When Yolanda Joe reads from her new novel, He Say, She Say, she raises her fingers to her ears and listens for a moment. Then she begins speaking in the sophisticated, serious voice of her protagonist, an attractive 25-year-old radio station executive named Sandy.
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“I cut the television off and called my mama, who was happily married to my father until the day he died, and she said, ‘Times have changed. There just aren’t any good men out there like your father anymore, baby.’
Joe finishes the passage, raises her hands, and pauses again before speaking in the twangy-slangy voice of Sandy’s best friend, Bebe.
“None of the things that happen in the book are factual,” says Joe. “But every character in that book is a bit of an experience of myself, of you, of everyone. You see the character and you say, ‘Yeah, I have a friend like that,’ or ‘That’s what my uncle would say.’
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo by Randy Tunnell.
