Group Read - Deacon King Kong general No Spoilers

[Ann]

General spoiler free discussion for James McBride's Deacon King Kong. Are you planning on reading the book?

[BarryP]

I read this last month after a member of my local face to face group said it was along the lines of Pelecanos in its depiction of urban reality. I might have compared it more closely with Clockers, but either way, as a child of the NY metropolitan area, the book had the right feel.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ooh, that makes me more excited to read it, Barry! I wondered what made you read it.

[BarryP]

From the Times- one of 10 best books of year:
A mystery story, a crime novel, an urban farce, a sociological portrait of late-1960s Brooklyn: McBride’s novel contains multitudes. At its rollicking heart is Deacon Cuffy Lambkin, a.k.a. Sportcoat, veteran resident of the Causeway Housing Projects, widower, churchgoer, odd-jobber, home brew-tippler and, now, after inexplicably shooting an ear clean off a local drug dealer, a wanted man. The elastic plot expands to encompass rival drug crews, an Italian smuggler, buried treasure, church sisters and Sportcoat’s long-dead wife, still nagging from beyond the grave. McBride, the author of the National Book Award-winning novel “The Good Lord Bird” and the memoir “The Color of Water,” among other books, conducts his antic symphony with deep feeling, never losing sight of the suffering and inequity within the merriment.

[Ann]

Barry: thanks for sharing, it is a colorful multitude of a book!

Barry wrote: "From the Times- one of 10 best books of year:
A mystery story, a crime novel, an urban farce, a sociological portrait of late-1960s Brooklyn: McBride’s novel contains multitudes. At its rollicking ..."

[Carol/Bonadie]

Barry wrote: "From the Times- one of 10 best books of year:
A mystery story, a crime novel, an urban farce, a sociological portrait of late-1960s Brooklyn: McBride’s novel contains multitudes. At its rollicking ..."

Thanks Barry. I didn't think this was going to be a top 10-er when I started it but by the end it was a definite! I'm now curious about his other books.