Pinktoes

by Chester Himes, Edward Margolies (Afterword)

Pinktoes, Chester Himes said, is a term of indulgent affection applied to white women by Negro men, and sometimes conversely by Negro women to white men, but never adversely by either. In this rowdy work of fiction that debunks self-satisfied do-gooders, Himes satirizes social missionaries who preach uplift and promote specious causes. With Rabelaisian zest he portrays Mamie Mason, Harlem's most influential society matron, hosting desegregated sexual orgies, all for the advancement of harmony between the races. Just as eager as Mamie to bask in the favorable light of social justice are liberal whites who wish to be seen amid the right people. Printed in Paris in 1962 because it was perhaps too confrontational for U. S. publishers, this sex farce is regarded as Himes's most daring work of fiction.

Genres: Fiction, African American, Classics, Novels

219 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

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

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pinktoes," Chester Himes states, "is a term of indulgent affection applied to white women by Negro men, and sometimes conversely by Negro women to white men, but never adversely by either."

Printed in Paris in 1962 because it was perhaps too racially confrontational for American publishers, this sex farce is regarded as Himes's most daring work of fiction.

The book is a rowdy work of fiction that debunks do-gooders and want to be’s. Himes satirizes social missionaries who preach uplift and promote specious causes, usually themselves and in pursuit of sexual conquests.

Himes is writing with zest and portrays Mamie Mason, Harlem's most influential society matron, hosting desegregated sexual orgies, all for the advancement of harmony between the races. Mamie wants to be seen amid the "right people.".

Utilizing an amazing amount of double entendre’s and implied sexual double speak Himes shows us a side of Harlem life as we could have never imagined it.

The book is funny has hell in places yet it’s not hard to see why it was sold as pornography in it’s early years of existence.

In 1969 Himes moved to Moraira, Spain, where he died in 1984 from Parkinson's Disease. What a great loss.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's great reading Himes let his hair down and just fuck around with form. Emphasis on the profanity of the previous sentence as this whole shebang is all about it. Fucking, that is. All of the Victoriana-aping machinations and plot twists are little more than the distractionary scaffoldings of a master having a good time to your great reward/on your dime. The judgment is up to you. Me? I'm taking the Depeche Mode album title as my summative on the matter.

'Let's play master and servant...' I hear it’s a lot like life, ya know.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chester Himes is one of the most criminally underrated writers EVER. With his mix of dry humor, wink-wink-nudge-nudge treatment of sexuality, all against the backdrop of The Negro Problem in a fictional but highly believable Harlem and time, I've always found his books enjoyable. This one is, to put it simply, silly. A cast of many and a plot as simple as the original sin made this book an enjoyable read.

[RA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy, sexual society satire about the er, ah, Negro problem in New York in the 50s, and the many white and black characters inhabiting the mixing upper crust and, er, ah, lower crust of said society. Biting, cynical, highly symbolic use of language--haha!! This is, how may I say it, not politically correct.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable as a satire of black/white relations but it doesn't have the power of Himes' earlier work. The characters are parodies of people in Himes' life and don't come across as "real" so I wasn't drawn in to their lives as I was in If He Hollers Let Him Go, for example.

[it's din · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sistahs..this book was ah, er a chester himes type of read.. a fun -she said/he did/her who/did him/according to/what he said- kinda mess read. Very silly roundabout ah, er sexual ah, er type of read.

Let me know what YOU think!

[Frank McGirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing with most lampoons...is they tend to go on too long, and Pinktoes does not dodge that bullet.

An interesting look at race relations in the '50s(?), that has more than a few too many sex puns/japes to not be tiresome at times, but overall the writing was compelling. Pinktoes is supposedly the word blacks use for whites who sleep with blacks.

I picked it up as I recognized the name as the author of a black hardboiled detective series, and the writing was good enough that I'm interested in checking those out.

There were some legitimately funny parts too. When it became fashionable in the book for white people to be seen as black, one entrepreneur began selling injections of his blood, as it only takes "a single drop"...but most of the humor wasn't so historically relevant.

[Klr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very funny and very full of sex. In fact, the lesson from this book seems to be that the solution to “the Negro Problem” is for blacks and whites to have sex as much as possible. I did laugh or chuckle at many of the episodes, and many of the characters, and especially his wonderful use of language. I have never read such creative suggestive expressions. I got a bit tired of it also at times. However this delicious satire was such an unusual experience, it was a pleasure to read.

[Adrian Alonzo Barrientes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pinktoes by Chester B. Himes. absurd fiction about NY intellectuals thinking the way to solve racial tensions is thru interracial f*ckn. lotta lust & gluttonous pursuits i found funny and ridic. constant sex stuff got boring imo, but dug the debauchery abit.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another absolutely wild work by Chester Himes. I don't understand why people aren't talking about him all the time.

[Max Bakke · Rating 2 out of 5]

i liked the parts about fish.

[Roger King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bedroom farce, specifically in the apartment of Miss Mamie Mason, self proclaimed Hostess with the Mostest to Harlem USA, where she fixes up old rich white guys with young black chicks and old rich white ladies with young black studs. The white folks (pinktoes in the urban dictionary, particularly females) think they are solving the Negro Problem (as defined therein), and the black folks enjoy a sort of sexual trickle down theory. Everything works well as everyone gets what they want, until some want more than they can get, and then it gets interesting....... For some reason I can't help but be thinking of the Kardashians.

[Eric Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally strange book about interracial sexuality in NYC in the late 1940s - early 1950s. Not a well known book by Himes, but as good as his other stuff and really interesting.

[Reese Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Negro Problem" (author's wording) is explored in this novel and solved by lots of interracial sex.
Enjoyable read in a style rarely found.