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A novel of gay urban Afro-boho interracial romance set over one sweaty summer following a night of shocking violence in a post-9/11 London of vinyl records, video-cassettes and mix-tapes, seething with passion and oil-paint, music and dance. Meet bebop-cool Malcolm, wigger rudeboy Luke, Jamaican choreographer George and schizophrenic African artist Ziggy, seekers for love, on the run from buried truths that by the summer's end they all must face. Murder, bereavement, Vodou, twins and new love on the rack. Will it - will they, survive?
378 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2012
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
John R. Gordon
9 books6 followersJohn R. Gordon lives and works in London, England. He is the author of three novels, Black Butterflies, (GMP 1993), for which he won a New London Writers' Award; Skin Deep, (GMP 1997); and Warriors & Outlaws (GMP 2001), both of which have been taught on graduate and post-graduate courses on Race & Sexuality in Literature in the United States. He script-edited and wrote for the world's first black gay television show, Patrik-Ian Polk's Noah's Arc (2005-6). In 2007 he wrote the autobiography of America's most famous black gay porn star from taped interviews he conducted, My Life in Porn: the Bobby Blake Story, (Perseus 2008). In 2008 he co-wrote the screenplay for the cult Noah's Arc feature-film, Jumping the Broom (Logo) for which he received a NAACP Image Award nomination. The same year his short film Souljah (directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair) won the Soho Rushes Award for Best Film.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 21, 2015
Oh man, first person to review this book - that's too much responsibility...
OK, well, I'll start by putting my biggest recommendation up front. Every time I read a chunk of this book, I felt inspired to be a little nicer to my nearest and dearest. All the characters are really nice people and it sort of rubbed off on me. I ought to have kept the book by my bedside and only read one chapter every Monday morning. Unfortunately for the world, I didn't.
Second, something about the style, because that will sort out some potential readers from those who prefer a knuckle-biting thriller in a straight forward linear narrative. I read something very linear just before this, so I was ultra conscious of the difference. To read this book, throw a bunch of the words at your brain then wait a while till they settle in. Hmmm... it's one of those almost poetic books - I like those. (NB: I don't think this style is necessarily typical of all John Gordon's output, so if it's not your thing, you might like to look at one of his other books - similar themes, different approach).
So, the characters - there are four main characters, and it works almost like a jazz quartet with each of them of about equal importance. That's a tricky thing to pull off, but it worked for me. Like a good jazz improvisation, it had its flights of soaring genius and a few wobblier moments, but I certainly didn't regret any of them later on.
These four main characters are artists/dancer/musician who are successful enough that the basics of keeping a roof over their heads isn't their immediate problem, leaving them free to think and talk about race, gender, sexuality, friendship, spirituality, love, life, death, art, how they all go together and how to keep it together in a 'challenging' world. All the important stuff, you know? Three of these guys are black, one is white, all four are gay men and Londoners. They cover a lot of territory between them, and sooner or later pretty much any reader is bound to come across something that makes them think '!!!!' and it isn't necessarily going to be what anyone else would predict. And then again, most of the time, it's just nice to think that people would be talking out the important stuff.
Last note - there is a fair bit of sex going on between these guys, but I think many readers will be able to appreciate this aspect of the character's lives even if it's at the antipode to their own sexual interests, because there's a lot of humanity going on with it.
OK, well, I'll start by putting my biggest recommendation up front. Every time I read a chunk of this book, I felt inspired to be a little nicer to my nearest and dearest. All the characters are really nice people and it sort of rubbed off on me. I ought to have kept the book by my bedside and only read one chapter every Monday morning. Unfortunately for the world, I didn't.
Second, something about the style, because that will sort out some potential readers from those who prefer a knuckle-biting thriller in a straight forward linear narrative. I read something very linear just before this, so I was ultra conscious of the difference. To read this book, throw a bunch of the words at your brain then wait a while till they settle in. Hmmm... it's one of those almost poetic books - I like those. (NB: I don't think this style is necessarily typical of all John Gordon's output, so if it's not your thing, you might like to look at one of his other books - similar themes, different approach).
So, the characters - there are four main characters, and it works almost like a jazz quartet with each of them of about equal importance. That's a tricky thing to pull off, but it worked for me. Like a good jazz improvisation, it had its flights of soaring genius and a few wobblier moments, but I certainly didn't regret any of them later on.
These four main characters are artists/dancer/musician who are successful enough that the basics of keeping a roof over their heads isn't their immediate problem, leaving them free to think and talk about race, gender, sexuality, friendship, spirituality, love, life, death, art, how they all go together and how to keep it together in a 'challenging' world. All the important stuff, you know? Three of these guys are black, one is white, all four are gay men and Londoners. They cover a lot of territory between them, and sooner or later pretty much any reader is bound to come across something that makes them think '!!!!' and it isn't necessarily going to be what anyone else would predict. And then again, most of the time, it's just nice to think that people would be talking out the important stuff.
Last note - there is a fair bit of sex going on between these guys, but I think many readers will be able to appreciate this aspect of the character's lives even if it's at the antipode to their own sexual interests, because there's a lot of humanity going on with it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review