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A review by idleutopia_reads
The Narrows: A Novel by Keith Clark, Ann Petry
5.0
“The way she explained it made him feel as though he were carrying The Race around with him all the time. It kept him confused, a little frightened, too. At that moment The Race sat astride his shoulders, a weight so great his back bent under it.”
I have seen the Narrows in history books, I have seen them spoken of in Stamped, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, 1919 and have seen the street talked about in the news, history books and known of the Narrows people think exist in Chicago. In 428 pages, Ann Petry potently displays social commentary against class and race set against the backdrop of the Narrows, a street in Monmouth, Connecticut where a cast of characters takes the stage to display the life of Link Williams and the events that lead to a tragedy in which “it were like a snowball and everybody gave it the last push.” The culmination of events that leads to the final climax in The Narrows give us “one-quarter of the explanation. The other three-quarters reaches back to that Dutch man of warre that landed in Jamestown in 1619.”
This was truly brilliant, there were so many details accompanying the settings, the houses, the characters but none of them were wasted. Petry pulled from each detail to tighten and make you confront what she’s trying to say here. It’s all connected and the story of the people that we have on display here matters, it all matters especially when we’re talking about class and race. The themes of race and class are inextricably bound, when you speak of one you speak of the other. When we try to act like it doesn’t then we run the risk of hurting people, because it is a privilege to run through life unafraid of consequences and assuming that race and class don’t matter.
The main story follows Link Williams and his love affair with Camilla Treadway Sheffield. She’s married, a millionaire, but she disguises all of this from Link when they first meet and as they carry on their love affair. This love affair will pull at the fabric of the Narrows and change the lives of its residents, “well, of course...if you’re a multon millionaire and white you don’t give a damn what the black peasants think.”
I can’t even begin to untangle everything that Petry does in this book. I had read the Street and it was brilliant but I feel with the Narrows she masterfully expands on the foundation she had built in her previous work. Through fiction she amplifies and brings characters to represent the injustices done against Black people, even in their own community, where acceptance in white spaces is conditional, and when the question of the Race has many sides, many ways of being taught and this can lead to confusion for a child. As if all of this wasn’t enough she also talks about women, about misogyny in Black communities, and the role of white women in a racist society. I strongly urge you to read it
I have seen the Narrows in history books, I have seen them spoken of in Stamped, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, 1919 and have seen the street talked about in the news, history books and known of the Narrows people think exist in Chicago. In 428 pages, Ann Petry potently displays social commentary against class and race set against the backdrop of the Narrows, a street in Monmouth, Connecticut where a cast of characters takes the stage to display the life of Link Williams and the events that lead to a tragedy in which “it were like a snowball and everybody gave it the last push.” The culmination of events that leads to the final climax in The Narrows give us “one-quarter of the explanation. The other three-quarters reaches back to that Dutch man of warre that landed in Jamestown in 1619.”
This was truly brilliant, there were so many details accompanying the settings, the houses, the characters but none of them were wasted. Petry pulled from each detail to tighten and make you confront what she’s trying to say here. It’s all connected and the story of the people that we have on display here matters, it all matters especially when we’re talking about class and race. The themes of race and class are inextricably bound, when you speak of one you speak of the other. When we try to act like it doesn’t then we run the risk of hurting people, because it is a privilege to run through life unafraid of consequences and assuming that race and class don’t matter.
The main story follows Link Williams and his love affair with Camilla Treadway Sheffield. She’s married, a millionaire, but she disguises all of this from Link when they first meet and as they carry on their love affair. This love affair will pull at the fabric of the Narrows and change the lives of its residents, “well, of course...if you’re a multon millionaire and white you don’t give a damn what the black peasants think.”
I can’t even begin to untangle everything that Petry does in this book. I had read the Street and it was brilliant but I feel with the Narrows she masterfully expands on the foundation she had built in her previous work. Through fiction she amplifies and brings characters to represent the injustices done against Black people, even in their own community, where acceptance in white spaces is conditional, and when the question of the Race has many sides, many ways of being taught and this can lead to confusion for a child. As if all of this wasn’t enough she also talks about women, about misogyny in Black communities, and the role of white women in a racist society. I strongly urge you to read it