The Fisher King: A Novel

by Paule Marshall

Paule Marshall, the highly acclaimed author of the classic Brown Girl, Brownstones, returns to a Brooklyn setting in this moving and revelatory story of jazz, class, and family conflict over four generations.

In 1949, Sonny-Rett Payne, a jazz pianist, fled New York for Paris to escape both his family's disapproval of his music and the racism that shadowed his career. Now, decades later, his eight-year-old grandson is brought to Payne's old Brooklyn neighborhood to attend a memorial concert in his honor. The child's visit reveals the persistent family and community rivalries that drove his grandfather into exile.

The Fisher King— a moving story of jazz, love, family conflict, and the artists' struggles in society—offers hope in the healing and redemptive power of one memorable boy.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Race, Modern Classics, African American, African American Literature, American

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2000

About the author

Paule Marshall was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel Brown Girl, Brownstones.

Marshall was educated at Brooklyn College (1953) and Hunter College (1955). She taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Yale University before holding the Helen Gould Sheppard Chair of Literature and Culture at New York University. In 1993 she received an honorary L.H.D. from Bates College. She was a MacArthur Fellow anda past winner of the Dos Passos Prize for Literature. In 2009, She received the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reviews

[Kanako Okiron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just so I could be the 27th review 🤭

[Camilo Colorado · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The writing and story never waned. The energy carried right through the whole book. The description of the characters and the music and the interaction of the characters was wonderful. A great story.

[Elizabeth Higginbotham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fisher King by Paule Marshall is a novel that is grounded in Brooklyn, where Paule grew up and wrote about in other works. This novel looks at a long history of families, those tensions between West Indians and Black Americans from the South, yet this legacy is the past but dominates the present as members of two families and Hattie, who was the critical person between the two families. Hattie, a foster care child, grew up in Brooklyn with friends from both sides of the divide. Cherisse, the daughter of an elite members of the community, but she was friends with Hattie, even though Hattie was never allowed in her home. They reconnect after World War II, as Everett Payne, later Sonny-Rett Payne, is seeking the new music. Everett, from a West Indian family, where his mother wanted him to be a classical pianist, he turns to contemporary music. Sonny and Cherisse marry and go to Paris, since he was tired of the discrimination in the United States. Initially successful, they ask Hattie to join them—reestablishing the triangle. Sonny and Cherisse have a daughter, Jojo. She has a privileged life, but that is about the change. Over time discrimination marks Sonny’s career as there is more attention to French musicians and the rock and roll of the era. Sonny dies in a fall, symbolic of his life. Cherisse has cancer, but uses funds for alternative treatment, but does being tended by Hattie. Jojo leaves and does reappear in the new, but less elegant apartment with a child that she leaves with Hattie. Hattie names him Sonny, lets the family know about births and deaths, but no her location.

We see much of the story through the eyes of Sonny, nine about to be ten, when he returns in Brooklyn for a concert that celebrates his grandfather. Sonny meets his two great grandmothers; whose lives are still very different. Hattie has mixed feeling, but she is marginal in Paris. As a young boy, we see new worlds opening up for Sonny. He tries to heal the rife in the family, but also his Uncle Edgar, really his grandfather’s brother wants to make up for how he did not help his own brother. Complex story, well presented and you can see the role of love in families.

In the talks during the concert, we learn much about the story of Hattie, Sonny and Cherisse in Europe. We learn that Sonny is the child of Jojo, who left and was never heard from again. Uncle Edgar had people find Hattie and pull her back for the concert. However, he is also intent on providing a better life for Sonny, his grandnephew. His role in the family is also complex.

[Nettie]

After reading "The Chosen Place...", I had high expectations for this Paule Marshall book. It is really a simple story told from the eyes of a 9 year old boy in the midst of a Romeo & Juliet like family feud. It brings in themes of West Indian immigration in Brooklyn, family structure and wealth. I enjoyed the book but did not feel it had the depth and novelty of "The Chosen Place..."

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read, but I thought it ended too abruptly. It tells the story of a late jazz musician and his namesake. Young Sonny comes to Brooklyn with his fathermothersisterbrother, as he calls Hattie, the woman raising him in Paris. Sonny meets family he didn't know he had, and the reader gets to know Sonny and the history of his family.

[Elissa]

The family tree in this book made it kind of confusing but otherwise a solid novel

[Donna’s Book Addiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paule Marshall does an excellent job dealing with several themes, issues and obstacles in life facing families.
She starts out slowly, setting up the situation and the characters, such as the great grandmothers - Florence Varina, the "high-yellow" southerner, and Ulene Payne, a demented and bitter West Indian. But, once the story established itself and the storyline picked up, I got into the novel around page 88. I liked the flow of the dialogue and the surprise twist ending that brought the novel to an ambiguous but to me, a satisfying close.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book is standing on the edge of something beautiful but never being fully immersed in that experience. It is a bunch of snapshots tossed into the air landing helter skelter with no defined beginning or end. The characters are lively and interesting but so remote it is impossible to really understand why they do the things they do. The main story lines take place in Paris and Brooklyn and yet atmosphere isn't a significant part of the story.

[Aaron Hanlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that Fisher King was a decent read. It involved the story of a young boy as he is reintroduced to his family overseas. He learns much about his history and he meets many relatives he has not met before. The book covers a large time period in a short amount of time. I recommend this book only if you are up for a historical non-fiction book.

[Joelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but nothing much actually happened in the present day. Most of the intriguing material came at the very end, told as a quick flashback. I did like the characters of the great-grandmothers and the general story, but I wish the book were longer. I would have enjoyed the entire tale told in "real" time, finishing with The Fisher King as the last segment in an epic story.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 8 year old boy's 2 week trip from France to New York helps a family heal old wounds. While it's a nice idea for a story there isn't much substance to this story. Things happen and then the story is over.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange, Not what I was expecting.
But not a bad read.

[Pleasantree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining to read, but I wasn't happy with the ending. It's a short book and could have been longer.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5* Was a great read, but the end felt a little rushed...really enjoyed the way she introduced and filed in the characters throughout.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

i asked the library to purchase this book and they did! i am really glad they did because it is very good. it is short and simple, but really good.

[Lynn Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two sparing great-grandmothers are softened by the visit from their mutual great-grandson. He, Sonny, is an eight-year old from Paris. He has come to Brooklyn with his guardian Hattie at attend a concert honoring his grandfather Sonny-Rhett Payne, a great jazz musician.

The Fisher King is often told from the Sonny’s perspective as he tries to figure out the rift between the two families and Hattie’s mood swings. During his stay, he meets true relatives for the first time. He begins to question things. What really happened to his deceased grandparents? Where is his African father? What caused his young teen mother to run away and give him to Hattie?

Many pieces of the puzzle fall out of the closet and onto the ground. Young Sonny learns some of the answers, but the reader has the greater advantage. Once the curtain is drawn, things are revealed that younger eyes could not easily bear.

Hattie is central to the story, but she is not a blood relative. She has deeply wedged herself into the family fabric over the years. Yet, towards the end of The Fisher King, Uncle Edgar lays his ace card down on the table which leaves Hattie motionless, speechless and staring into space. Paule Marshall does it again with her beautiful, poetic style of storytelling!

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t expect this book to be as sad as it ended up making me feel at the very end, but man, those final paragraphs just hurt. I really wasn’t anticipating Edgar’s heel turn and the abrupt increase in stakes in the present-day timeline, so part of me wishes Marshall gave us another 100 pages just to unpack the fallout, yet another part of me thinks that would undermine the ending’s emotional impact. I loved how this story was told, largely through the innocent eyes of Sonny, but also weaving a rich generational narrative at the same time as the older characters reference and reminisce about the past. In so many ways this was also Hattie’s story, and she’s a character who I know is going to stay with me. The way Hattie was both drawn into the McCullum and Payne drama and yet still remained an outsider was such a heartwrenching plotline. On the flip side, it was so wonderful to read about the Hattie/Cherisse/Sonny-Rett relationship, since it wasn’t a traditional love triangle built on competition, but one that emphasized support and friendship. This story also had an excellent sense of setting, and the descriptions were all so great. I also always love a story about a musician, and all the scenes involving music were wonderfully vivid as well.

[Martin Rosales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novel set in 1980s Brooklyn which follows two feuding families and uncovers the mystery of how things came to be for the cast of characters. While incredibly slow in the beginning chapters, it does a pretty decent job of implementing the ideas of jazz with the melting pot of cultures that are present in Brooklyn. The novel does struggle with moving the plot forward, and it seems that the supplemental background for the story takes center stage while not actually providing much content for what should, ostensibly, be the main reason for reading the book. However, I will say that the finale few chapters work decently well wrap up (only some of) the story and provide key information. A fair bit of things remain unsolved. Be warned that the ending does appear abruptly and that the genealogy for the characters is entirely obfuscated until the tail end of the story.

[Dvora Treisman · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was OK. I did not like the ending -- it was too abrupt and totally unsatisfying. I thought it was poorly written. Sentences. That aren't sentences. Filled the book. Sometimes writers use incomplete sentences -- phrases -- to give emphasis or to mark some kind of rhythm. But if you do that over and over again for no good reason, you end up looking like you've never learned grammar. I am talking here of the writer's voice, not those of the characters who are more real when they talk in their true conversational style. Reading. Sentences that aren't sentences. Can make the reader weary. And earns one star.

[Keerthi Vasishta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is well-written. Historically accurate, well characterised and its still missing....something, to my mind at least. It didn't move me like it should have but that may be purely because I hardly feel anything anymore, unless something mystical clicks. Hattie found something mystical click with Sonny, a stoned, enigmatic jazz musician. They move to Paris and finally she returns to New York, generations later after his death with her grandson who speaks French. It's a view of a black person's world in the second half of the twentieth century and all its tragedy leaves you cold. Maybe that's why I didn't feel anything?

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the Fisher King when it was published in 2000 and my rating is based on my memory of that reading.

What I recall more clearly than my reading of the novel is the following:
Paule Marshall dedicated her novel, "for the memory of my cousin, Sonny Clement, baritone sax; Earl Griffith, vibes; Ernie Henry, alto sax; and especially for Neats and Lesley." Earl Griffith and Ernie Henry were two musicians whose playing touched me deeply so, of course, that dedication captured my interest. Earl Griffith recorded one album with Cecil Taylor and seemed to have disappeared from the scene. (My GR friend and friend in real life, Jeff Crompton, recently informed me that Earl Griffith also recorded on one track of an album by the African percussionist, Guy Warren.) Ernie Henry had a somewhat more prolific recording career, appearing on albums led by Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, and Matthew Gee. He also had three albums released under his own name, the last two issued posthumously.

I was fascinated by her mysterious (to me) dedication and found an address for Paule Marshall. I wrote and asked if she had known Earl Griffith and Ernie Henry and if she knew the circumstances of their passings. She wrote back that they were childhood friends and that Ernie Henry died from an overdose and Earl Griffith died from a fall down the stairs in a subway station.
She asked if I would make up cassettes of Ernie Henry's and Earl Griffith's music and send them to her. I did that and sent her my copy of the book which she signed, along with a gracious note handwritten in beautifully flowing script. Her notes reside inside my copy of the Fisher King.

[Justin Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

In narrative structure and the use of dialect, this reminds me of Their Eyes Were Watching God, a favorite of mine. However, the fluid narration and perspective doesn't flow as well as that novel. Also, the resolution seems very rushed, cramming a pretty complex and emotionally rich backstory into two final chapters. Appreciated the undercurrent of jazz and jazz structures, though!

[Milly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book deserving of more attention than it has received. Fortunately I had picked up a copy a few years ago at a used sale as my local public library does not have any of Paule Marshall's books. How unfortunate especially in the context of Black Lives Matter, this story is relevant and very moving.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read while staying in Brooklyn. Not the story I was expecting, with a sad ending.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read but was let down by the ending. It was too abrupt.

[Leahnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would absoulsty recommend the book, and would read it again. The author's voice is original, unlike anything else I can of that I've read.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[aubrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

might i recommend we all sit in for a session of family therapy?

read for my tales of king arthur class.