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kanejim57's review
4.0
When Nat Weary leaps onto a stage in postwar Montgomery, Alabama, to save the life of childhood friend Nat King Cole from a vicious attack by a white man, he loses not only the chance to propose marriage that evening with Cole’s help but nearly ten years of his life to prison. But when he is six months away from release, an offer is made to be both bodyguard and driver for the now famous Cole in Los Angeles. Weary accepts. But Weary discovers that life in LA also has its trials and tribulations as well as racial divides.
Ravi Howard brings to life a real life singing legend and a man who represented many African American men seeking a better life in 1940’s and 1950’s America with his novel Driving the King (Harper, 2015).
Driving the King is a well developed novel with credible characters and strong attention to detail of Montgomery of the mid-20th century. With a narrative that moves back and forth between the day of a concert in which Cole returns to sing without incident, the decade earlier attack and imprisonment to the recent move to LA and life out west, a very meaningful story about friendship, resolve, community, and hope is woven together.
Tension – racial and personal – is apparent throughout the story and and weaves in and out of the background as Weary, and Cole, navigate failure, then success, and then failure (the cancellation of Cole’s fifteen minute television show) both personally and professionally. And along the way some of the key people of that time, including Dr. King, make an appearance in the novel.
I liked Driving the King for both strong characters and a wonderful story of grace, love, and second chances. It is well-written and inspirational.
I rate it an “outstanding” read.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.
Ravi Howard brings to life a real life singing legend and a man who represented many African American men seeking a better life in 1940’s and 1950’s America with his novel Driving the King (Harper, 2015).
Driving the King is a well developed novel with credible characters and strong attention to detail of Montgomery of the mid-20th century. With a narrative that moves back and forth between the day of a concert in which Cole returns to sing without incident, the decade earlier attack and imprisonment to the recent move to LA and life out west, a very meaningful story about friendship, resolve, community, and hope is woven together.
Tension – racial and personal – is apparent throughout the story and and weaves in and out of the background as Weary, and Cole, navigate failure, then success, and then failure (the cancellation of Cole’s fifteen minute television show) both personally and professionally. And along the way some of the key people of that time, including Dr. King, make an appearance in the novel.
I liked Driving the King for both strong characters and a wonderful story of grace, love, and second chances. It is well-written and inspirational.
I rate it an “outstanding” read.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.
kanejim57's review against another edition
4.0
When Nat Weary leaps onto a stage in postwar Montgomery, Alabama, to save the life of childhood friend Nat King Cole from a vicious attack by a white man, he loses not only the chance to propose marriage that evening with Cole’s help but nearly ten years of his life to prison. But when he is six months away from release, an offer is made to be both bodyguard and driver for the now famous Cole in Los Angeles. Weary accepts. But Weary discovers that life in LA also has its trials and tribulations as well as racial divides.
Ravi Howard brings to life a real life singing legend and a man who represented many African American men seeking a better life in 1940’s and 1950’s America with his novel Driving the King (Harper, 2015).
Driving the King is a well developed novel with credible characters and strong attention to detail of Montgomery of the mid-20th century. With a narrative that moves back and forth between the day of a concert in which Cole returns to sing without incident, the decade earlier attack and imprisonment to the recent move to LA and life out west, a very meaningful story about friendship, resolve, community, and hope is woven together.
Tension – racial and personal – is apparent throughout the story and and weaves in and out of the background as Weary, and Cole, navigate failure, then success, and then failure (the cancellation of Cole’s fifteen minute television show) both personally and professionally. And along the way some of the key people of that time, including Dr. King, make an appearance in the novel.
I liked Driving the King for both strong characters and a wonderful story of grace, love, and second chances. It is well-written and inspirational.
I rate it an “outstanding” read.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.
Ravi Howard brings to life a real life singing legend and a man who represented many African American men seeking a better life in 1940’s and 1950’s America with his novel Driving the King (Harper, 2015).
Driving the King is a well developed novel with credible characters and strong attention to detail of Montgomery of the mid-20th century. With a narrative that moves back and forth between the day of a concert in which Cole returns to sing without incident, the decade earlier attack and imprisonment to the recent move to LA and life out west, a very meaningful story about friendship, resolve, community, and hope is woven together.
Tension – racial and personal – is apparent throughout the story and and weaves in and out of the background as Weary, and Cole, navigate failure, then success, and then failure (the cancellation of Cole’s fifteen minute television show) both personally and professionally. And along the way some of the key people of that time, including Dr. King, make an appearance in the novel.
I liked Driving the King for both strong characters and a wonderful story of grace, love, and second chances. It is well-written and inspirational.
I rate it an “outstanding” read.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.
greglhoward's review against another edition
4.0
Imaginative. This book is driven by the interaction of the fictional Nat Weary and the real Nat King Cole. Grounding his novel in real events and places lets Howard give a detailed account of the Civil Rights Era without it feeling dry. Seems like a high-risk strategy, but in this case, it pays off wonderfully.
readincolour's review against another edition
4.0
Not sure if it's the era or what, I probably need to put some more thought into it, but Nat Weary reminds me a lot of Easy Rawlins, and that's a good thing.
courtneymeyer's review against another edition
4.0
2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you
kmc3050's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars. This one is just okay. I enjoyed the main character, Nat Weary, but only when he was away from Nat Cole. That’s when I felt the most connection to him. There was just a lot I didn’t like about Nat Cole, he just rubbed me the wrong way. I also loved the time period the book is set in, especially how it starts a decade before things start shaking up in Montgomery. It allows us to see how Nat Weary’s family become the activists there are. It also makes the city of Montgomery a unique and integral character to the story. Of course, the MLK, Jr. scene was super cheesy but I understood why the author included it.
While this is a fictional story built out of real people and real experiences, the author did change quite a bit. I think readers who lack a knowledge and understanding of the time period and its key players may not understand where the line between fiction and fact was blurred. The story also flip-flops between the main character's past and present/future which is not only annoying but confusing since much it of revolves around two concerts in the same town with the same people. The worst thing though is how often the story repeats itself- especially the main character saying the same things/same sentiments over and over.
I didn’t enjoy the narration in this one very much. The narrator's voice is very gravely and hard to hear at times. I did like the different voices he used for different characters, but I don't think I'll listen to anything else he narrates.
I received my copy of this audiobook free through Goodreads' First Reads program and am thankful for the opportunity to listen to it.
While this is a fictional story built out of real people and real experiences, the author did change quite a bit. I think readers who lack a knowledge and understanding of the time period and its key players may not understand where the line between fiction and fact was blurred. The story also flip-flops between the main character's past and present/future which is not only annoying but confusing since much it of revolves around two concerts in the same town with the same people. The worst thing though is how often the story repeats itself- especially the main character saying the same things/same sentiments over and over.
I didn’t enjoy the narration in this one very much. The narrator's voice is very gravely and hard to hear at times. I did like the different voices he used for different characters, but I don't think I'll listen to anything else he narrates.
I received my copy of this audiobook free through Goodreads' First Reads program and am thankful for the opportunity to listen to it.
cyndin's review against another edition
3.0
I have to say, had I known what the novel was about, I wouldn't have read it. But I grabbed it from the library after a hasty glance at the inside covers. I love historical fiction and I would have loved a story about a real life figure as interesting as Nat King Cole. What I don't like is historical fiction where a real life person is part of the fiction. Did Nat Weary really exist? Or was his very existence pulled out of thin air? I don't know. I will look it up but wanted to write the review based only on what the book told me (which was that it was a work of fiction set in real times).
The novel itself had many fascinating moments. Weary's story (even Cole's story) grabs your attention. The main problem was the pacing and the settings. The author chose to tell the story through flashbacks, which in and of itself is fine. But there were several levels of them and it was confusing. The current time was only a bit of the novel and nothing was happening. The chapter on the main day was broken into half a dozen chapters, all set a few minutes apart. Cole preparing for a historic show (I don't know if this happened in real life either). Then we set Weary's time in prison, preceded by what brought him to the prison, and followed by his first few weeks with family and in Cole's employ. Another thread is set a year or so later and shows the decision for the historic show and other trips to his home town, including showing the Montgomery bus boycott.
I finished the book a couple days ago and my sense of time and story from this novel are mostly faded. I'm just left with impressions. Insane, violent racism. The price people paid for being on the wrong end of the power stick. The extreme price for anyone who fought back. And the slow changes over time. Those parts the author did well with. I just wish the story itself had been more coherent and sensical. Though I suppose the times weren't either of those things.
The novel itself had many fascinating moments. Weary's story (even Cole's story) grabs your attention. The main problem was the pacing and the settings. The author chose to tell the story through flashbacks, which in and of itself is fine. But there were several levels of them and it was confusing. The current time was only a bit of the novel and nothing was happening. The chapter on the main day was broken into half a dozen chapters, all set a few minutes apart. Cole preparing for a historic show (I don't know if this happened in real life either). Then we set Weary's time in prison, preceded by what brought him to the prison, and followed by his first few weeks with family and in Cole's employ. Another thread is set a year or so later and shows the decision for the historic show and other trips to his home town, including showing the Montgomery bus boycott.
I finished the book a couple days ago and my sense of time and story from this novel are mostly faded. I'm just left with impressions. Insane, violent racism. The price people paid for being on the wrong end of the power stick. The extreme price for anyone who fought back. And the slow changes over time. Those parts the author did well with. I just wish the story itself had been more coherent and sensical. Though I suppose the times weren't either of those things.
mara_miriam's review against another edition
4.0
The dialogue of the characters is spot on and their restrained love and respect is tangible. This is a well researched book with a significant number of intersections of prominent historical figures that in another's hands would feel contrived. I would have been able to enjoy the story more if I was better educated on the historical personalities described. While there is a beautiful romance woven throughout, I read this book as an ode to our elders, as a love story based in struggle, activism, and community.
readincolour's review against another edition
4.0
Not sure if it's the era or what, I probably need to put some more thought into it, but Nat Weary reminds me a lot of Easy Rawlins, and that's a good thing.
samhouston's review
3.0
The 1956 onstage assault suffered by singer Nat King Cole in Birmingham, Alabama, made headlines around the world. Thankfully, the three men who attacked Cole at that event accomplished little more than knocking him to the floor before they were apprehended by policemen who were there to prevent just such an incident. King returned to the stage a few minutes after the assault and managed to finish his performance without further incident.
This is the real world event that Ravi Howard uses as the centerpiece of his new novel Driving the King - even though he moves the event back about a decade and has it take place in Montgomery rather than in Birmingham. However, as alluded to in the book’s title, Driving the King is really the story of a fictional character who served as the singer’s personal driver for a number of years (Nat King Cole is, in fact, a relatively minor character in the book).
Initially drawn together because they shared a first name, Nat Cole and Nat Weary were boyhood friends and classmates before King’s family moved out of Montgomery. And now that the famous Nat King Cole has come to Montgomery to do a show, Nat Weary has a favor to ask him. Weary wants Cole to help him propose to his girlfriend during the show – and the singer agrees to stop the show while Weary makes his move. But when a man jumps on stage and begins beating Cole, everything goes wrong. The proposal never happens, and Nat Weary, as a result of his aggressive defense of Cole, finds himself doing ten years of hard labor in one of Alabama’s harshest prisons. “The King,” though, never forgets what his old friend did for him. Upon Weary’s release from prison, Cole asks Weary to come to Los Angeles to be his driver and after much consideration Nat accepts the job.
Driving the King is set in the pivotal period of race relations in this country. The book covers in detail the Montgomery bus strike of the period, and even includes a young Martin Luther King as one of its characters. It is a stark and vivid portrayal of Jim Crow Alabama, but it does not stop there, because Nat King Cole, as the first black performer with a television show of his own (15 minutes in length), suffered racial prejudice even in Los Angeles. (In the real world, a cross was burned on the LA lawn of King’s home by members of the Ku Klux Klan.)
This is an ambitious novel – and it largely accomplishes what it set out to do. But, perhaps because so many of its characters are stereotypical (both blacks and whites), the book never fully draws the reader into the world as it was at that time. It just does not seem real. Nat Weary is an interesting character – and learning a bit about Nat King Cole’s personal journey is interesting – but I can’t help but feel that Driving the King could have been so much more than it is. And that’s a shame.
This is the real world event that Ravi Howard uses as the centerpiece of his new novel Driving the King - even though he moves the event back about a decade and has it take place in Montgomery rather than in Birmingham. However, as alluded to in the book’s title, Driving the King is really the story of a fictional character who served as the singer’s personal driver for a number of years (Nat King Cole is, in fact, a relatively minor character in the book).
Initially drawn together because they shared a first name, Nat Cole and Nat Weary were boyhood friends and classmates before King’s family moved out of Montgomery. And now that the famous Nat King Cole has come to Montgomery to do a show, Nat Weary has a favor to ask him. Weary wants Cole to help him propose to his girlfriend during the show – and the singer agrees to stop the show while Weary makes his move. But when a man jumps on stage and begins beating Cole, everything goes wrong. The proposal never happens, and Nat Weary, as a result of his aggressive defense of Cole, finds himself doing ten years of hard labor in one of Alabama’s harshest prisons. “The King,” though, never forgets what his old friend did for him. Upon Weary’s release from prison, Cole asks Weary to come to Los Angeles to be his driver and after much consideration Nat accepts the job.
Driving the King is set in the pivotal period of race relations in this country. The book covers in detail the Montgomery bus strike of the period, and even includes a young Martin Luther King as one of its characters. It is a stark and vivid portrayal of Jim Crow Alabama, but it does not stop there, because Nat King Cole, as the first black performer with a television show of his own (15 minutes in length), suffered racial prejudice even in Los Angeles. (In the real world, a cross was burned on the LA lawn of King’s home by members of the Ku Klux Klan.)
This is an ambitious novel – and it largely accomplishes what it set out to do. But, perhaps because so many of its characters are stereotypical (both blacks and whites), the book never fully draws the reader into the world as it was at that time. It just does not seem real. Nat Weary is an interesting character – and learning a bit about Nat King Cole’s personal journey is interesting – but I can’t help but feel that Driving the King could have been so much more than it is. And that’s a shame.