries me along, and without it I am lost.

Tayari Jones fans, weigh in. If I liked her writing and liked her characters but craved more plot, will I enjoy Silver Sparrow and The Untelling? Yea or nay?

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