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A review by donnawr1
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
5.0
James McBride is such a good author that I bought this book, even though the topic didn't particularly pull me in. I'm so glad I did, because it's just a fantastic book! When I finished the last word, "Wow" just slipped out of my mouth because the ending was so perfect. It is about a Deacon from a Black Baptist church, all of whose members live in the Causeway Housing Projects in Brooklyn. It's 1969 and heroin is making its first big appearance in the black communities. Deems Clemens is the young head of the drug dealers at Causeway who still has some respect for the elders of his community (he was a member of the church as a child), but the heroin is starting to ruin people's lives. Deacon Cuffy, AKA Sportcoat, AKA Deacon King Kong (for the King Kong hooch he is always drunk on), walks up to Deems in front of a large crowd and shoots him.
What follows is the ripple effect of this act on the many lives linked to the church, to Causeway, to the drug trade and the investigation of the shooting that intersect in a humorous, yet true to life story of life in the project and the characters (Black, Irish, Italian) striving for hope and happiness and taking some risks to do it. At first the characters seem almost cartoonish, an impression enhanced by the cartoon drawing on the cover. But they come to life and are not mere cardboard cutouts representing some point the author wants to make. As I reflected on the characters and the story, I could envision people I've seen walking around by public housing I know of in Brooklyn and see them reflected in this book. McBride said he wanted to give voice to a subset of society that often have no voice and are easily overlooked. How fitting that he finished this book during the pandemic when the people in this book are the very group of people who are now front-line workers, briefly lifted into the public view with a measure of gratitude. But this book is fun and touches on how alike most of us are in what we hope for in life. It is a hopeful book and well worth the read.
What follows is the ripple effect of this act on the many lives linked to the church, to Causeway, to the drug trade and the investigation of the shooting that intersect in a humorous, yet true to life story of life in the project and the characters (Black, Irish, Italian) striving for hope and happiness and taking some risks to do it. At first the characters seem almost cartoonish, an impression enhanced by the cartoon drawing on the cover. But they come to life and are not mere cardboard cutouts representing some point the author wants to make. As I reflected on the characters and the story, I could envision people I've seen walking around by public housing I know of in Brooklyn and see them reflected in this book. McBride said he wanted to give voice to a subset of society that often have no voice and are easily overlooked. How fitting that he finished this book during the pandemic when the people in this book are the very group of people who are now front-line workers, briefly lifted into the public view with a measure of gratitude. But this book is fun and touches on how alike most of us are in what we hope for in life. It is a hopeful book and well worth the read.