"Scissors taught me - is this not why we write, why we read? - that the writign is wiser than I. My characters, and at times my narrative voice, made observations that had never before occurred to me before their writing" 
- Fenton Johnson (in the updated afterword of 'scissors, paper, rock')

I read and loved this book when it first came out in 1993. Re-reading it years later, maybe with some more appreciation for the craft of fiction, I love it even more.

A novel woven out of stories from different times and places, each with a different main character is wonderful. The characters (most from a Kentucky family) bring their own intrigues, each acutely aware of constraints life has dealt, by culture and psyche. You can still see/feel them dreaming as they struggle.The through line is a neighbor with her own secrets.

Read this and see what you think yourself. I found it worthwhile.