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Lädt ... Deacon King Kong: A Novel (2020. Auflage)von James McBride (Autor)
Werk-InformationenDeacon King Kong von James McBride
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. very good writing. about blacks living in housing projects in NY city. relations of blacks to Italians, Jews, Irish. The drug wars... McBride is very good as "speaking in the language of the protagonists, in this case the blacks. McBride is an excellent writer but takes on too many issues, just touching on them. he always ties up the end to fit in perfectly and this feels too contrived. I enjoyed reading the book very much,. except for the end/ I enjoyed this novel by one of my favorite authors, James McBride. He brings us to the "projects" of Brooklyn, 1969. The Causeway Houses are a fictional replacement for housing projects located in Brooklyn, at a time when drugs are overtaking the dreams of the youth and threatening the way of life for the older residents. In steps Cuffy Lambkin, aka "Sportscoat" or Deacon King Kong- an aging alcoholic gardener/deacon of Five Ends Baptist Church. Shooting the drug dealer who he once coached may seem like a random act of violence done in an alcoholic stupor, but was it? In the end, most of the characters find redemption and peace. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but that doesn't take away from the overall story. A character driven humorous crime novel, there’s nothing wrong with it except that that description does not match the description of novels I’m particularly interested in. The best part for me was when it got something across of 1970 era New York City; other than that we have the characters who are a tad stereotypical but drawn with such great humanity that you don’t really mind - in the Cause Projects you’ve got the elderly drunk, the young hotshot drug dealer, the sturdy church women, and then interacting with them are the honest cop with a good heart who is close to retirement and the Italian gangster who lives with his old mother and is looking to get out. McBride is obviously skilled at blending humor with his serious situations, but it felt like it went on a bit long to me. But then again, this isn’t the sort of novel I’d generally pick up.
In a city where history is paved over and where the present landscape is defined by scaffolding bent toward an ever-developing future, this novel resists the usual nostalgia for a lost artists’ utopia. Instead, it animates a neighborhood scrimping by and revitalizes another nostalgic sore spot — that of community. Beneath the characters and comedy is a story about how a community and its religious institutions can provide a center to keep things from falling apart completely. AuszeichnungenPrestigeträchtige AuswahlenBemerkenswerte Listen
"From James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, comes a wise and witty novel about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting. In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .45 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself. As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters--caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York--overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion. Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us"-- Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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This novel follows a cast of characters in the late 1960s Brooklyn housing projects, primarily centered around the members of a Baptist church. The title character sets off a whirlwind of a plot when he shoots the neighborhood drug lord in broad daylight. The characters are extremely colorful as is the dialogue, and the plot, though unlikely, is absolutely perfect and satisfying in every way. It took me a while to warm up to the lingo and keep the characters straight, but its worth it for this truly heartwarming story that will leave a smile on your face. ( )