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None But the Righteous
None But the Righteous is a southern gothic fever dream, a voodoo-laced journey through the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Set adrift when the storm ravages his hometown of New Orleans, nineteen-year-old Ham struggles to find himself. Has he ever truly belonged anywhere? He’s in limbo on a Greyhound somewhere between the Atlanta home of a childhood friend he’s idolized ever since she passed through his town one summer long ago, and the rural Alabama home of the young woman he met as they were both scrambling to find shelter and leave the city–the mother of his child.
As he reckons with impending fatherhood, Ham navigates his new circumstances under the influence of a saint whose relic was given to him by his foster mother when he was very young. When Ham finally embarks on a fraught journey back, he seeks the answer to a question he cannot face, though it is there, always, in his dreams: did his foster mother survive? Soon, Ham catches sight of a freedom he’s never known–and he must reclaim his body and mind from the spirit who watches over him, guides him, and seizes possession of him.
Set adrift when the storm ravages his hometown of New Orleans, nineteen-year-old Ham struggles to find himself. Has he ever truly belonged anywhere? He’s in limbo on a Greyhound somewhere between the Atlanta home of a childhood friend he’s idolized ever since she passed through his town one summer long ago, and the rural Alabama home of the young woman he met as they were both scrambling to find shelter and leave the city–the mother of his child.
As he reckons with impending fatherhood, Ham navigates his new circumstances under the influence of a saint whose relic was given to him by his foster mother when he was very young. When Ham finally embarks on a fraught journey back, he seeks the answer to a question he cannot face, though it is there, always, in his dreams: did his foster mother survive? Soon, Ham catches sight of a freedom he’s never known–and he must reclaim his body and mind from the spirit who watches over him, guides him, and seizes possession of him.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
January 7, 2022
2.5 stars
I listed to this book on audio. I listened intently because I kept thinking "um, what?" while listening. Not very eloquent, I know but I honestly had a hard time trying to figure this book out. Described as a "southern gothic fever dream" I wanted to read this. They synopsis was very intriguing to me. As I sit writing this review, I still don't know what to make of this book.
Ham is a nineteen-year-old young man who is adrift. He hasn't ever had a real home. One thing to know about Ham - he wears a saints' bone in a necklace around his neck. He is guided by this saint so one would think this young man would make the right choices, have all his ducks in a row and know what to do.
Hurricane Katrina has just ravaged the area and Ham is on a greyhound somewhere between Georgia and Alabama. He is going to be a father. What will life hold when his child is born?
That is the question!
Again, interesting synopsis, and while I enjoyed some of it, I did not care for the ending - not one bit! Plus, as I stated above, I still don't know what to make of this book. I don't know how to articulate that I found parts enjoyable and others not so much. I wanted more about the spirit, I wanted more about how it influenced him.
I agree with descriptions that say this book is lyrical. Some call it haunting, some are praising this book highly. Perhaps that was just too much over my head. I wondered while listening if I would have enjoyed the book more if I had read it instead of listening to it.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
I listed to this book on audio. I listened intently because I kept thinking "um, what?" while listening. Not very eloquent, I know but I honestly had a hard time trying to figure this book out. Described as a "southern gothic fever dream" I wanted to read this. They synopsis was very intriguing to me. As I sit writing this review, I still don't know what to make of this book.
Ham is a nineteen-year-old young man who is adrift. He hasn't ever had a real home. One thing to know about Ham - he wears a saints' bone in a necklace around his neck. He is guided by this saint so one would think this young man would make the right choices, have all his ducks in a row and know what to do.
Hurricane Katrina has just ravaged the area and Ham is on a greyhound somewhere between Georgia and Alabama. He is going to be a father. What will life hold when his child is born?
That is the question!
Again, interesting synopsis, and while I enjoyed some of it, I did not care for the ending - not one bit! Plus, as I stated above, I still don't know what to make of this book. I don't know how to articulate that I found parts enjoyable and others not so much. I wanted more about the spirit, I wanted more about how it influenced him.
I agree with descriptions that say this book is lyrical. Some call it haunting, some are praising this book highly. Perhaps that was just too much over my head. I wondered while listening if I would have enjoyed the book more if I had read it instead of listening to it.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
January 21, 2022
A work in which a spirit seizes the body of a 19 year old boy named Ham as he searches for home. We loved witnessing our protagonist grapple for residence while another takes residences within him. This is a work of spirit, one which those who are not spirit-selved or in possession of a spirit face will likely misunderstand. None but the Righteous is spiritual realism at its finest. James writes with a creative narrative structure that is both precise and slippery as they drag us into the ethereal. It reminds the reader of the ways our spiritual inheritances continue to pull the strings of us, that we are not individual vacuums clean of outside influence. James so phenomenally captures what it means to be vessel and habitat that we felt at times as if we were being spoken to directly.
Thank you to Counterpoint for the ARC + finished copy and thank you to James for daring to write truth that parades itself as fiction.
This is a new favorite.
Thank you to Counterpoint for the ARC + finished copy and thank you to James for daring to write truth that parades itself as fiction.
This is a new favorite.
December 30, 2021
Fiction is fiction, and we're supposed to be able to read it as that, but I can't always do so. That's the reason I stay away from things like "psychological thrillers," in which I'm apt to see a character pushed to the point of maximum anxiety and vulnerability. Chantal James' None But the Righteous isn't a psychological thriller. It's a dreamy, complex narrative of Ham, a young man who's never had a real home and who finds himself drifting after Hurricane Katrina. He wears a necklace with a small fragment of a saint's bone; it's the saint's way of remaining in this world, and at times the saint can guide Ham's thoughts or actions. So far, so good. Interesting premise, lots of possibilities...
Here's where the spoiler part comes in. Over the course of his wanderings, Ham stays with Deborah, a young woman, and her family. They have sex, consensually, Ham continues in his wanderings and discovers two months later that he's about to become a father. His response, after a second stay with Deborah and her family, is to wander yet again, joining a group of migrant workers after promising he'll save his earning to support the baby. Not necessarily ideal parenting, but the point of fiction isn't to depict ideals—it's to tell believable stories that let readers explore human possibilities.
Ham eventually returns to Deborah, with many baby gifts, then asks permission to take the baby for the day to the city where he was born as a sort of "baptism." A childhood friend, Wally, is with him at this point. And the novel ends as they reach their destination and Ham toys with the idea of whether or not he'll return the baby to its mother and her family. And I can't read this part of the story as anything other than terrifying. What happens to the baby? How long will it be until she returns home? What kind of childcare skills does Ham have? What will happen to the mother and her family while the baby is (potentially) missing?
Basically, the novel ends on a horrific point of ambiguity that I can't embrace as mere fiction.
I received a free electronic review cpy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
Here's where the spoiler part comes in. Over the course of his wanderings, Ham stays with Deborah, a young woman, and her family. They have sex, consensually, Ham continues in his wanderings and discovers two months later that he's about to become a father. His response, after a second stay with Deborah and her family, is to wander yet again, joining a group of migrant workers after promising he'll save his earning to support the baby. Not necessarily ideal parenting, but the point of fiction isn't to depict ideals—it's to tell believable stories that let readers explore human possibilities.
Ham eventually returns to Deborah, with many baby gifts, then asks permission to take the baby for the day to the city where he was born as a sort of "baptism." A childhood friend, Wally, is with him at this point. And the novel ends as they reach their destination and Ham toys with the idea of whether or not he'll return the baby to its mother and her family. And I can't read this part of the story as anything other than terrifying. What happens to the baby? How long will it be until she returns home? What kind of childcare skills does Ham have? What will happen to the mother and her family while the baby is (potentially) missing?
Basically, the novel ends on a horrific point of ambiguity that I can't embrace as mere fiction.
I received a free electronic review cpy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2024
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuwnesULo...
A gothic fairy tale that discusses storytelling, belonging, and the connections that humans make over generations and beyond the veil. A surreal journey that blends together past and present, dream and reality, desire and action, None But the Righteous is a unique take on the classic ghost story.
A gothic fairy tale that discusses storytelling, belonging, and the connections that humans make over generations and beyond the veil. A surreal journey that blends together past and present, dream and reality, desire and action, None But the Righteous is a unique take on the classic ghost story.
January 24, 2022
The premise for this book sounded soo good but sadly I couldn't get into it. The narrator did a good job but the story jumped all over the place and I found it hard to follow or become invested in the characters. Wasn't one for me unfortunately.
January 10, 2022
4 stars
A unique novel with lovely prose, intriguing characters, and a touching story of a young man searching for belonging and meaning.
[What I liked:]
•This book has a really interesting voice & framing. The spirit of St. Martin de Porres narrates the story of Ham, the young man whose body he’s spiritually possessing for most of the book. Interwoven are glimpses of Martin’s human life, his adventures as a disembodied spirit trapped on earth, Ham’s childhood, & Martin’s musings on Ham’s feelings and actions. I’ve never read a book quite like this, & it was well done!
•The characterizations are subtle and have depth. Martin at times helps Ham, at times forces him to act against his will, but seems to be a mostly neutral if not benevolent force. Ham starts off as aimless, searching half-heartedly for a place to belong, & slowly gains agency & belonging as the story progresses.
•The prose and writing style are fluid & beautiful, insightful and skilled. It was a pleasure to read.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•It was really difficult at first to figure out who was narrating & who Ham was. That could’ve been handled more smoothly.
CW: sexism, racism, classism, violence, spiritual possession
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
A unique novel with lovely prose, intriguing characters, and a touching story of a young man searching for belonging and meaning.
[What I liked:]
•This book has a really interesting voice & framing. The spirit of St. Martin de Porres narrates the story of Ham, the young man whose body he’s spiritually possessing for most of the book. Interwoven are glimpses of Martin’s human life, his adventures as a disembodied spirit trapped on earth, Ham’s childhood, & Martin’s musings on Ham’s feelings and actions. I’ve never read a book quite like this, & it was well done!
•The characterizations are subtle and have depth. Martin at times helps Ham, at times forces him to act against his will, but seems to be a mostly neutral if not benevolent force. Ham starts off as aimless, searching half-heartedly for a place to belong, & slowly gains agency & belonging as the story progresses.
•The prose and writing style are fluid & beautiful, insightful and skilled. It was a pleasure to read.
[What I didn’t like as much:]
•It was really difficult at first to figure out who was narrating & who Ham was. That could’ve been handled more smoothly.
CW: sexism, racism, classism, violence, spiritual possession
[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]
April 27, 2023
A bit too disjointed for a casual commute read but when i managed to lock in on the prose i really reqlly enjoyed.
March 25, 2024
Representation: Black characters
Trigger warnings: Hurricanes, disappearance of an adoptive mother, adoption
Score: Four points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
Man, I was disappointed. A few months ago I saw this new book arrive at one of the two libraries I visit but I put it off for a while to read other novels (some of which I enjoyed. However, I didn't enjoy some other ones.) Afterwards, I finally stopped delaying, picked it up and read it. When I finished, the story underwhelmed me to the point where I didn't want to reread it. None But the Righteous by Chantal James starts with the main character Ham whose last name I don't know living alone in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hits (here's the catch: I don't know why my library put this one in the historical genre when it's set in the early 21st century. Why? It also has a touch of fantasy but I can understand the history takes up most of the novel. If I were a librarian I wouldn't put it in historical, instead I'd put it in fantasy.) Only a few pages in, the flaws surface: there is an inconsistent POV as it keeps disjointedly switching from the 3rd POV omniscient narrator, the spirit, to the 1st POV of the protagonist, Ham. It's not an enjoyable reading experience and I had to struggle to finish it off, otherwise I would've given it a DNF. At least it's barely over 200 pages making it a quick and snappy read. I couldn't connect or relate to the characters either which is a pattern I'm seeing in a concerning amount of novels I read. In the end Ham becomes a father, somehow frees himself from the spirit (that was Ham's goal throughout the narrative) concluding it on a high note.
Trigger warnings: Hurricanes, disappearance of an adoptive mother, adoption
Score: Four points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
Man, I was disappointed. A few months ago I saw this new book arrive at one of the two libraries I visit but I put it off for a while to read other novels (some of which I enjoyed. However, I didn't enjoy some other ones.) Afterwards, I finally stopped delaying, picked it up and read it. When I finished, the story underwhelmed me to the point where I didn't want to reread it. None But the Righteous by Chantal James starts with the main character Ham whose last name I don't know living alone in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hits (here's the catch: I don't know why my library put this one in the historical genre when it's set in the early 21st century. Why? It also has a touch of fantasy but I can understand the history takes up most of the novel. If I were a librarian I wouldn't put it in historical, instead I'd put it in fantasy.) Only a few pages in, the flaws surface: there is an inconsistent POV as it keeps disjointedly switching from the 3rd POV omniscient narrator, the spirit, to the 1st POV of the protagonist, Ham. It's not an enjoyable reading experience and I had to struggle to finish it off, otherwise I would've given it a DNF. At least it's barely over 200 pages making it a quick and snappy read. I couldn't connect or relate to the characters either which is a pattern I'm seeing in a concerning amount of novels I read. In the end Ham becomes a father, somehow frees himself from the spirit (that was Ham's goal throughout the narrative) concluding it on a high note.
January 13, 2022
Thank you to Net Galley and Counterpoint Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I’m not really sure how to rate this,
I think this is probably how people felt when Toni Morrison first started writing novels.
If it were not for the ambiguous ending then I would definitely be able to say this is a solid 4 stars, but because the ending (like A LOT of books) seems hurried and really not as cohesive as the rest of the book, I cannot.
I can say that for me, the title doesn’t capture the essence of the story.
Starting out the first couple chapters was rough, but once I got a feel for James’ writing style, I couldn’t put the book down.
My heart went out to Ham throughout his entire journey. There were so many moments where I wanted to shake him and others where I wanted to hug him.
The element of the spirit living within his body really did not add as much to the story as it could have, but I see where the author was going.
I know this review has a lot of negative critiques, but I honestly did enjoy it, I look foreword to reading more fiction by her!
I’m not really sure how to rate this,
I think this is probably how people felt when Toni Morrison first started writing novels.
If it were not for the ambiguous ending then I would definitely be able to say this is a solid 4 stars, but because the ending (like A LOT of books) seems hurried and really not as cohesive as the rest of the book, I cannot.
I can say that for me, the title doesn’t capture the essence of the story.
Starting out the first couple chapters was rough, but once I got a feel for James’ writing style, I couldn’t put the book down.
My heart went out to Ham throughout his entire journey. There were so many moments where I wanted to shake him and others where I wanted to hug him.
The element of the spirit living within his body really did not add as much to the story as it could have, but I see where the author was going.
I know this review has a lot of negative critiques, but I honestly did enjoy it, I look foreword to reading more fiction by her!
February 22, 2022
Right up to the ending, I liked Ham and hoped for the best for him. Then his actions showed him to be clueless, selfish, and completely thoughtless of other people. In some cases I could forgive that, but he lied to get hold of his baby, and left holding the baby in a car. A neonate without a car seat. And told his driver he wasn't taking the baby back. He had no means of support, no idea of a baby's needs, and he kidnapped a baby because he wanted to be with her?
My closing thoughts reading this book were that I hoped the baby's mother or her family called the authorities soon enough that Ham was caught before the baby died, and I no longer cared what happened to him, even if it meant decades in prison. Reckless endangerment of a baby is not something I could just brush aside for the hero's sake. It ruined the whole book for me.
My closing thoughts reading this book were that I hoped the baby's mother or her family called the authorities soon enough that Ham was caught before the baby died, and I no longer cared what happened to him, even if it meant decades in prison. Reckless endangerment of a baby is not something I could just brush aside for the hero's sake. It ruined the whole book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2022
this book had almost no impact on me. i wanted so badly to love it. undeniably, chantal james is an incredible writer. but at times, the narrative and writing could be confusing and overly elaborative, peppering in poetic passages in strange places. it muddied the plot a little. very little seemed to happen during the course of the book and i didn't feel very connected to any of the characters. with that being said, i believe this is her debut and i would certainly read any other novels she writes because i do think she has excellent potential. this book was just a little tryhard.
March 17, 2022
what is happening?
This book had beautiful passages at times but I ultimately wasn’t enough to keep me in. It was almost a d.n.f. But I soldiered on. Not for me.
This book had beautiful passages at times but I ultimately wasn’t enough to keep me in. It was almost a d.n.f. But I soldiered on. Not for me.
February 13, 2022
Read for Black History Month.
The novel made me realise how small my knowledge about life as an African American really is.
Most of the book is written in a distinct style full of metaphors. I am under the impression that the parts written from the POV of the ghost inhabiting the main character are quite dry and written in a realistic style.
I'm asking myself for how many African Americans life is so traumatic, especially those confronted with disasters like Hurricane Katrina, that their spiritual lives take over and spiritual fantasies overwhelm their view of the real world. That's the way I see Ham. It's an interesting book for sure.
The novel made me realise how small my knowledge about life as an African American really is.
Most of the book is written in a distinct style full of metaphors. I am under the impression that the parts written from the POV of the ghost inhabiting the main character are quite dry and written in a realistic style.
I'm asking myself for how many African Americans life is so traumatic, especially those confronted with disasters like Hurricane Katrina, that their spiritual lives take over and spiritual fantasies overwhelm their view of the real world. That's the way I see Ham. It's an interesting book for sure.
February 6, 2022
This book was confusing but I didn't mind the confusion. I think it was intentionally discombobulated in the beginning and I appreciated the author for just trusting her words to sit and not slowing down. What I minded was the protagonist as a character and how there was no growth.
Until the final ~40 papes, I liked the novel a lot more than I did by the time I finished. The ending of the book was unsatisfying and the main character was really had to sympathize with.
The synopsis implies that Ham is an active character. That over the course of the novel, as the back cover says, he "catching sight of a freedom he's never known, he must reclaim his body and mind." But Ham never reclaims his body. He is never even aware that his body has been taken. This is a book about haunted people who are empty and listless and can just drift in and out of rooms and towns. But the book never really lets Ham be more than a facimile of a person.
Ham does things and impacts people but at the end of the day, he's empty. The novel spends SO MUCH TIME implying that the TRUE Ham's personality and self is hidden somewhere under all the static but by the end of the novel, you realize that either Ham is an asshole by nature or he was always just a blank board with or without the possession.
And it's that lack of presentness and personality by the end of the novel that makes it such a fustrating read. Ham is so lost that he can't take any accountability for the things that he does and the people he hurts. He's a ghost on the page, moving through other people's lives without making any meaningful contrabutions or observations.
Until the final ~40 papes, I liked the novel a lot more than I did by the time I finished. The ending of the book was unsatisfying and the main character was really had to sympathize with.
The synopsis implies that Ham is an active character. That over the course of the novel, as the back cover says, he "catching sight of a freedom he's never known, he must reclaim his body and mind." But Ham never reclaims his body. He is never even aware that his body has been taken. This is a book about haunted people who are empty and listless and can just drift in and out of rooms and towns. But the book never really lets Ham be more than a facimile of a person.
Ham does things and impacts people but at the end of the day, he's empty. The novel spends SO MUCH TIME implying that the TRUE Ham's personality and self is hidden somewhere under all the static but by the end of the novel, you realize that either Ham is an asshole by nature or he was always just a blank board with or without the possession.
And it's that lack of presentness and personality by the end of the novel that makes it such a fustrating read. Ham is so lost that he can't take any accountability for the things that he does and the people he hurts. He's a ghost on the page, moving through other people's lives without making any meaningful contrabutions or observations.
January 19, 2022
I have to be honest, literary fiction isn’t my favourite but I gave this book a chance because it sounded so fascinating. Set in New Orleans? Sign me up. Elements of voodoo and spirituality? Heck yes! Psychological thriller? Love it.
Unfortunately this one didn’t live up to my expectations. I wouldn’t call this book a psychological thriller by any means, it’s definitely more of a slow burn, lyrical work of prose that I believe is best suited for readers of classics and poetry.
The first 70% of this was gruellingly difficult for me. I debated giving up on this book so many times, but felt I owed it to myself to pick it up again. Oddly enough, I’m glad that I did. I don’t want to say the last chunk was redeeming for me, but there were some beautiful moments and quotes. For example, one line that really struck me - “we do not belong only to ourselves, that what loves us also seizes us”. I would genuinely get that tattooed because of how beautiful I think it is.
So while I didn’t find this book exciting per my standards, I can imagine how someone with a more ~refined~ taste in books would enjoy this. I can see myself recommending it to customers who are English majors for sure!
*Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a free audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
Unfortunately this one didn’t live up to my expectations. I wouldn’t call this book a psychological thriller by any means, it’s definitely more of a slow burn, lyrical work of prose that I believe is best suited for readers of classics and poetry.
The first 70% of this was gruellingly difficult for me. I debated giving up on this book so many times, but felt I owed it to myself to pick it up again. Oddly enough, I’m glad that I did. I don’t want to say the last chunk was redeeming for me, but there were some beautiful moments and quotes. For example, one line that really struck me - “we do not belong only to ourselves, that what loves us also seizes us”. I would genuinely get that tattooed because of how beautiful I think it is.
So while I didn’t find this book exciting per my standards, I can imagine how someone with a more ~refined~ taste in books would enjoy this. I can see myself recommending it to customers who are English majors for sure!
*Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a free audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
January 29, 2022
"None But the Righteous" turned out to be a bit out of my range. It was certainly ripe with symbolism and a certain degree of mysticism. Ham, displaced from New Orleans by a massive hurricane, carries the spirit of seventeenth century Saint. Ham's wanderings are sometimes controlled by St. Martin de Porres, sometimes by himself (I think). It all got a little vague for me although I appreciated Ham's struggle to feel connection, belonging, and a sense of wellness. Overall, this was engaging enough to finish the book but it wasn't particularly enlightening or exhilarating.
March 19, 2023
I didn’t finish but from what I now know of the ending I’m glad I gave up. The biggest issue for me personally was that the main character, Ham, was so…nothing. He had nothing unique about him, no inner dialogue or desires presented (because the narrator was a spirit, which was actually the best part of the book). You find out so much about the spirit and N O T H I N G about Ham. What’s the point?
April 18, 2022
I had to pick this one up a couple of times before I was able to finish. The synopsis really pulled me in, but the story just fell flat. While some may find beauty in it's berevity, it felt more like I lost out on something that could have been great.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 28, 2023
Honestly, not much about this book stuck with me. It's been a couple weeks since I finished it and I don't really remember much of the characters or what happened in the book. Some books are just not all that captivating and unfortunately, this one is one for me. I do remember liking Ham while I was reading it, but I don't remember enough to talk about it...
May 5, 2022
Frustrating to read, what at first felt like a journey to follow along with, became a mundane hitchhike between plot points, that lead nowhere.
December 19, 2022
What the hell kind of ending was that
January 5, 2023
It was slow and hard to follow. Jumps around to different time periods and places.
October 8, 2023
I was confused most of the time. 🤷♀️
April 14, 2024
“The residue of his dreams coats him”
“Halfway is better than no way at all…
He is starting to believe in the power of leaving”
“So things go for the better part of a month : Solace, sun, soil. And the most wrenching bone weariness at the end of the day that buries him into rock solid dreamless sleep at the end of the night & and the spider legs of dawn reaching toward him in the morning, pulling him awake effortlessly”
“They were moving into neighborhoods whose life they stood apart from. This is something she knew not something that she’d been told… In Atlanta, a definite right side, that script she had to read to elicit money from the hostile & the indifferent, the rage of strangers, the boredom, the blast of the air conditioner that required her to wear a sweater indoors in July… on the bicycle, so she could pretend the wind was her only master.”
“Halfway is better than no way at all…
He is starting to believe in the power of leaving”
“So things go for the better part of a month : Solace, sun, soil. And the most wrenching bone weariness at the end of the day that buries him into rock solid dreamless sleep at the end of the night & and the spider legs of dawn reaching toward him in the morning, pulling him awake effortlessly”
“They were moving into neighborhoods whose life they stood apart from. This is something she knew not something that she’d been told… In Atlanta, a definite right side, that script she had to read to elicit money from the hostile & the indifferent, the rage of strangers, the boredom, the blast of the air conditioner that required her to wear a sweater indoors in July… on the bicycle, so she could pretend the wind was her only master.”
January 14, 2022
This book had a good foundation and I did enjoy some of the characters, but unfortunately it just didn't pull me in like I wanted it to. That said her writing was good and I would read more from her, this just wasn't my fave.
June 16, 2024
It was interesting to read a story about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, and Chantal James picked an original narrator, creating a clever continuity with the past. But the story moves slowly and the narrator’s tone wears out into dullness.
June 7, 2023
None But the Righteous is not for everyone, but it is excellent nevertheless. The book is narrated by the spirit of St. Martin de Porres, the Dominican monk that guides and occasionally possesses the body of Ham, a teenaged boy yearning for love and belonging in the wake of his turbulent upbringing.
The narrator’s voice includes lengthy appositives and phrasal modifiers that force the prose into a more poetic form; many of the novel’s more profound bits are found in these syntactic structures. Some readers may find this style difficult to navigate, but, as the story progresses, the prose becomes easier to digest. To me, the structure, plot, and voice of the narrator create a piece suspended between the southern gothic and magical realism genres with philosophical implications furthered by biblical allusions and rich figurative language. As with many pieces in these genres, expect a unique plot structure, spiritual elements, destitution and decay, transgressive thought patterns, and a dubious ending.
The narrator’s voice includes lengthy appositives and phrasal modifiers that force the prose into a more poetic form; many of the novel’s more profound bits are found in these syntactic structures. Some readers may find this style difficult to navigate, but, as the story progresses, the prose becomes easier to digest. To me, the structure, plot, and voice of the narrator create a piece suspended between the southern gothic and magical realism genres with philosophical implications furthered by biblical allusions and rich figurative language. As with many pieces in these genres, expect a unique plot structure, spiritual elements, destitution and decay, transgressive thought patterns, and a dubious ending.
April 9, 2022
This haunting novel is narrated by a spirit who inhabits the book's protagonist, Ham, a lost foster child grown into a man with no real place to call home. The spirit enters Ham thanks to a relic put around his neck by a foster mom to bind him to her, but he enters him most easily when he's drunk, when Ham wants "to leave himself." I found this concept, that our bodies can be taken over by roving spirits when we're too intoxicated to resist -- or even seeking to be taken over by someone else -- totally fascinating and worthy of a whole novel by itself.
This, however, is just one aspect of the novel, the rest concerning itself with the various women and a few men with whom Ham builds relationships as he grows up. When he's 11 he meets Mayfly, a well-raised middle-class girl who left home at 18 and never looked back. Mayfly is dirty with wild dreads, she lives communally in squatters villages. Ham loves hanging out with her and the other squatters and feels most at home when he's with them. His last foster mom, Miss Pearl, makes clear she doesn't care about him nearly as much as she does her own son, Wally, but Ham is able to be remarkably forgiving about this (far more forgiving than my own foster child was about any difference in my feelings). When a huge hurricane destroys his hometown, Ham is drawn back to look for Miss Pearl, who's gone missing.
Ham's final relationship is with a woman named Debra who becomes pregnant with his child and wants him to stay with her though acts indifferent when he leaves. Many of the characters in this novel behave in ways that are as inexplicable to themselves as to each other (and the reader), which strikes me as very true to life. We are often our own worst enemies, and the people in this novel demonstrate myriad ways of turning on themselves.
I was most touched by Ham's rapport with the field laborers with whom he works a couple of jobs and how at home he feels, how ensconced in a brotherhood, when they work all day together, then sing and drink and play games in the evening, then sleep hard before rising to do it all again. I worried this might romanticize farm laboring a bit, but Ham was just so hungry for belonging that it was believable he would seek and find it in this rough camp of men.
In the end, we sense that Ham is finding his way toward being able to make real connections despite the fractured ones he's endured all his life, and for this we are very glad. I highly recommend this moving novel, the audiobook of which I was provided for free in exchange for my honest review.
This, however, is just one aspect of the novel, the rest concerning itself with the various women and a few men with whom Ham builds relationships as he grows up. When he's 11 he meets Mayfly, a well-raised middle-class girl who left home at 18 and never looked back. Mayfly is dirty with wild dreads, she lives communally in squatters villages. Ham loves hanging out with her and the other squatters and feels most at home when he's with them. His last foster mom, Miss Pearl, makes clear she doesn't care about him nearly as much as she does her own son, Wally, but Ham is able to be remarkably forgiving about this (far more forgiving than my own foster child was about any difference in my feelings). When a huge hurricane destroys his hometown, Ham is drawn back to look for Miss Pearl, who's gone missing.
Ham's final relationship is with a woman named Debra who becomes pregnant with his child and wants him to stay with her though acts indifferent when he leaves. Many of the characters in this novel behave in ways that are as inexplicable to themselves as to each other (and the reader), which strikes me as very true to life. We are often our own worst enemies, and the people in this novel demonstrate myriad ways of turning on themselves.
I was most touched by Ham's rapport with the field laborers with whom he works a couple of jobs and how at home he feels, how ensconced in a brotherhood, when they work all day together, then sing and drink and play games in the evening, then sleep hard before rising to do it all again. I worried this might romanticize farm laboring a bit, but Ham was just so hungry for belonging that it was believable he would seek and find it in this rough camp of men.
In the end, we sense that Ham is finding his way toward being able to make real connections despite the fractured ones he's endured all his life, and for this we are very glad. I highly recommend this moving novel, the audiobook of which I was provided for free in exchange for my honest review.
February 16, 2022
I enjoyed this novel. The writing was poetic at times, philosophical even, reminded me of Toni Morrison in the way it made me stop and think. The characters had depth. The story's narration by St. Martin, with his own life's journey intertwined as he guided the main character Ham, was an added bonus. And in the end as Ham had grown to a point, as each of us hopefully do in our lives, St. Martin could then no longer be needed. Thought provoking and lyrical.
February 8, 2022
For those who watched Hurricane Katrina unfold on live TV, this book will surely bring back some haunting memories. Its about the character Ham leaving the city of New Orleans with Deborah during the Hurricane Katrina. Without giving up the story, there is an interesting twist about being possessed by the spirit of a man who lived 400 years ago in Peru. That's it, thats all I am saying and I hope you find it interesting enough to get started.
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