Cast the First Stone

by Chester Himes

James Munroe was a cool cat. He took his prison sentence without blinking and by the fourth year he had made it. Then a youngster named Dido moved into his cell block and Munroe's shell began to crumble.

Genres: Fiction, The United States Of America

Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Chester Bomar Himes began writing in the early 1930s while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. From there, he produced short stories for periodicals such as Esquire and Abbott's Monthly. When released, he focussed on semi-autobiographical protest novels.

In 1953, Himes emigrated to France, where he was approached by Marcel Duhamel of Gallimard to write a detective series for Série Noire, which had published works from the likes of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson. Himes would be the first black author included in the series. The resulting Harlem Cycle gained him celebrity when he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for La Reine des Pommes (now known in English as A Rage in Harlem) in 1958. Three of these novels have been adapted into movies: Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis in 1970; Come Back, Charleston Blue (based on The Heat's On) in 1972; and A Rage in Harlem, starring Gregory Hines and Danny Glover in 1991.

In 1968, Himes moved to Spain where he made his home until his death.

Reviews

[Stephen Bublitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/2 read

There were aspects of this book that I really liked, and others that made it a difficult slog. I found the overall story interesting, though it was slow to develop. Some of the passages of narration I found quite moving, and the descriptions of the living conditions in prison were brutal. However, the dialogue sections were very wooden, which was difficult for me to want to pick it up and continue on.

Then, my cat barfed on the book, so I decided to throw it away and move on to something else.

[ElKazovskyfan23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pairs very well with Fishman’s report. Somewhat surprising this isn’t a more canonical work.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been so long since I read this, but I remember breaking down at a couple of portions-- when the narrator's mother first visits him at the prison, during the fire sequence... I've never read the other versions that were published in different edits, with different titles, but I'd be willing to if I had the time: Chester Himes was such a brilliant writer.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading of prison life but the jargon is hard to follow since it is slang from the late 1940's.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the main characters, but I found it hard to believe any woman would continue to live in the situation of the main storyline. The converstaions were immature and sometimes silly.