In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, author Z. Z. Packer’s greatest accomplishment is that, in these eight short bursts of fiction, she is able to give us a deeply real sense of so many characters and allow us to truly empathize with them. Her ability to achieve this is largely as a result of her poignant descriptions. In Packer’s stories much of the text is taken up by first person narrative and this really allows us to get a sense not only of the personality and perspective of the narrator, but of the complexities of the world around her/him. Packer gives us an appreciation of the individual, while at the same time exposing the simplicity and irrationality of groupthink and racial and cultural stereotypes. The author’s descriptions are also enhanced by her apt use of similes and metaphors. One of the finest examples being the narrator in “Brownies” comparing the other girls in her troop to rusty nails you would need to get tetanus shots for.
Although descriptive narrative dominates Packer’s work, her use of dialogue is perfectly chosen; instantly placing the reader right there at the heart of the action. This is seen perfectly in “Brownies” when at the tense standoff in the girl’s bathroom, the dialogue suddenly becomes more prevalent and increases the immediacy of the situation. With her dialogue, Packer also allows us to get a more rounded understanding of the character and in turn illustrates her own understanding of the individuals which she is describing.
