My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Friday, Aug. 5, 2022--San Antonio

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is a short story collection that TIME listed among the best in fiction in 2021.  It has 4 stories.  The first 3 are true short stories, and the last, the title story, is more of a novella since it takes up more than half of the 224 pages.  I was not very inspired by the first 3 stories and even quit reading the 3rd one out of lack of interest.  But the title story made up for all of that by being so good.  It takes place in the USA at a time in the future when far right militias have rebelled, when basic services are no longer functional, when right-wing gangs rule the streets with a determination to preserve the country for those who they believe truly should be here--the whites.  The story is about a group of neighbors in a mixed race neighborhood escaping the gang that has come to burn their houses and to hopefully kill the residents.  Among the leaders managing the escape is a young college student, her white boyfriend, and her grandmother (who has in the past been identified as one of the descendants of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings).  In their wild rush to escape the mob attacking the neighborhood, they manage to commandeer a public shuttle bus.  In rushing out of town, they eventually find their way to the abandoned Jefferson home Monticello where the granddaughter driving the van had worked as a student intern the previous summer.  They try to create their own society there with written rules and regulations and taking advantage of the vegetable gardens; the snacks, drinks, and clothing in the gift shop; etc.  Of course, their safety is only temporary and problems with general life as well as with the far right gangs eventually catch up with them.  Because the last story was so good, I would recommend that people read the book if only just for that last story (but with the recommendation that they feel free to skip any of the first 3 stories if unappealing to the reader).  I would rate the first 3 stories at 2-3 stars out of 5, but because the last story is so good, I gave the overall book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.