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Shadow of My Brother
A mesmerizing tale of racial violence and redemption in a small Southern town.The New York Times.
- GenresLiteratureNovels
Paperback
First published April 1, 1992
About the author
Davis Grubb
85 books56 followersFrom Wikipedia
Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his color blindness was a handicap he could not overcome and he gave up on painting to dedicate himself to writing fiction. He did, however, make a number of drawings and sketches during the course of his career, some of which were incorporated into his writings.
In 1940, Grubb moved to New York City where he worked at NBC radio as a writer while using his free time to write short stories. In the mid 1940s he was successful in selling several short stories to major magazines and in the early 1950s he started writing a full length novel. Influenced by accounts of economic hardship by depression-era Americans that his mother had seen first hand as a social worker, Grubb produced a dark tale that mixed the plight of poor children and adults with that of the evil inflicted by others.
The Night of the Hunter became an instant bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. That same year, the book was made into a motion picture that is now regarded as a classic. Deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Grubb went on to write a further nine novels and several collections of short stories. His 1969 novel Fools' Parade would also be made into a motion picture starring James Stewart. Some of Grubb's short stories were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock and by Rod Serling for his Night Gallery series.
Grubb died in New York City in 1980. His novel Ancient Lights was published posthumously in 1982, and St. Martins Press published 18 of his short stories in a book collection titled You Never Believe Me and Other Stories.
His longtime canine companion was a Lhasa Apso named Rowdy Charlie.
Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, his color blindness was a handicap he could not overcome and he gave up on painting to dedicate himself to writing fiction. He did, however, make a number of drawings and sketches during the course of his career, some of which were incorporated into his writings.
In 1940, Grubb moved to New York City where he worked at NBC radio as a writer while using his free time to write short stories. In the mid 1940s he was successful in selling several short stories to major magazines and in the early 1950s he started writing a full length novel. Influenced by accounts of economic hardship by depression-era Americans that his mother had seen first hand as a social worker, Grubb produced a dark tale that mixed the plight of poor children and adults with that of the evil inflicted by others.
The Night of the Hunter became an instant bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. That same year, the book was made into a motion picture that is now regarded as a classic. Deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Grubb went on to write a further nine novels and several collections of short stories. His 1969 novel Fools' Parade would also be made into a motion picture starring James Stewart. Some of Grubb's short stories were adapted for television by Alfred Hitchcock and by Rod Serling for his Night Gallery series.
Grubb died in New York City in 1980. His novel Ancient Lights was published posthumously in 1982, and St. Martins Press published 18 of his short stories in a book collection titled You Never Believe Me and Other Stories.
His longtime canine companion was a Lhasa Apso named Rowdy Charlie.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 21, 2026
The hate and racism of an angry overprotective brother casts a long, dark shadow over his younger sister; he is obsessed with her, the idea of her as pure, virginal and loveless; two young lovers witness a policeman, (the father of one of the lovers) and his cohorts, lynch a black child. They must run away, for fear they are found to have seen and thus silenced; yet they know what they are running from can’t be distanced, and that knowing is even darker and more frightening than the murder they’ve agreed never to speak of.
A story about ugliness, and yet the writing is so gorgeous it makes the ugliness hit all the harder! Amazing ideas about society and the darker side of human nature are explored with the signature imagery and heart that makes Davis Grubb one of the most remarkable American writers of the 20th century.
A story about ugliness, and yet the writing is so gorgeous it makes the ugliness hit all the harder! Amazing ideas about society and the darker side of human nature are explored with the signature imagery and heart that makes Davis Grubb one of the most remarkable American writers of the 20th century.
April 1, 2008
This book was both better and worse than I had hoped it would be. It was better as it tried for more. And it was worse because it didn't quite succeed.
It is a book about racisim and family. Love is marginally thrown in there, though it appears to be there more than it is. We are all the shadows of our brother. If there is racisim, it is also in each of us.
It is not a page turner and does require a bit of contemplation about what is being said. And there are some sections that are enough to bore you to tears; pedantic and endless.
The writing itself was interesting in that stories within the narrative are not clearly delineated, flowing from one into the next, overlapping. The first chapter has none of this. It is a straight forward psychological story. But second chapter switches to the overlapping style and is predominant throughout the remainder.
While the book was good, it was not good enough for me to pursue another by the same author.
It is a book about racisim and family. Love is marginally thrown in there, though it appears to be there more than it is. We are all the shadows of our brother. If there is racisim, it is also in each of us.
It is not a page turner and does require a bit of contemplation about what is being said. And there are some sections that are enough to bore you to tears; pedantic and endless.
The writing itself was interesting in that stories within the narrative are not clearly delineated, flowing from one into the next, overlapping. The first chapter has none of this. It is a straight forward psychological story. But second chapter switches to the overlapping style and is predominant throughout the remainder.
While the book was good, it was not good enough for me to pursue another by the same author.
September 29, 2023
A brooding, talky, almost reflexively pessimistic take (both despite and because of its rushed, anti-climax climax, which tacks on a hint of future catharsis somewhere, but not on the page itself) on the longue durée of southern race relations, featuring one of the more reprehensible characters, I'm sure, to appear in the middlebrow pages of midcentury Book-of-the-Month-Club-ish circles, to whom Grubb doesn’t even have the decency to give a comeuppance.
March 26, 2017
Read back in the 80s.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews