The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Lafleur

by John Gregory Brown

Adopted by a wealthy, bed-confined white woman, Shelton, a young African-American boy, is crippled by an accident and taken in by the wily Minou and his family, who offer him guidance in a race-torn world and the secret of his birth. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

257 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 1996

About the author

Born and raised in New Orleans, John Gregory Brown is the author of the novels Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery; The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Lafleur; Audubon’s Watch; and A Thousand Miles from Nowhere.
His honors include a Lyndhurst Prize, the Lillian Smith Award, the John Steinbeck Award, a Howard Foundation fellowship, and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the Year Award. After two decades as the Julia Jackson Nichols Professor of English at Sweet Briar College, he now teaches at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He and his wife, the novelist Carrie Brown, have three children.

Reviews

[Kayla Beck Kalnasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a GOOD book and I cannot believe that I forgot about it. This is SO SO SO very good. I have to buy it and reread it now that I've remembered it.

[Bob Schueler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, lyrical, elegant book with a big problem. It is narrated by an African American man looking back after a long life to a pivotal period in his childhood. Almost all the characters are black, and the white characters are undeveloped, more placeholders than people. This is a problem in 2018 that many writers are becoming more sensitive to as the issues of cultural appropriation are explored in depth. As one of those white writers (though an obscure one) who has written about black characters, I've had to learn a lot about the problems involved. I think this book probably would not be published in this form today.
Having said that, this is a lovely book by a gifted and sophisticated writer who uses a full arsenal of writerly techniques in this book, mostly to very good effect. The story is emotionally engaging and heartbreaking in the end, and it's overall a wonderful achievement. However, the author's blindspot is his disregard for the loaded issues of race embedded in the story and its characters' actions. It behooves writers who cross these color lines to show more sensitivity to avoiding racial stereotypes. That's what makes it one star lower than it otherwise would be for me..

[Arleen Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediately engaging, so well written so real I found so many brilliant points to highlight that it would have covered the entire book itself. Storyline so engrossing I actually tried looking up his paintings and bio. Just an awesome book.

[Michael Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Gregory Brown writes a New Orleans version of Oliver Twist. His style is haunting and beautiful. Shelton LaFleur jumps off the pages and you will never forget him. This story could easily be turned into an opera or a stage version , like Les Miz. I have read it twice and will continue to read. I wrote the author and he graciously signed a copy of his newest book.