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mxmarks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mumsie_2's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alexanderh's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Chester Himes has a true talent when it comes to language. His descriptions are so beautiful, making even those of the slums and their stench appealing within their disgustingness. Himes is also very adept at describing high-action scenes and making Harlem alive and populated. While the women were often sexualized, every character felt well-rounded and real.
tittypete's review against another edition
4.0
There's a guy running a scam were he pretends to be a preacher who wants to take his flock back to africa. But ... he really just taking money and skipping town. But ... he gets robbed by some white guys who want to get the blacks of Harlem to go back to the south and pick cotton like they used to. Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones are on the case which means people need to get shot.
lgpiper's review against another edition
3.0
So, while I was reading Mosley, Easy Rawlins and a friend of his get into a discussion as to who is the greatest African American novelist, Chester Himes or Ralph Ellison. One or the other of them opts for Himes because he wrote more books and also because he wasn't afraid to show all society's shit. Whatever, I figured I should check out Chester Himes. I think he might be the African American equivalent of Raymond Chandler, i.e. a writer of hard-boiled detective fiction, albeit from an African-American perspective.
In this book, I've been introduced to Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. Apparently, this is the 7th book about Grave Digger and Coffin Ed, but the first I've read. Anyway, they are two New York Detectives who mostly work the Harlem beat. The only cops the people of Harlem would ever trust would be black cops. This book involves fraudsters, both black and white, robbing from each other. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed find a way to ensure justice for the defrauded poor people, in a way that doesn't involve white courts, which would likely punish the criminals without ensure reparations. Something like that. Whatever, it was rather an interesting, if rough, story and I'll likely take another fly or two at Himes. He'll teach me about a whole different world that the one in which I've lived for the last many decades.
Interesting that as I read this book, and the one by Walter Mosley that prompted me to read this book, the blow up in Ferguson, MO was going down. It seems that the African American community still can't trust white cops to protect them and provide justice to their communities.
In this book, I've been introduced to Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. Apparently, this is the 7th book about Grave Digger and Coffin Ed, but the first I've read. Anyway, they are two New York Detectives who mostly work the Harlem beat. The only cops the people of Harlem would ever trust would be black cops. This book involves fraudsters, both black and white, robbing from each other. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed find a way to ensure justice for the defrauded poor people, in a way that doesn't involve white courts, which would likely punish the criminals without ensure reparations. Something like that. Whatever, it was rather an interesting, if rough, story and I'll likely take another fly or two at Himes. He'll teach me about a whole different world that the one in which I've lived for the last many decades.
Interesting that as I read this book, and the one by Walter Mosley that prompted me to read this book, the blow up in Ferguson, MO was going down. It seems that the African American community still can't trust white cops to protect them and provide justice to their communities.
mnboyer's review against another edition
4.0
Get ready for a lot of mother-raping and cotton bale seduction.
This is an interesting African-American crime/detective novel that reads similar to pulp fiction of the 1920s. The story involves Deke, a criminal pretending to take money from African-American families so that they can buy passage on a ship back to Africa, where they'll become farmers. Clearly, he just wants to steal their money and bail (pun intended). However, before he can run off with the money, it gets stolen by a Colonel that wants to use the money to pay African-American families to return to the South in order to pick cotton. Enter two detectives that are going to get to the bottom of things and return the money to the hard working families that had invested in the idea of returning to Africa. And, of course, enter two ladies in love with Deke that are sexualized--then, later, enter another woman that is a lesbian with one of Deke's love interests (no, really, this happens!).
I was on the border of giving this 3 or 4 stars and decided to round upwards. The story itself is a bit far fetched, but I suppose that made it interesting. I was not a fan of some of the violence against women (inflicted both by the detectives, other women, etc.) but it added a touch of realism. The book just lost me towards the end--especially when Sorry, but Himes lost me there. Don't get me started on the last three pages of the book... a complete let down (almost worthy of three stars). But because this was a quick read that kept me interested I decided to round up and give four stars for creativity.
This is an interesting African-American crime/detective novel that reads similar to pulp fiction of the 1920s. The story involves Deke, a criminal pretending to take money from African-American families so that they can buy passage on a ship back to Africa, where they'll become farmers. Clearly, he just wants to steal their money and bail (pun intended). However, before he can run off with the money, it gets stolen by a Colonel that wants to use the money to pay African-American families to return to the South in order to pick cotton. Enter two detectives that are going to get to the bottom of things and return the money to the hard working families that had invested in the idea of returning to Africa. And, of course, enter two ladies in love with Deke that are sexualized--then, later, enter another woman that is a lesbian with one of Deke's love interests (no, really, this happens!).
I was on the border of giving this 3 or 4 stars and decided to round upwards. The story itself is a bit far fetched, but I suppose that made it interesting. I was not a fan of some of the violence against women (inflicted both by the detectives, other women, etc.) but it added a touch of realism. The book just lost me towards the end--especially when
Spoiler
Billie (the lesbian seductress!) decides that she is going to writhe around on a bale of cotton and pretend to make love to it.readingoverbreathing's review against another edition
4.0
"We got the highest crime rate on earth among the colored people in Harlem. And there ain't but three things to do about it: Make the criminals pay for it — you don't want to do that; pay the people enough to live decently — you ain't going to do that; so all that's left is let 'em eat one another up."
In the context of all the conversations surrounding race that have been popularized in the past year, this was an incredibly interesting and honestly profound read. I've heard of movements like Back-to-Africa in some of the recent study I've done, and this fictionalized account of something similar was an intriguing take on that phenomenon. Chester Himes is a brilliant writer, and I think it truly is a sign of the whitewashed media culture we live in that I'd never heard of him until now.
There is something so sharp and so dark about this book. It's a staunch reminder of the reality of the circumstances which force black communities to crime, and seeing that through the lens of two black cops was a whole new take for me. But Himes' work is unsympathetic towards anyone, cop or criminal alike, poking fun at all sides and really letting his sharp, sarcastic, savvy tone shine through. This book is vulgar, it's violent, it's often deeply sexual, largely bleak, and downright gritty. But all of that is what makes it so gripping and so good.
There's a blurb on the front of my copy which says that Himes' writing "pitilessly exposes the ridiculousness of the human condition", and I could not agree with such a statement more. He is unafraid in his brutal portrayal of Harlem's underworld, which is so often shockingly gory and yet at the same time darkly humorous. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this one, and I certainly believes Himes deserves better accolade than what he currently does among mainstream literature.
alliepeduto's review against another edition
2.0
DNF...this was definitely not my style, I only made it about 30 pages into the book. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this author though, and he is undeniably a great writer, I just couldn’t get into the story. Even though I am tabling this book, I might try another of his works at some point since he is an iconic voice of the genre.
kurtwombat's review against another edition
5.0
With the creation of his big city black detectives, Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, Chester Himes achieved something singular and grand. Hard boiled genre fiction was nothing new in the 1950’s, but populating a landscape with sharply detailed black characters was new and still reads fresh today half a century later. The detectives work for a police department mostly at odds with the community they serve and serve a community distrustful of the department that they work for. Often this puts them in a vice, but also it frees them to make up their own rules. Adhering to a clear vision of right and wrong, like most hard boiled detectives, their means can swerve wildly from what would seem acceptable. Their creativity in the face of constant adversity propels the novel. The richly created world of Pimps, Madams, hustlers, grifters and work-a-day going to church every Sunday folk gives the novel a pulse and lively step. Himes achieved his stated goal of doing for Harlem what Raymond Chandler did for Los Angeles. I almost felt like I knew where all the alleys were in Harlem by the end of the book. The heist at the center of the novel is a solid mystery that snakes through every corner of Harlem and squeezes out a fresh look at race relations on several social levels. The voices and language of COTTON COMES TO HARLEM still rings in my ears—always colorful but never overdone.