Faith and the Good Thing

by Charles R. Johnson

Faith Cross, a beautiful and purely innocent young black woman, is told by her dying mother to go and get herself "a good thing." Thus begins an extraordinary pilgrim's progress that takes Faith from the magic and mysticism of the rural South to the promises and perils of modern-day Chicago. It is an odyssey that propels Faith from the degradation of prostitution, drugs, and drink into a faceless middle-class reality, and finally into a searing tragedy that ironically leads to the discovery of the real Good Thing. National Book Award-winner Charles Johnson's first novel, originally published in 1974, puts the life-affirming soul of the African-American experience at the summit of American storytelling.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Novels, African American

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Charles R. Johnson is an American scholar and author of novels, short stories, and essays. Johnson, an African-American, has directly addressed the issues of black life in America in novels such as Middle Passage and Dreamer. Johnson first came to prominence in the 1960s as a political cartoonist, at which time he was also involved in radical politics. In 1970, he published a collection of cartoons, and this led to a television series about cartooning on PBS.

1990 National Book Award Winner.

Reviews

[Joe Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am torn here, as always, the stars are for how the book affected me, not for how good I think the book was. I am waffling between 3 and 4 here, and 4 and 5 stars are for things that I feel have changed me in some way, and I am not sure this has. (Changed it to 4, I did enjoy this.)

I liked it though. What happened was a friend of mine mentioned the short story "China" and I read the collection with that story "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Jonathan Franzen mentioned that he taught "Exchange Value," another story from that collection. I liked the stories, but there was a certain frenetic pace to them, a lack of pauses. There were some physical elements in "Exchange Value," some gruesome stuff, that I knew of as a firefighter that rang true when Johnson wrote about it so I though I would give his longer work a try. I thought to grab up "Middle Passage" but went with the less celebrated debut novel. I have a thing about debut novels from established writers, I like to read them before they have perfected their craft, it is very interesting.

Anyway, this is quite interesting and there is quite a bit of philosophy included here. The storyline is sort of a construct to talk about different ideas. I agree with some, not with others. It was fun to see where he was going and how it played out though. This came out in 1974 and my copy, I got it from the library, has a different cover than shown here in Goodreads, with the title in a groovy 70s font that was very cool then and horribly dated and unused now. I think I wouldn't recommend this of Johnson first, I think "Middle Passage" is probably more important than this. If you have read neither, that's probably a better place to start. Most decent Libraries should have a copy.

[Luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. A real whirlwind of a book, with Faith going through a variety of experiences that we consider archetypes of femininity, as well as the harsh culture for a black woman in the seventies in Chicago. Highly philosophical, occasionally a little too much, but that's also the style of the book, and maybe it's just a personal problem. The concept of the Good Thing is discussed with complexity, and the themes are interwoven throughout in well thought out discussions of personal philosophies embodied by a variety of characters. Faith gets put through the wringer, and it's sometimes difficult to read. Near the end, things get really rough. Then, a pitch-perfect ending that is simultaneously really weird and strangely satisfying finishes it off.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because it seemed like a short introduction to Charles Johnson (MacArthur Fellow, National Book Award Winner, genius...). Alas, spine width can be deceiving! Faith and the Good Thing feels like an extraordinarily rich and complex dream. The language enveloped my imagination andn made me want to savor every just perfect analogy. Sadly, I can't read books this way (give me plot or nothing!) and so I found it frustrating. A person who enjoys that kind of thing might find themselves in love.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a delightful mixture of human purpose, the importance of storytelling, allegory and wonderful prose. The reader is forced to consider his or her own "good thing" throughout the book, and compare/contrast it to Faith Cross's, deciding whether ours is tangible or intangible, changing or unchanging, or personal or impersonal. The long chapters made it a little difficult to get through, as there weren't many good places to set the book down, but the stories within are captivating, relevant and insightful. LOVE the Swamp Woman!

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typisch gevalletje van jammer maar helaas. Het is een interessant verhaal dat heel onsamenhangend is verteld. Dit is tevens het eerste boek dat mij als lezer het gevoel gaf dat ik door het verhaal werd gekleineerd en betutteld. Ik meot zeggen dat ik dat als zeer onprettig heb ervaren.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

not what i was expecting having first read Johnson's "Middle Passage" -- this was somber and philosophical. But thought provoking.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So unique, lots of magic and realism mixed together. I am still pondering it.