This
was a riveting read. Baldwin’s honest and emotion-laden writing grabs you from
the start. He tells you a simple story of gross injustices inflicted on people
of color in New York City in the 60s and 70s. Weaving into this narrative
family love, passionate love between two young people, hope and despair,
dogmatic prejudices and forgiveness, he transports you to a world that makes
you throw your hands up in disbelief at the injustices and at the same time
marvel at humanity.
Fonny
and Tish from their respective black families fall in love and are about to get
married. Fonny loves the art of sculpting, but for this passion he has to
tolerate his mother’s and sisters’ scorn. Just as Tish discovers that she’s
with child, Fonny is thrown into prison on a false charge of rape, because a
white policeman is set on ruining him out of spite. Tish’s parents and elder
sister rally to help Fonny get exonerated. Meanwhile, Tish and Fonny are
sustained by their love for each other and the baby in Tish’s womb.
The
beauty of the novel lies in the true-to-life characters that jump off the page.
Each character is drawn vividly with his/her flaws and strengths and beliefs
and idiosyncracies. Their dialogues and interaction makes it easy to believe
they were the folks who walked the streets of New York in that time period.
I’m
giving this novel 4.3 stars.
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