I’ve gotten back into reading this year, which also means getting great value out of my library card once again. I just finished Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley. It was the second book from Mosley I’ve read so far this year (third overall) and like the other one, it was a real good read. His characters are so alive in the place he puts them-mentally, physically and spiritually, you begin to feel a part of yourself being revealed as you turn the pages. A few major reasons I enjoy Walter Mosley’s writing is his ability to create black characters (especially the male characters) that are intelligent and exposed to more than ‘the hood’, but are still genuinely intertwined into the fabric of the neighborhood. And after reading these last two novels, I’ve also grown to appreciate the emotional honesty Mosley charges his protagonists with. It’s raw emotion, human frailty and real-life redemption wrapped into one.
Not all novels have that power nor do all authors have that skill.
Reading Mosley is a latent decision I made well after my father suggested him to me years ago in an attempt to integrate more black authors onto my reading list. As I have done with several things my father (and life in general) has offered me, I delayed action out of lack of interest, willful exclusion and honestly, out of spite.
I guess I just laid the groundwork for a near-future entry on the blog here, didn't I?
As it turns out, it took me seeing Laurence Fishburne star in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned to trigger my memory that my father purchased that book for me as a gift that I hadn’t read up to that point. The movie was good, but the book was better as I’m sure my father already knew.
I have some catching up to do and a mini-goal for the rest of the year: Read all of Walter Mosley's books from the Easy Rawlins series (at least).
No comments:
Post a Comment