Fortunate Son

by Walter Mosley

New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley's novel about two boys, one ensconced in a life of privilege and the other in a life of hardship, explores the true meaning of fortune.In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune. Tommy is a lame black boy, cursed with health problems, yet he remains optimistic and strong.After tragedy rips their makeshift family apart, the lives of these boys diverge astonishingly: Eric, the golden youth, is given everything but trusts nothing; Tommy, motherless and impoverished, has nothing, but feels lucky every day of his life. In a riveting story of modern-day resilience and redemption, the two confront separate challenges, and when circumstances reunite them years later, they draw on their extraordinary natures to confront a common enemy and, ultimately, save their lives.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, African American, Race, Audiobook, Family, Book Club

313 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I know Walter Mosley best as the author of the 'Easy Rawlins' mystery series, but Mosley dabbles in many genres. This book is a literary novel about two boys who think of themselves as brothers, but have very different lives.

*****

Branwyn Beerman - a beautiful, black single woman who works in a florist shop - gives birth to a baby boy with a hole in his lung.



Little Thomas Beerman is a 'bubble baby', kept in a glass enclosure that Branwyn visits every day - to will her baby to live.



Tommy's father, Elton Trueblood, didn't want a child and walked out when Branwyn was three weeks pregnant. Thus Branwyn is on her own with the ailing tot.



Dr. Minas Nolan is a recently widowed, handsome white surgeon whose wife died giving birth to Eric.....



.....a big healthy baby destined to become a blonde, blue-eyed Adonis.



Dr. Nolan and Branwyn meet in the hospital and strike up a friendship. The doctor convinces Branwyn to take Tommy out of the facility, so the boy will have a chance to live a normal life. Long story short, Branwyn and Tommy move in with Dr. Nolan and Eric - who live in a lovely large home in Beverly Hills.



Minas and Branwyn become lovers, and the boys are raised as brothers, with Branwyn as their mother and Minas as their father.



The boys also have a Vietnamese nanny called Ahn.



Minas proposes marriage to Branwyn many times, but she refuses to wed since she still secretly yearns for Tommy's father. Though things are going well in the Nolan household, Branwyn's mother strongly objects to the irregular arrangement and constantly chastises her daughter.

Eric and Tommy love each other dearly though they're as different as chalk and cheese. Little Tommy is a frail, clumsy dreamer who collects rocks and twigs in the garden, to show his doting mother. Eric is a hearty boy with a big personality who takes all the 'real toys' for himself, including Tommy's trucks and cars. When Branwyn retrieves Tommy's playthings from Eric's room one day, the big toddler howls for hours.....and Tommy, a big-hearted child, drags everything back to his brother's door.

Things go well until the boys are six-years-old, and Branwyn dies. Elton, encouraged by Tommy's grandmother, takes his son away - even though Elton knows nothing about kids and is unprepared to raise the child.



Tommy gets a makeshift bed on the back porch of Elton's ghetto house, where Elton lives with his girlfriend Eve. Tommy is disoriented and frightened, but Eve is kind.....and the child tries to adjust. He gets enrolled in a school down the block, which - for the first time - is full of kids that look like him.



Meanwhile, Eric - who's already missing Branwyn - is distraught at the loss of his brother, and vows to get him back. It will be many years before the boys meet again.

The narrative switches back and forth between Tommy and Eric, highlighting the contrasting events in the boys' lives as they grow up.

*****

On his first day in the new school, six-year-old Tommy meets a boy called Bruno, who gives Tommy the ironic nickname Lucky. Tommy becomes friends with Bruno and his older sister Monique, both of whom will greatly impact his life. In his first week of classes Tommy is repeatedly attacked by bullies and brought to tears in the classroom, where the sunlight is too bright. Thus Tommy stops going to school and spends every day in an unused, fenced-off alley behind Elton's house.



In the alley, Tommy cleans up trash, looks at nature, and hangs out in his 'clubhouse' - an abandoned basement room. Bruno tells the teacher that Tommy went back to his former home, and hard-drinking Elton - who works long hours as a mechanic - is too indifferent to notice. Thus Tommy's elementary school truancy goes on for three years.....until Elton's violent temper makes Tommy run away from home.

Tommy starts working for a drug dealer, delivering packages to customers, and makes good money.



Eventually, Tommy, who's not yet 12-years-old, moves in with Monique and her new baby - and becomes the provider for the household. Before long the drug business goes badly wrong, there's a shoot out, and Tommy is injured. Tommy is then sentenced to nine years in juvie, where he's repeatedly raped and abused. Eventually Tommy escapes and gets back on the streets, where he becomes one of the homeless, pushing a shopping cart through town.



*****

Eric, in the meantime, leads a charmed life. By the time he's fourteen, Eric - who reads newspapers with his father at breakfast - is knowledgeable about world affairs, is doing well in private school, is a fine athlete, and is popular with the girls.....even seniors. And his charmed life goes on from there.



The one person who has reservations about Eric is the former nanny (now housekeeper) Ahn - who thinks Eric is 'cursed'......and that his 'good luck' leads to other people's 'bad luck.' And this, indeed, appears to be true. To say more would be a spoiler.

In objective terms, Eric has a much better life than Tommy. Eric has a nice home, is bound for college, and has everything going his way. On the downside, Eric never recovers from losing Branwyn and Tommy and - with great insight - realizes he's 'toxic' to other people. This leads Eric to make major sacrifices, and he can't seem to find true happiness.



Tommy, on the other hand, has a very rough existence. He's yanked from a life of privilege, gets into trouble, suffers beatings and broken bones, comes across a dead body, gets shot more than once, wanders the street with bloody feet, grows up essentially illiterate and uneducated, is falsely arrested, and more. Through it all, however, Tommy remains stoic - even optimistic and happy. Tommy is the ultimate example of resiliency.



So, who's the 'fortunate son?" (I still vote Eric.)

In time, the two brothers find one another, which leads to a series of dramatic events and a memorable climax.

I enjoyed the book, but some parts are too slow and some strain credulity (for me). Still, this is a good novel, well worth reading.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Books don't move me like when I was a kid," I told the librarian yesterday. "Every time I read, the experience becomes a little less special."
"You're reading the wrong books."

I've read so many, lately, that that was hard to accept, in the moment. And then I read this in one sitting. It's strangely moving and thought provoking and, at times, amateurishly written, with dialogue, descriptions and a final plot twist that are so poorly constructed as to make me feel embarrassed on behalf of Walter Mosley. Somehow, cliches and cheap contrivances build into something eminently readable and strikingly thought provoking. The language is so sparse and the story so straightforward that it could be YA or a sort of Everyman Paul Auster.

It's probably great because it lacks pretension and its text is unclean. If books were records, they'd all be slick, Butch Vig productions. Literature lacks the garage sounds, the basement jams. This one has them.

[Kinga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh? Seriously? This book was really badly written. I don't have a copy with me right now so I can't quote. Just take my word for it. I can't believe anyone is taking this novel seriously. The story was somewhat interesting. However, Mosley knows only one device to move the plot forward - kill somebody off, I guess this is what happens when a crime writer tries to write something outside of his genre, it was ridiculous - people were dying like flies.
It read like a manuscript sent to a publisher by a hopeful 14 year old. I believe it had a quote on the cover by someone from Guardian saying that Mosley judging by this book alone should be considered one of the greatest novelist of our times... Wow, if that's so, ladies and gentlemen, we are in deep sh%!$. I say, let's stick to classics.

[PJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of those books with so much humanity, so much beauty, that it alone could sustain my sometimes delicate faith in people. It is a rare meditation on what it means to pass through our world and what, if any, effect we leave on it. Lit snobs like to question what a work says about the human condition. This book asks a lot of questions about the human condition.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been such a big fan of Mosely's mysteries that I grabbed at this audiobook on the shelf of my local library. Wow, it's like the bastard love child of Richard Wright and Danielle Steele, a series of sappy, cloying, breathless, nearly ridiculous love relationships grafted onto social commentary about how some folks become homeless. A black boy and a white boy grow up and then apart after their parents have an affair. Through a series of plot contrivances and meditations on eternal character flaws worthy of Ayn Rand, Mosely brings them back together. I've been ready to smash the remaining CDs for most of the week, but I made it to the end. I may never read this author again. Really unpleasant, VERY disappointing. I feel like somebody slipped a romance novel into the book jacket of a very favorite mystery writer. I guess that will teach me---you can't judge a book by its cover. Or even its author, sometimes. UGH!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honey, honey, honey. This book. First let me say, I have never read a Walter Mosley book- not into reading Mystery. Why not? No clue. Just never struck my fancy. So as I was scrolling through his book list on the library's website, I saw this one and the blurb was interesting. So I got it and I spent all day in bed yesterday until I finished this book. My heart ached for Thomas. I cried so hard, I got a headache and had to go to sleep. I can't say this book was amazing, but I can say that I was amazed by Thomas. His little self endured so much as a child and through it all he still had this happy and optimistic outlook on life. I think that is why I cried so hard. I've had hardships and could relate to somethings, but I just could not relate to how his soul/spirit was not crushed. I wish I could absorb his spirit and move past my bad days. My bad days, they follow me like shadow and you can't outrun those. Good job Walter Mosley. I think I will try another of your books.

[girlwonder · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was awful. An unsuccessful parable about race in the US. It was very readable in the way that bad tv can be very watchable. But often so bad I wanted to scream.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walter Mosely seems able to write well in any genre he chooses: science fiction, crime, fantasy, and others. But this is a novel in the traditional sense. "Fortunate Son" is an actual novel. It reminds me of Charles Dickens and Toni Morrison. We have rounded characters, a realistic plot, love and hate, sorrow and joy, real scenery. This is really good. I hope Mosely reaches the popular and critical acclaim that I believe he deserves.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished "Little Yellow Dog" and immediately started another Mosley book, and another one after that, to the extent that tells you something. After finishing "Fortunate Son," I cast about for any book by any other author, to the extent that tells you something.

"Fortunate Son" is at once quintessential Mosley and at the same time a big departure for him. It's essentially a fairy tale of America, and the magical realism is a new toy for him (one he seems to enjoy playing with). Yet the treatment of race and poverty and people living at the margins will be instantly familiar to even casual Mosley readers. And for the first two thirds of the book, he blends these two components together masterfully.

Mosley is especially successful giving verisimilitude to a story that relies upon supernatural forces, and his continued use of the story of race in America makes this possible. Eric is nominally the fortunate son of the title, blessed with good looks and good fortune beyond explanation, and his brother Tommy finds more trouble than can be explained by mere chance. While he's building the story, Mosley plays with this device incredibly well, using his more familiar devices of race and class to lend the story credence. Eric's good luck seems supernatural but at the same time feels like exactly the outcome that American culture conspires to produce. As long as Mosley's moving the story along, his natural tendencies towards gritty realism balance out his imaginative ambitions almost perfectly.

And then there's the final third, when Mosley's no longer moving the story along but needs to resolve it. The introduction of the final conflict and its resolution are of a completely different tone than is the rest of the book, and to my ear it just doesn't work. It's unfortunate, because the beginning and middle are so delightful that the ending comes off especially disappointing, like eating most of a superbly cooked meal only to get to a rotten last bite that spoils the entire experience.

That's something of an exaggeration. The ending is at least competent, and when Mosley succeeds he does so like nobody in the business. "Fortunate Son" is recommended without a whole lot of passion, but recommended nonetheless.

[Cherisa B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mosley is a really good storyteller. This tale is full of life, black and white, rich and poor, good and bad, kind and mean, and all for a reason. Showing us the panoply of humanity, every character is drawn clearly and believably. The plausibility of the action gets stretched at times, but the parable aspect lets us accept it easily. A solid and very enjoyable read with characters that will stay with me, from the brothers at the center of the story to the rib master and black teenage mother.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Walter Mosley's books are usually filled with observations on race relations and other interesting social topics, so this book seemed like it would be a winner. It followed two boys, Eric who is white and privileged, and Tommy who is black and raised in abuse and poverty. The boys were at first brothers in the same household when Tommy's mother and Eric's father fall in love but when Tommy's mother dies his abusive father takes him away.

The theme that Mosley does the most with is how affluence can lead to depression and numbness to the world. I was surprised to find that Eric was probably the most interesting character, though none of the characters are as well developed as they should be. Tommy almost begins to function as a "magic negro" later in the book, which is a shocking stereotype to see from an African American writer who normally writes such complex African American characters.

I imagine that Mosley had intended this book to be a parable. That said, it works very badly when you are trying to tell a story about these kinds of philosophical themes but draw your characters so broadly and archetypically. At times, and especially in the early chapters, it is almost as if Mosley is trying his hand at magic realism. That would have been fine if the book didn't shift tones to realism so jarringly. If this was intentional it was a huge miscalculation.

I also found Mosley's prose just too simple for such a big story. Mosley usually writes his novels in first person and sticks to a single point of view. I will have to say that the omniscient narrator is not his strong suit. With the way the plot takes unexpected turns and the odd tendency to kill characters off, I was reminded of John Irving more than a few times. But Irving would have given this kind of book both an epic feel and a tragicomic tone that Mosley just can't pull off.

[Debra Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two close brothers, one white (Eric), one black (Thomas), separated when they were 6 years old and reunited at 19. The two have vastly different lives during their separation. Thomas is the intuitive, saintly, and passive one. He accepts and surrenders to life's most horrible twists of fate. He is abandoned, beaten, imprisoned, raped and yet does not hold a grudge. Seemingly simple and guileless, everyone who is around him for any length of time is influenced by his goodness and loves him. That includes his white "brother" Eric, his exact opposite. Eric seems blessed. Unlike Thomas, he is rich, gorgeous, smart, athletic, and lucky. As the book progresses, however, it becomes apparent that Thomas is the lucky one because he is happy just because he is alive, whereas Eric is never happy or loves no one – except Thomas. I found the novel a bit too grim in parts, and then too magical in others. But still - I could not put it down.

Mosely is an inventive, creative writer. Here he has made something of a fable or what feels like an other-worldly tale of two brothers. Superficially, some of the events are implausible and some characters larger than life, but this is a vivid uplifting allegory of great depth. As such, suspension of disbelief isn't an issue. What is the allegory about? After considerable reflection, I've concluded that the underlying theme is the Black experience in America. Don't be put off by that description – the lessons of the book are universal. The underlying theme is subtle and not antagonistic toward Whites. However, the eyes of a Black author may be more attuned to the question of fate.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wanted to read a novel by Walter Mosely and I was not disappointed by this, my first. Indeed, as I read Fortunate Son, I found myself thinking that I had never read any novel quite like this one.

The plot is incredible though a bit complex to easily explain. In a brutal nutshell two "brothers", one black and one white, are raised together from birth in a posh Beverly Hills home. Their idyllic childhood is shattered when their black mother dies and Thomas' biological father reclaims him and takes him to live in a South L.A. apartment. From ages six to nineteen the boys are separated and live lives on vastly different trajectories.
Eric experiences a life of perhaps supernatural blessing. He continues to be educated in the best private schools, excels at everything he sets his hand to and is perpetually on the winning side of every event. Thomas experience a life of almost unrelenting horror and suffers every cruelty and injustice one can experience in L.A. The two are reunited at age nineteen and unexpected and dramatic consequences ensue.

Although their style could not be more different, Walter Mosely reminded me of another excellent novelist, Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri's style is lush and elegant; every page is like a poem. Mosely's style more resembles that of Raymond Carver; terse and to the point, letting events speak for themselves. But both writers give an almost loving attention to the development of characters in a way I have rarely seen. I definitely plan on reading more Walter Mosely!

[Carol Drufke-Zeller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm, I came away from this not really being able to say this was a read I felt benefited me in any kind of way. The story itself was enough to keep you reading, but at times the pace of the story threw you off. The manner in which the author portrayed the passing of time felt phony. The character development was good, but the characters themselves were boring in an odd sort of way, despite these "unique" lives they seemed to be living. Most of the times the characters felt simply like characters, and that could have been why the story didn't really seem believable. I was not invested in them, nor was in love with them by any means, any of them. It felt short-sighted, and I just felt like this was a story I had to read because I kept hoping it was going somewhere deeper. Never made it there for me. I will give credit to the fact that it was eye-opening to our American rich/poor class culture. The book just was kind of lack-luster. Too bad. I am glad I read it though, always good to see life in a new perspective.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio and although I gave it a decent rating, I almost did not continue reading/listening after the first couple of chapters as the story was beyond syrupy and sanguine. It was like the author was going out of his way to poke holes in all stereotypes in chapter one, so he could use the remaining chapters just to illustrate them.
White boy got everything.
Black boy ain't got nothin'.

And it pretty much goes like that. White people are all advantaged and take it for granted. Blacks are nearly all poor, often angry, drunk or high. The one Asian imparts wisdom (amazon).
However, even with that said, I’m glad I did finish the book as the story Thomas Beerman and Eric Nolan, brothers by fate, was filled with enough substance to keep it interesting even if highly unbelievable.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the current foray into this author, this story brought tears, joy and inspiration. Thomas is truly fortunate and in spite of the challenging life journey, his compassion and anticipation of joy is without compare. What I enjoy in particular about Mosley's storytelling is how his characters represent a cross section of humanity, many of them unique. He's one of the more prolific authors and a 'street sense' that's remarkable given the level of brilliance he possesses. Similarly, his characters share these qualities along with many others that engage readers. Caution to those who have 'issues' with human sexuality, though it's part of the jigsaw puzzle we call life.

[MavLit Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling work. It leaves the reader really wishing good for one of the main characters who seems to have experienced all the bad breaks one could ever happen in life.

[Widad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows the lives of two boys as they are dictated by fate and free will and it highlights how unfair the man-made system is towards minorities and the disadvantaged. Society is programmed to kick a man when he's down.

Im a sucker for a painful ending where everyone is dead and I'm left questioning the meaning of life. However, this book was of the very few where i prayed for a relatively happy ending. Each chapter was an emotional rollercoaster of pain, death, and unfairness that by the end of the book, i was praying for things to turn around just so i can maintain a grain of trust in society to keep going with my own life.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in an odd style--very simplistically, with very little character development. I'd be interested to know if Mosley always writes like that. He uses what I guess I'd call magic realism, like some Latin American authors, in his story about 2 brothers that becomes a parable of the black and white races in the US. The white brother is huge, beautiful and gifted with the ability to make everyone like him and everyone do his bidding, but he is also dangerous in an uncanny way and people who are close to him tend to die. The black brother is weak and puny, with terrible luck that leads him to a life that is the poorest of poor, dangerous, and lonely, but still he is able to live through all the horrible things that happen to him. Together the 2 brothers eventually learn to make sense out of their 2 lives. Hmmm.... Well, interesting to read, but I certainly didn't feel invested in either character.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a different take on a brother to brother relationship. I enjoyed this story, it was very well written and I liked each character even though they were flawed. It was a raw emotional story that kept me reading until the last page. I hoped for the best for the two brothers from different worlds, who had different paths and experiences in their lives, but still loved and cared for each other more than they did in their other relationships. I would recommend this novel because it is a different perspective on the racisim in this world and within one family. Fortunate Son

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured the book within 24 hours. Walter Moseley writes mysteries, science fiction and realistic fiction; this book is a parable. Before you run away screaming, "Yuk, a parable!", I encourage you to read "Fortunate Son".

The story tells of two brothers, one black, and one white. One is large physically and healthy, the other is small and sickly. Yes, there are differences between Tommy and Eric, but the story is not that simple. The story is not about racism, but is filled with it. I know that I will need to read this one again to digest the symbolism. I recommend the book!

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh, I had higher hopes for this book, very disappointing. I mean, the story was decent and I liked the characters, but the way it was written was so cliched I was dyin. So literal, as if someone was writing for the first time and didn't know the phrases he was using were old as the hills and just as tired. Of course, I've never written a novel, so I can't slam it too hard...

[Linda Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reviewer said it was like the love-child of Richard Wright and Danielle Steel, or something like that. It seemed more to me to be D.S. becoming R.W.
I am a fan of Easy Rawlins but have not been able to get interested in any other series. Thought I might like this stand alone novel. Guess I did since I picked it up and did not put it down until I was done.

[K2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a GoodRead! Mosley is definitely One of the Greatest, he exhibits the ability to create stories for any genre and be entertaining as well as educational, He’s always spitting game with his pen. For Mi this Read is about Holding On 2 the Greatest Loves Of One’s Life in Life & Death.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

In depth sexual encounters with shallow characters. No character development. Uncomfortable relationships with minors written off as “fine” - I don’t know…. I only finished it for the book club I’m in. I hurried to get it over with.

[Tongeia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out interesting and then took a strange turn. It was a depressing story with some happiness in the end ( I think). This was my first Mosley book, I will try another one.

[Coffee&Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastical and a bit boring toward the end, however I don’t regret dedicating the time to this novel. Will likely read more Mosely.

[Debra Faust-Clancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this story by Walter Mosely; am reading him because I plan to attend CrimeBake (writer's conference) in the fall and he is the featured speaker. Story revolves around two boys Eric and Thomas, one white and one black. They grew up as brothers in the same house. They do not have the same father nor do they have the same mother. They are brothers because their father's white mother died in childbirth. His subsequent lover (spoiler alert!) whom he never married had a black child from a black man. The father of the black child abandoned them before Thomas, the black child was born. But the white doctor father and black mother lived together in the same household together with the boys. Sounds confusing. Sorry.

I read this book in two days time and appreciated how much the reader is IN the story ALL the time soaking up details and real life conversations. This is an extremely skilled writer! I could see a couple awkward transitions when he had to get the boys from one situation into another, but mostly it flowed. Trying to write yourself makes reading books very different from just enjoying the story. You notice more things in the writing. Especially the intimate parts between main characters.

[Momma-Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book which I thoroughly enjoyed! This is my first Walter Mosley novel and I'm impressed with the depth magnitude of the characters, especially the two brothers. They are living and breathing while youare immersed in their lives.
Although this is fictional Mr. Mosley teaches us through it (and many can learn) about life, love, race and culture, and the bonds versus discrimination as a result.
One word? Exquisite novel. Okay two.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story. The way that Walter Mosley describes his characters, events of their lives, and the way that the characters process those events, reveals a diversity in attitudes and how our thoughts can shape us. Depending on the reader, there may be a message to be careful how we think about things. There is power in choosing our attitudes. 🤷 Just a thought. 😊👍❤️