Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires is the first story collection I finished this month (#storyseptember). Often when I read a debut, I say something like “wow! I can’t believe that was a debut!”, but that’s not true, really I can believe it, because there are aspects that feel unintentional or unpolished. With this collection, though, wow, it really is impressive that it’s a debut.

The stories in this collection almost all stand strongly on their own. They don’t need the rest of the collection to prop them up. Many of these stories are interconnected though, and it adds another dimension. I loved how creative the writing was - in the title story, she addresses the readers directly. Another story is written almost entirely in letters. I really liked this one and highly recommend it!