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stephreadsal0t 's review for:
Forty Acres
by Dwayne Alexander Smith
This book is a rarity. You don't get discussion like this from normal pop-fiction crime lit.
I really think this novel was a success. Dwayne Alexander Smith took huge risks with this novel. The premise could so easily cause knee-jerk reactions, ranging from disbelief to offense, but I think he succeeds by never letting us think that the ideas presented are outright crazy nor morally sound. The reader is presented with a reality bent by the wills of an angry old man but can also accept that reality as a possibility.
Race is obviously The Point of this novel so I can't not point it out but it's hard to know how to discuss it after this. The thing that sticks out to me so much is how little I see black writers on the shelves in the popular literature section or within the crime/mystery novel area. I know better than to think this is for lack of writers. It was really nice to read a book from the point of view of a non-white person. I know I need to do this more and venturing away from what the media recommends me to read is the best option. But that said, it was really nice to read a book that challenged my weird perceptions on characters. So often, I read a book and I picture the character in our mind, I picture a white man or woman. If the writer thought to include any characters of color, they use their race in their description or a very obvious give away (think of JK Rowling making Lee Jordan the "boy with dreadlocks" as a way to differentiate him from the white characters, surely she did the same with Cho Chang besides giving her a racist name but I can't recall), virtually making white the default mode for characters in popular books. When the main character enters a dinner party consisting of only black couples, he feels at ease. But I felt made aware of my privilege when even doing something as simple as entering a book. Most of the time the characters I know and love look like me. And that's not something important when you're used to it but it's something.
This also succeeds from a thriller/crime novel point of view. It is a turn pager. The bad guys are bad but also at times sympathetic and the main character is smart and relatable. The world it creates is interesting and sad. The history it shares is also interesting and helped me recognize my ignorance on a lot of civil rights issues they don't teach in schools. Yet it never comes off as preachy or educational, but always as a story about men being men and how even the most sympathetic of men can be evil. I don't know if Mr. Smith knew this when he wrote it, but I also feel it is very feminist in some ways. The women characters are brief but strong and though they are not important in the main story thread nor appreciated by the main men characters, they are written to be so much stronger and smarter then the men they are married to. I just wish that story line was developed more.
I recommend this book to thriller/crime fans but give warning to highbrow literature fans that you may not get what you seek here.
I really think this novel was a success. Dwayne Alexander Smith took huge risks with this novel. The premise could so easily cause knee-jerk reactions, ranging from disbelief to offense, but I think he succeeds by never letting us think that the ideas presented are outright crazy nor morally sound. The reader is presented with a reality bent by the wills of an angry old man but can also accept that reality as a possibility.
Race is obviously The Point of this novel so I can't not point it out but it's hard to know how to discuss it after this. The thing that sticks out to me so much is how little I see black writers on the shelves in the popular literature section or within the crime/mystery novel area. I know better than to think this is for lack of writers. It was really nice to read a book from the point of view of a non-white person. I know I need to do this more and venturing away from what the media recommends me to read is the best option. But that said, it was really nice to read a book that challenged my weird perceptions on characters. So often, I read a book and I picture the character in our mind, I picture a white man or woman. If the writer thought to include any characters of color, they use their race in their description or a very obvious give away (think of JK Rowling making Lee Jordan the "boy with dreadlocks" as a way to differentiate him from the white characters, surely she did the same with Cho Chang besides giving her a racist name but I can't recall), virtually making white the default mode for characters in popular books. When the main character enters a dinner party consisting of only black couples, he feels at ease. But I felt made aware of my privilege when even doing something as simple as entering a book. Most of the time the characters I know and love look like me. And that's not something important when you're used to it but it's something.
This also succeeds from a thriller/crime novel point of view. It is a turn pager. The bad guys are bad but also at times sympathetic and the main character is smart and relatable. The world it creates is interesting and sad. The history it shares is also interesting and helped me recognize my ignorance on a lot of civil rights issues they don't teach in schools. Yet it never comes off as preachy or educational, but always as a story about men being men and how even the most sympathetic of men can be evil. I don't know if Mr. Smith knew this when he wrote it, but I also feel it is very feminist in some ways. The women characters are brief but strong and though they are not important in the main story thread nor appreciated by the main men characters, they are written to be so much stronger and smarter then the men they are married to. I just wish that story line was developed more.
I recommend this book to thriller/crime fans but give warning to highbrow literature fans that you may not get what you seek here.