I had never come across this short story before so I was delighted to receive a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Don't let the size of this book deceive you of its quality. As with all her stories, Morrison's writing is powerful, intelligent and full of purpose. Morrison follows the lives of two girls, Twyla and Roberta, whose race are kept ambiguous- all we know as a reader is that one girl is white and the other is black but we are never told which is which. Morrison makes the point that the world isn't so 'black and white' as people make out and causes us to confront our own racial assumptions. As Smith rightfully states in her introduction, this story is an experiment, and 'the subject of the experiment is the reader'. This beautiful edition also includes an introduction by Zadie Smith who provides an incredible reading and analysis of the text, forcing the reader to question oneself and our own interpretations and responses to this short story.

Morrison wrote eleven novels during her career. She wrote only one short story, and this is it. The introductory essay by Zadie Smith is what every introductory essay should be. It's fascinating and offers so much insight into the story to come. I confess that I often get bored and skip through introductions, but not this one. Effectively you are getting works by two brilliant authors for the price of one. Recitatif was planned by Morrison as a thought experiment. Roberta and Twyla meet in a children's home at the age of eight. We are told from the outset that they were not supposed to like each other, because one of them was black and the other white. Despite this, they find that their shared experiences give them a basis for a friendship which endures, with the odd falling out, until they are middle aged, married women. We never discover which of them is black and which is white and it is our response to the question which is so fascinating. The story acts as a prism through which we tease out our own ideas and prejudices about race. It is completely fascinating to examine ourselves in this way and it gives the story a whole new dimension. Regardless of what you find out about yourself from reading this, it only confirms what I already knew, which is that Morrison was a genius writer. In forty, short pages, she fleshes out two, complete human beings with such economy of line and grace that it's hard to believe that all that is packed into so few words. It's almost poetry the language is so rich and yet it never feels anything less than matter of fact. It's stunning.

So this is the only short story written by Toni Morrison, it was reportedly a thought experiment. It is for sure excellent and thought provoking. The introduction essay from Zadie Smith is also excellent and really adds to the book. Very happy to recommend.