Stories From the Tenants Downstairs(2022) by Sidik Fofana

1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Stories From the Tenants Downstairs(2022)

by Sidik Fofana

Harlem, New York

New York: 45/105

Harlem: 11/14

    This book is a linked collection of short-stories- somewhere between a short story collection and a novel.  It's a format that has gained popularity in recent years, and the idea behind this book- chronicling the lives of the mostly young inhabitants of a rent controlled, Harlem area apartment building, is well adapted to the linked-short-story format.  I imagine that Fofana was seeking realism in his depiction of young lives in contemporary Harlem, so it should be viewed as a compliment that I found myself impatient with the decision making process for many of these characters- proof that I was identifying with them and putting myself in their position for the duration of this book.

   This 1,001 Novels sponsored sweep through northern New York City- the Bronx and Harlem- has brought into focus certain things that I already believed- first, that any kind of measurable progress involves satisfying Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  The lowest/most necessary level of the pyramid is physiological: air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing and reproduction, and it's not surprising that many of the characters in novels set in this part of the country struggle daily with exactly those issues.   The dynamic of New York city apartment life- a world where landlords/owners are either looking to evict current tenants so they can upgrade their units OR where they are not looking to evict current tenants because they don't want to put any money into the building and just cash the rent checks- is a continuing, unresolved, ongoing crisis for thousands (tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands?) existing at the lower levels of the socio-economic ladder.

   At the same time there is little benefit derived from the joys of NYC life- these characters are literally not going anywhere the subway can't take them.  It suggests to me that the Government should intervene to upgrade the lives of those who can't fulfill the lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy- at the very least, no one should be going hungry, which happens frequently in the pages of books set in this part of America.