Synopses & Reviews
This huge oratorio of a novel unfolds over seven days in the life of Joubert Jones, an aspiring playwright making ends meet tending bar at his Aunt Eloise's Night Lounge. A Rabelaisian cast of characters and a Shakespearean range of voices crowd the pages of this book, an infinitely rich and suggestive tapestry of Black-American life and identity.
Review
"Simply put, Leon Forrest's massive masterpiece is the of the African-American novel." Henry Louis Gates
Review
"Almost every page offers abundant evidence that Leon Forrest is a writer of virtuosity and power. . . . A landmark in the artistic representation of social and historical reality, a rich and complex entertainment that deserves our praise, respect and gratitude." Arnold Rampersad
Review
"An adventurous masterwork that provides our literature with a signal moment. . . . This epic detective story pulls in elements of the Gothic, the tall tale, the parable, the philosophical argument, the novel of ideas, the history lesson, the novel of manners and the sort of close observation Balzac, Mann and Hemingway would have admired." New York Newsday
Review
" is that rare thing in our self-conscious and ironic age--a full-out serious work of art." Stanley Crouch New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A unanimous chorus of critical acclaim greeted this powerful novel last year--one of the most significant works of African-American fiction since Ralph Ellison's .
About the Author
Leon Forrestis the author of three previous novels. He is the chair of African-American Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.