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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Coyotes of Carthage is literary political fiction where Andre, a Black political consultant, is sent to small town in South Carolina to run a dark money campaign, one that would see pristine public land sold to the highest bidder which would obviously be the mining company secretly funding the campaign.
I feel like this novel did a great job capturing the social and political reality that is small town southern America. The people and the places really came to life and the impacts of race, class and religion were all teased out so that I was able to understand the motivations of various characters - even if I didn’t agree with them. The portrayal of political corruption, and the ability of dark money to influence political outcomes was eye-opening and depressing, and it reeked of truth, something which can be attributed to the author’s background in criminal justice and electoral law. That this book highlighted a local election was a bonus since those can be critically important yet don’t seem to get the same attention as national elections. This book seems to have flown under the radar somewhat. It certainly deserves more attention than I’ve seen it getting. It shares certain similarities with books by Attica Locke and I would definitely recommend it to readers who have enjoyed her novels.
I feel like this novel did a great job capturing the social and political reality that is small town southern America. The people and the places really came to life and the impacts of race, class and religion were all teased out so that I was able to understand the motivations of various characters - even if I didn’t agree with them. The portrayal of political corruption, and the ability of dark money to influence political outcomes was eye-opening and depressing, and it reeked of truth, something which can be attributed to the author’s background in criminal justice and electoral law. That this book highlighted a local election was a bonus since those can be critically important yet don’t seem to get the same attention as national elections. This book seems to have flown under the radar somewhat. It certainly deserves more attention than I’ve seen it getting. It shares certain similarities with books by Attica Locke and I would definitely recommend it to readers who have enjoyed her novels.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Murder, and Alcoholism
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