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  1. $19.60 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

The Man in My Basement: A Novel

by Walter Mosley

The Man in My Basement: A Novel Cover

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"[I]f this is crime fiction, it's of a rarefied variety, hewing closer to Paul Auster than to Raymond Chandler....The Man in My Basement is an eerie book, the more so for making no obvious attempt to creep out its readers. It hovers between the prosaic world of the genre writer and the spooked parables of Kafka....The novel turns out to be a mystery after all, but one that Mosley is far too good a writer to solve for us." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"I can make it worth your while."

The man at Charles Blakey's door has a proposition almost too strange for words. He wants to spend the summer in Charles's basement, and Charles cannot even begin to guess why.

The beautiful house has been in the Blakey family for generations, but Charles has just lost his job and is behind on his mortgage payments. The money would be welcome.

But Charles Blakey is black and Anniston Bennet is white, and it is clear that the stranger wants more than a basement view. There is something deeper and darker about his request, and Charles does not need any more trouble. But financial necessity leaves him no choice.

Once Anniston Bennet is installed in his basement, Charles is cast into a role he never dreamed of. Anniston has some very particular requests for his landlord, and try as he might, Charles cannot avoid being lured into Bennet's strange world. At first he resists, but soon he is tempted — tempted by the opportunity to understand the secret ways of white folks. Tempted to understand a set of codes that have always eluded him. Charles's summer with a man in his basement turns into an exploration of inconceivable worlds of power and manipulation, and unimagined realms of humanity.

Walter Mosley pierces long-hidden veins of justice and morality with startling insight into the deepest mysteries of human nature. Surprisingly original and compelling, The Man in My Basement is a literary feat from "one of the country's best writers" (Denver Post).

Review:

"This is fine, provocative writing from the prolific Mosley, whose gifts extend well beyond his excellent mysteries." Keir Graff, Booklist

Review:

"The novel, written in adorned prose that allows the ideas to breathe, will hold readers rapt....[Mosley] again demonstrates his superior ability to tackle virtually any prose form, and he is to be applauded for creating a rarity, an engaging novel of ideas." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"[A] boldly understated fable....Even given the resulting lack of suspense and a story that falls off sharply by the end, this slender parable is Mosley's most provocative and impassioned novel yet." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Mosley fans expecting a mystery might be disappointed, but this thought-provoking novel will satisfy those with literary tastes. Highly recommended." Library Journal

Synopsis:

Stepping away from his summertime thriller series featuring Easy Rawlins and Fearless Jones, Mosley delivers a literary novel of astonishing originality and power.

Synopsis:

- The resounding praise that greeted this novel placed it firmly in the tradition of such classics as Camus's The Stranger, Malraux's Man's Fate, and Ellison's Invisible Man.
- A novel fueled by big ideas, certain to provoke impassioned debate in reading groups.
- A book that confirms Walter Mosley's reputation as a novelist of prodigious range, the author of bestselling mysteries, speculative fiction, and important literary fiction. He has received a Grammy Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Award, and many other honors.
- Hardcover

About the Author

Walter Mosley is the author of the bestselling Easy Rawlins series of mysteries, the novel R.L.'s Dream, and the story collection Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. He was born in Los Angeles and has been at various times in his life a potter, a computer programmer, and a poet. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in New York.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780316570824
Author:
Mosley, Walter
Publisher:
Little Brown and Company
Location:
Boston
Subject:
General
Subject:
Race relations
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Suspense
Subject:
Identity
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Power (Social sciences)
Subject:
Home ownership
Subject:
Landlord and tenant
Subject:
Los angeles
Subject:
Power
Subject:
African American men
Copyright:
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Series Volume:
UT-02.16
Publication Date:
January 5, 2004
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Pages:
249
Dimensions:
7.24x5.30x.96 in. .64 lbs.

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