ZZ Packer, "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," "Brownies" chapter

When I read ZZ Packer's descriptions, such as, "A few seemed to be lolling their heads in slow circles, half purposefully, as if exercising their necks, half ecstatically, like Stevie Wonder," — I snorted out loud in laughter.

She is to be praised for he ability to nail — to a "T" — a mental image, a perfect description of a person, a scene, an idea, etc.

In the "Brownies" chapter of "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," which is about two girl scout troops — one predominantly black, the other white — a few of the black girls become upset over a white girl calling one of them a nigger. This sets up a scene where Packer, again, creates brilliant imagery. For me, it's the exactness of her words that really makes me feel good as a reader, and as one who can relate to her out-of-the-ordinary, yet appropriate, references. So, while the black girl Arnetta says she wants to "teach (the white girls) a lesson for calling us niggers," she is sitting down cross-legged, as Packer describes it, "like an embittered Buddha."

"An embittered Buddha." If those three words had ever been strung together before, Packer should be sued for plagiarism. Packer is already one of my favorite authors, and I've only read one chapter of her book.