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A Cry of Angels
It is the mid-1950s in Quarrytown, Georgia. In the slum known as the Ape Yard, hope's last refuge is a boardinghouse where a handful of residents dream of a better life. Earl Whitaker, who is white, and Tio Grant, who is black, are both teenagers, both orphans, and best friends. In the same house live two of the most important adults in the boys' Em Jojohn, the gigantic Lumbee Indian handyman, is notorious for his binges, his rat-catching prowess, and his mysterious departures from town. Jayell Crooms, a gifted but rebellious architect, is stuck in a loveless marriage to a conventional woman intent on climbing the social ladder.
Crooms's vision of a new Ape Yard, rebuilt by its own residents, unites the four-and puts them on a collision course with Doc Bobo, a smalltown Machiavelli who rules the community like a feudal lord. Jeff Fields's exuberantly defined characters and his firmly rooted sense of place have earned A Cry of Angels an intensely loyal following. Its republication, more than three decades since it first appeared, is cause for celebration.
Crooms's vision of a new Ape Yard, rebuilt by its own residents, unites the four-and puts them on a collision course with Doc Bobo, a smalltown Machiavelli who rules the community like a feudal lord. Jeff Fields's exuberantly defined characters and his firmly rooted sense of place have earned A Cry of Angels an intensely loyal following. Its republication, more than three decades since it first appeared, is cause for celebration.
392 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1974
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August 13, 2020
“That was the Ape Yard. Its color the unrelieved red of the sun-baked slopes. Its sound a clatter, the ragged burr of old engines, a fight somewhere in the squat gray houses, a curse, a calling, an unexplained wail in the night. Its mood, eternal despair. Of course, that vision of my world came later. At the time I saw it through the eyes of a boy, in that half-remembered time when we were dreamers.”
This book, my friends, is the reason I log onto this website nearly every day, poring through reviews and adding one book after another to my mammoth to-read list. Because every once in a while, an iridescent pearl rolls across my path. One that I will hoard forever and loan out only to the most trusted of fellow readers. A Cry of Angels has less than one hundred and fifty ratings and even fewer reviews here as of this morning. Why?! Please read this book! You are missing out on one of the most brilliant coming-of-age stories. Jeff Fields’ writing is luminous and soulful. He is a born storyteller, and I can’t imagine why on earth he has no other novels attached to his name.
When we meet Earl Whitaker, he is a young teen standing on the precipice of manhood. Orphaned at a young age, he lives in a boardinghouse with a group of ‘discarded’ elderly men and women who have been displaced by families who no longer want to be responsible for their care. Situated in the poverty-stricken hollow called The Ape Yard, a part of town populated by mostly blacks, poor whites, and a handful of outcasts, this establishment is run by the indomitable Miss Esther, Earl’s great-aunt.
“It was never allowed to become one of those places where old people sit and listen to the ticking away of their lives. At Miss Esther’s there was humor, there was individuality, there was respect, all radiating from her own bullfiddle personality.”
Besides Miss Esther and Earl, we are introduced to a motley assortment of some of the most memorable, richly-drawn characters ever written. Yes, for a short time I believed these people truly breathed, laughed, cried, made love, and fought for their lives and their dreams in Quarrytown, Georgia during the 1950s. I would almost swear they were real persons if this hadn’t been pegged as historical fiction.
Em Jojohn, a fierce giant of a man said to be a descendant of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, becomes Earl’s protector and roommate of sorts in the little loft behind the boardinghouse. This formidable force answers to no one! Jayell Crooms, a gifted architect who refuses to sit behind a desk drafting cloned models of houses, is soon to be wed to a social climber from Atlanta. No one can understand why he ran away from the reckless and beautiful Phaedra in pursuit of such a mismatch as Gwen Burns. Tio is a young black teen and Earl’s best friend who helps old man Teague run his grocery store, even as the big store chains begin to threaten its existence. He, much like Jayell, is something of a visionary, coming up with plans and designs to improve Mr. Teague’s business. And then, there is Doc Bobo… I’m sure he must be listed along with the definition of “evil” in your online dictionary. Doc Bobo, owner of Bobo’s Funeral Home and various other properties in The Ape Yard, is the most influential black member of the community. The mayor and other bigwigs of Quarrytown look the other way as long as Doc Bobo manages to keep his own people in line. He does so with threats, force, and when necessary, with the help of a gang of thugs, including the menacing monster of a man named Clyde Fay.
“That was the way. Nothing in the sunlight for Bobo. Give them only screams to take with them as they climbed the hills to do his bidding, to take to their beds that night, to boil in their dreams and allow their imagination to do Bobo’s work. Later they could see the result. He was so careful in his staging, in his use of terror against ignorance. Bobo was a master.”
There’s a lot of depth to this book and I’ll beg you again to read this. Set on the brink of desegregation, A Cry of Angels chronicles race relations with keen insight. Written in 1974, yet highly relevant to our current times, this novel should be on high school required reading lists, right alongside To Kill a Mockingbird and other influential works. It deals with the neglectful and disgraceful housing issues of African-Americans as they are pushed out of white neighborhoods and forced into government sponsored projects, further segregating them from the white population. Anyone that questions today's Black Lives Matter movement should take a look at this book. I don’t see how a human being with a heart and a conscience could walk away from this not having learned something very essential to freedom, equal rights, and accountability. I know I sure did. Humor, heartache, and beautiful prose are all wrapped up with a bow in this unforgettable piece of literature.
“I have this notion that maybe this world is the hell of the angels. That maybe we’re creatures with angels exiled in our souls, banished to this godawful existence, crying in despair… and all those fancy frigging dreams we have are only the cries of those poor old angels, their screams in our animal minds.”
This book, my friends, is the reason I log onto this website nearly every day, poring through reviews and adding one book after another to my mammoth to-read list. Because every once in a while, an iridescent pearl rolls across my path. One that I will hoard forever and loan out only to the most trusted of fellow readers. A Cry of Angels has less than one hundred and fifty ratings and even fewer reviews here as of this morning. Why?! Please read this book! You are missing out on one of the most brilliant coming-of-age stories. Jeff Fields’ writing is luminous and soulful. He is a born storyteller, and I can’t imagine why on earth he has no other novels attached to his name.
When we meet Earl Whitaker, he is a young teen standing on the precipice of manhood. Orphaned at a young age, he lives in a boardinghouse with a group of ‘discarded’ elderly men and women who have been displaced by families who no longer want to be responsible for their care. Situated in the poverty-stricken hollow called The Ape Yard, a part of town populated by mostly blacks, poor whites, and a handful of outcasts, this establishment is run by the indomitable Miss Esther, Earl’s great-aunt.
“It was never allowed to become one of those places where old people sit and listen to the ticking away of their lives. At Miss Esther’s there was humor, there was individuality, there was respect, all radiating from her own bullfiddle personality.”
Besides Miss Esther and Earl, we are introduced to a motley assortment of some of the most memorable, richly-drawn characters ever written. Yes, for a short time I believed these people truly breathed, laughed, cried, made love, and fought for their lives and their dreams in Quarrytown, Georgia during the 1950s. I would almost swear they were real persons if this hadn’t been pegged as historical fiction.
Em Jojohn, a fierce giant of a man said to be a descendant of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, becomes Earl’s protector and roommate of sorts in the little loft behind the boardinghouse. This formidable force answers to no one! Jayell Crooms, a gifted architect who refuses to sit behind a desk drafting cloned models of houses, is soon to be wed to a social climber from Atlanta. No one can understand why he ran away from the reckless and beautiful Phaedra in pursuit of such a mismatch as Gwen Burns. Tio is a young black teen and Earl’s best friend who helps old man Teague run his grocery store, even as the big store chains begin to threaten its existence. He, much like Jayell, is something of a visionary, coming up with plans and designs to improve Mr. Teague’s business. And then, there is Doc Bobo… I’m sure he must be listed along with the definition of “evil” in your online dictionary. Doc Bobo, owner of Bobo’s Funeral Home and various other properties in The Ape Yard, is the most influential black member of the community. The mayor and other bigwigs of Quarrytown look the other way as long as Doc Bobo manages to keep his own people in line. He does so with threats, force, and when necessary, with the help of a gang of thugs, including the menacing monster of a man named Clyde Fay.
“That was the way. Nothing in the sunlight for Bobo. Give them only screams to take with them as they climbed the hills to do his bidding, to take to their beds that night, to boil in their dreams and allow their imagination to do Bobo’s work. Later they could see the result. He was so careful in his staging, in his use of terror against ignorance. Bobo was a master.”
There’s a lot of depth to this book and I’ll beg you again to read this. Set on the brink of desegregation, A Cry of Angels chronicles race relations with keen insight. Written in 1974, yet highly relevant to our current times, this novel should be on high school required reading lists, right alongside To Kill a Mockingbird and other influential works. It deals with the neglectful and disgraceful housing issues of African-Americans as they are pushed out of white neighborhoods and forced into government sponsored projects, further segregating them from the white population. Anyone that questions today's Black Lives Matter movement should take a look at this book. I don’t see how a human being with a heart and a conscience could walk away from this not having learned something very essential to freedom, equal rights, and accountability. I know I sure did. Humor, heartache, and beautiful prose are all wrapped up with a bow in this unforgettable piece of literature.
“I have this notion that maybe this world is the hell of the angels. That maybe we’re creatures with angels exiled in our souls, banished to this godawful existence, crying in despair… and all those fancy frigging dreams we have are only the cries of those poor old angels, their screams in our animal minds.”
November 25, 2020
4.5 rounded up = With equal parts humor and philosophical meanderings, throw in some deadly serious issues like the world in the 1950s before desegregation, coming of age as an orphan, and the intricacies of a friendship between a poor white boy, Earl, and Tio, a young black boy raised by the white grocer, Mr. Teague, and throw in a mix of characters to season the pot and you’ve got a recipe for a mighty fine story.
Earl Whitaker is being raised by his great-aunt Esther, an independent widow making a living by taking in old folks as boarders. Allergic Mrs. Metcalf, Mr. Burroughs who complains that his children have robbed him and packed him off, deaf Mr. Woodall, and the grousing Mr. Jurgen are just part of this intriguing cast of boarders. My favorite characters are Em JoJohn and Jayell Croom, both eccentric and able to marshall up a tsunami of reactions. Em JoJohn lives in the loft of the garage that is halfway between the boarding house and Mr. Teague’s grocery store. They live in what’s known as the Ape Yard where mostly black folks live, in Quarrytown, Georgia. Most of the black folks are beholden in some way to Doc Harley Bobo,a black man who made enough money in the undertaking business to buy the Old Mill. He’s bought up most of the property in the area and with an army of “dog boys,” he keeps everyone in line and racks up in the beholding business.
Em JoJohn is an unforgettable character, seven foot tall with a strong proclivity for violence. Because Earl accepts JoJohn just as he is, they get along just fine. JoJohn exemplifies the search for an identity. He only knows that he comes from the “largest tribe of Indians east of the Mississippi.” They’ve been called Croatan, Cherokee, and Lumbee. JoJohn knows that he wants to be called free, so he doesn’t tie himself down with responsibilities and has managed to stay off all the lists where they want to write down his name. He has been companion and mentor to young Earl and led him out of his young nightmares about the fire that took his parent’s life by telling him to name his ghosts.
Jayell Crooms grew up with a drunken father who was a ledgehand in the local quarry. He was a promising student that won over many in the town, who would later call him “crazy” and “a fool” for building creative homes out of scrap for the blacks. Gwen Burns, his girlfriend comes down from Atlanta in hopes of rescuing Jayell from a disturbing way of life. Gwen recognizes his genius and hopes to bend it toward her own ideas of climbing the social ladder. This is another of the author’s explorations in the search for identity. Jayell tells Earl, it is JoJohn who gets it right by living in the moment. By giving us imaginations, creativity, and the hope of love, Jayell says that God has doomed man, and that’s when he compares this world to the hell of the angels.
Author, Jeff Fields has got southern dialog hammered down. There are some gorgeous passages and descriptive prose. There are some places where the story lags for me, especially at the beginning when I first met the boarders and thought I was in for a Miss Julia story. It is worth sticking to. The ending and suspenseful build-up of the last half are worth more than five stars. Fields writes with credibility and authenticity about the racial divide and the tensions of the 1950s. There are Doc Bobo’s everywhere and they are all colors, but mostly today, they are cloaked in the visage of the almighty corporation. This was a very meaningful book, a July read for ‘On the Southern Literary Trail,’ and one I would never have known about if not for the group. The ending has mythological nuances and is cinematically epic.
Earl Whitaker is being raised by his great-aunt Esther, an independent widow making a living by taking in old folks as boarders. Allergic Mrs. Metcalf, Mr. Burroughs who complains that his children have robbed him and packed him off, deaf Mr. Woodall, and the grousing Mr. Jurgen are just part of this intriguing cast of boarders. My favorite characters are Em JoJohn and Jayell Croom, both eccentric and able to marshall up a tsunami of reactions. Em JoJohn lives in the loft of the garage that is halfway between the boarding house and Mr. Teague’s grocery store. They live in what’s known as the Ape Yard where mostly black folks live, in Quarrytown, Georgia. Most of the black folks are beholden in some way to Doc Harley Bobo,a black man who made enough money in the undertaking business to buy the Old Mill. He’s bought up most of the property in the area and with an army of “dog boys,” he keeps everyone in line and racks up in the beholding business.
Em JoJohn is an unforgettable character, seven foot tall with a strong proclivity for violence. Because Earl accepts JoJohn just as he is, they get along just fine. JoJohn exemplifies the search for an identity. He only knows that he comes from the “largest tribe of Indians east of the Mississippi.” They’ve been called Croatan, Cherokee, and Lumbee. JoJohn knows that he wants to be called free, so he doesn’t tie himself down with responsibilities and has managed to stay off all the lists where they want to write down his name. He has been companion and mentor to young Earl and led him out of his young nightmares about the fire that took his parent’s life by telling him to name his ghosts.
Jayell Crooms grew up with a drunken father who was a ledgehand in the local quarry. He was a promising student that won over many in the town, who would later call him “crazy” and “a fool” for building creative homes out of scrap for the blacks. Gwen Burns, his girlfriend comes down from Atlanta in hopes of rescuing Jayell from a disturbing way of life. Gwen recognizes his genius and hopes to bend it toward her own ideas of climbing the social ladder. This is another of the author’s explorations in the search for identity. Jayell tells Earl, it is JoJohn who gets it right by living in the moment. By giving us imaginations, creativity, and the hope of love, Jayell says that God has doomed man, and that’s when he compares this world to the hell of the angels.
Author, Jeff Fields has got southern dialog hammered down. There are some gorgeous passages and descriptive prose. There are some places where the story lags for me, especially at the beginning when I first met the boarders and thought I was in for a Miss Julia story. It is worth sticking to. The ending and suspenseful build-up of the last half are worth more than five stars. Fields writes with credibility and authenticity about the racial divide and the tensions of the 1950s. There are Doc Bobo’s everywhere and they are all colors, but mostly today, they are cloaked in the visage of the almighty corporation. This was a very meaningful book, a July read for ‘On the Southern Literary Trail,’ and one I would never have known about if not for the group. The ending has mythological nuances and is cinematically epic.
December 15, 2025
I have this notion that maybe this world is the hell of the angels. That maybe we're creatures with angels exiled in our souls, banished to this godawful existence, howling in despair...and all those beautiful dreams we have are only the ravings of those angels, their screams in our animal minds.
The 1950’s south is a hardtack world for those who suffer from poverty or the racial divide, and this remarkable book deals with both of those conditions in the persons of Earl Whitaker, a poor white boy, orphaned and subsequently raised by a great aunt in a house full of the discarded elderly, and Tio, another orphan, but black and being cared for by a white man. They live in the Ape Yard, and that name alone says a great deal about the environment and the times. The story is presented through the eyes of Earl, whose youth allows him to only comprehend a portion of what he sees, but reveals to the reader all of the ice hidden beneath the waters he is navigating.
But the one thing all of the people in the Ape Yard had in common was that they were trapped, caught in that basin of poverty and servitude to Doc Bobo in the hollow, and held in place by the weight of the white structure beyond. For them, escape seemed futile at the outset.
There is a cast of characters here that is unforgettable from Jayell Crooms, who just wants to be free to use his creativity and live a simple life, but is hounded by higher society to fit their mold; the stuffy teacher, Gwen, who cannot bear the existence of the “lower society” she finds in Jayell’s world; free-spirit Phaedra Boggs; and a gigantic Indian, Em JoJohn, who fits into neither the black nor the white world and is generally only allowed to navigate either because of his physical prowess and the fear it engenders. To round out the horrors, there is Doc Bobo, a black man who wields control of the black community with an iron fist, oppresses in a way worse than the whites can imagine, but finds acceptance by the white community because he presents them with a sense of security.
The coming-of-age genre is one of my favorites when done well. It is, perhaps one of the hardest for an author, because the voice of an adolescent is difficult to capture and sustain. Earl Whitaker can take his place among the best: Scout Finch, Holden Caulfield, Pony Boy Curtis, or Jody Baxter.
What I love the most about this book is how balanced and real it feels. The characters are in some ways extraordinary, particularly Em JoJohn, who might become a caricature in less skilled hands, but who comes to life here as an alienated outcast with a carefully hidden soft heart. Each of these people can be understood, even the ones whom I hated outright, and I picked myself a favorite in Jayell, who kept struggling to get it right despite all the efforts there were from outside to smash him.
Although what is painted on the pages of this book is a desperate and squalid picture of a life few of us would choose intentionally, Fields has not forgotten to include the love and selflessness that exists within its borders, the passion and desire and creativity it spawns, the purpose that it engenders in the good hearts trapped there, and the important lessons it can teach that are so obviously missed by those whose lives are easier and less encumbered. The stew he prepares for us is palatable, because the salt he sprinkles is hope.
Jeff Fields is a great storyteller. It is sad that this is his only novel. It has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, and another element of comparison would be that both Fields and Harper Lee apparently felt they had said everything they needed or wished to with their one superb effort. I am surprised that it is not more widely read. Had my good friend, Bob, not suggested it to me, I wonder if it would have forever escaped my radar. I owe him yet another debt of gratitude, as this is not the only great read he has selflessly steered me toward! So, thank you, Bob; and for anyone out there who might be reading this review--Go Read This Book.
The 1950’s south is a hardtack world for those who suffer from poverty or the racial divide, and this remarkable book deals with both of those conditions in the persons of Earl Whitaker, a poor white boy, orphaned and subsequently raised by a great aunt in a house full of the discarded elderly, and Tio, another orphan, but black and being cared for by a white man. They live in the Ape Yard, and that name alone says a great deal about the environment and the times. The story is presented through the eyes of Earl, whose youth allows him to only comprehend a portion of what he sees, but reveals to the reader all of the ice hidden beneath the waters he is navigating.
But the one thing all of the people in the Ape Yard had in common was that they were trapped, caught in that basin of poverty and servitude to Doc Bobo in the hollow, and held in place by the weight of the white structure beyond. For them, escape seemed futile at the outset.
There is a cast of characters here that is unforgettable from Jayell Crooms, who just wants to be free to use his creativity and live a simple life, but is hounded by higher society to fit their mold; the stuffy teacher, Gwen, who cannot bear the existence of the “lower society” she finds in Jayell’s world; free-spirit Phaedra Boggs; and a gigantic Indian, Em JoJohn, who fits into neither the black nor the white world and is generally only allowed to navigate either because of his physical prowess and the fear it engenders. To round out the horrors, there is Doc Bobo, a black man who wields control of the black community with an iron fist, oppresses in a way worse than the whites can imagine, but finds acceptance by the white community because he presents them with a sense of security.
The coming-of-age genre is one of my favorites when done well. It is, perhaps one of the hardest for an author, because the voice of an adolescent is difficult to capture and sustain. Earl Whitaker can take his place among the best: Scout Finch, Holden Caulfield, Pony Boy Curtis, or Jody Baxter.
What I love the most about this book is how balanced and real it feels. The characters are in some ways extraordinary, particularly Em JoJohn, who might become a caricature in less skilled hands, but who comes to life here as an alienated outcast with a carefully hidden soft heart. Each of these people can be understood, even the ones whom I hated outright, and I picked myself a favorite in Jayell, who kept struggling to get it right despite all the efforts there were from outside to smash him.
Although what is painted on the pages of this book is a desperate and squalid picture of a life few of us would choose intentionally, Fields has not forgotten to include the love and selflessness that exists within its borders, the passion and desire and creativity it spawns, the purpose that it engenders in the good hearts trapped there, and the important lessons it can teach that are so obviously missed by those whose lives are easier and less encumbered. The stew he prepares for us is palatable, because the salt he sprinkles is hope.
Jeff Fields is a great storyteller. It is sad that this is his only novel. It has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird, and another element of comparison would be that both Fields and Harper Lee apparently felt they had said everything they needed or wished to with their one superb effort. I am surprised that it is not more widely read. Had my good friend, Bob, not suggested it to me, I wonder if it would have forever escaped my radar. I owe him yet another debt of gratitude, as this is not the only great read he has selflessly steered me toward! So, thank you, Bob; and for anyone out there who might be reading this review--Go Read This Book.
September 23, 2020
I would never have picked up this book on my own. The title? Lord, no. The cover? Yawn. The author? Not familiar with Jeff Fields. But then Candi's review came across my daily notifications. I would have been wrong, wrong, and oh, so wrong to have ignored it.
Set in Quarrytown, Georgia in the 1950's. In a dirt poor district known as The Ape Yard, the ruin and decay are evident, wafting a stink of despair. The despicable Doc Bobo and his miscreants keep things well in hand with their distinctive brand of discipline. A traveling fair hits town and carries with it a cacophony of blaring music, clamorous carnival barkers, and the raucous hoots from the girlie tent. Revivals and snake handlers, believers and infidels, there is something for everyone here. ...the rattle of empty words... How perfect is that? And don't even get me started on the characters.
Although my local library did not have this, I was able to obtain a copy through the wonderful Mobius program, courtesy of a small college library in Bolivar, Missouri.
Set in Quarrytown, Georgia in the 1950's. In a dirt poor district known as The Ape Yard, the ruin and decay are evident, wafting a stink of despair. The despicable Doc Bobo and his miscreants keep things well in hand with their distinctive brand of discipline. A traveling fair hits town and carries with it a cacophony of blaring music, clamorous carnival barkers, and the raucous hoots from the girlie tent. Revivals and snake handlers, believers and infidels, there is something for everyone here. ...the rattle of empty words... How perfect is that? And don't even get me started on the characters.
Although my local library did not have this, I was able to obtain a copy through the wonderful Mobius program, courtesy of a small college library in Bolivar, Missouri.
July 7, 2020
In reading reviews of this book, I saw a lot of comparisons to To Kill A Mockingbird. I didn't get that vibe at all from this book, but rather saw more in common with Faulkner's The Reivers or Twain's Huckleberry Finn. However, it was every bit as good as any of those three.
Each chapter was an episode in the life of Earl Whitaker, 14 year old orphan living with a great-aunt who ran a retirement home of sorts. It was also the story of The Ape Yard, a slum in the hollows of Quarrytown, Georgia. The old people who lived there and the poor blacks and whites trying to eke out a living were as fine as you can meet between the pages of a book. Yes, of course there were hateful, nasty, vile characters too, and those who were just the everyday selfish, self-centered creatures we all deal with on a daily basis, but justice is meted out in various ways by the end of the book. There's a lot going on here, with more than one plot to keep track of. There's humor and adventure and poignancy, with a lot of beautiful prose to hold it all together.
"I looked around, trying to visualize land beyond the familiar terrain, realizing for the first time how small were the borders of childhood".
This book was set in 1953, in Georgia, about the time of the Supreme Court decision to integrate schools, so of course racism is a large part of this novel. At a Klan meeting, this was described:
" This man was preaching hate. Pure hate. It was the blood of every thought, every word. The man was not easy with his tongue; the words faltered and sentences broke off in the bell rolling chant of his ranting. But the hate was there, eloquently there, and the people on the ground responded. Hatred that night became a tangible thing".
That passage gave me real pause, because I could swear I had seen the same thing last night on the news.
This book is a wonder, and how it's not more widely read and better known is a mystery to me. It's still around though, so we can change that. Believe me, it's a book that needs to be read.
Each chapter was an episode in the life of Earl Whitaker, 14 year old orphan living with a great-aunt who ran a retirement home of sorts. It was also the story of The Ape Yard, a slum in the hollows of Quarrytown, Georgia. The old people who lived there and the poor blacks and whites trying to eke out a living were as fine as you can meet between the pages of a book. Yes, of course there were hateful, nasty, vile characters too, and those who were just the everyday selfish, self-centered creatures we all deal with on a daily basis, but justice is meted out in various ways by the end of the book. There's a lot going on here, with more than one plot to keep track of. There's humor and adventure and poignancy, with a lot of beautiful prose to hold it all together.
"I looked around, trying to visualize land beyond the familiar terrain, realizing for the first time how small were the borders of childhood".
This book was set in 1953, in Georgia, about the time of the Supreme Court decision to integrate schools, so of course racism is a large part of this novel. At a Klan meeting, this was described:
" This man was preaching hate. Pure hate. It was the blood of every thought, every word. The man was not easy with his tongue; the words faltered and sentences broke off in the bell rolling chant of his ranting. But the hate was there, eloquently there, and the people on the ground responded. Hatred that night became a tangible thing".
That passage gave me real pause, because I could swear I had seen the same thing last night on the news.
This book is a wonder, and how it's not more widely read and better known is a mystery to me. It's still around though, so we can change that. Believe me, it's a book that needs to be read.
December 3, 2021
I bought a used out-of-print hardcover, sans cover, and often, after finishing a chapter, I found myself hugging and caressing the book, talking to it, asking how anybody could own it and give it away. (The book was republished in paperback by University of Georgia Press.)
Why isn't author Jeff Fields as known as John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, and Harper Lee? Why didn't this 1974 release about life in a boarding house in the Georgia sticks in 1953 win a Pulitzer?
Fields's bio at the Georgia Center for the Book states:
Thank you, Diane Barnes, for waking me up to a book that is indeed a masterpiece.
Jeff Fields is now 82 years old and living in Georgia. Somebody optioned this book for a movie in 1975, but he took it back, not trusting what Hollywood would do to it.
I'm glad a movie was never made, but somebody should make a movie, and I won't go to it because the book is all I want in my head. Somebody should pay serious attention to this man. I wish I knew how to do that better.
He donated his papers to the University of North Carolina. Here's his page: https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04950/. He is said to be working on another novel. I would like to read it.
12/3/21 Second Reading Update
I read this book a second time after my book club chose it from my list of three nominations. I read it much slower this time, and I was surprised to discover that, for me, it did not have the same impact as the first time. This is because there really are no new levels or writer’s technique to discover. You get it all on the first reading—not a bad thing, but now I understand how somebody could own this book and then donate it after reading it. Gorgeous writing. A slow, meandering wonderful story. And the tour-de-force cinematic ending is worth holding onto my copy of the book. Perhaps I’ll just reread that if I need a certain kind of inspiration.
Why isn't author Jeff Fields as known as John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, and Harper Lee? Why didn't this 1974 release about life in a boarding house in the Georgia sticks in 1953 win a Pulitzer?
Fields's bio at the Georgia Center for the Book states:
Jeff Fields has written for print and television as well as for the stage, but he is best known for his 1974 book, "A Cry of Angels," an acclaimed novel that critics called a "masterpiece" and a book "even better than "To Kill a Mockingbird." A coming-of-age story set in small town Georgia, it is populated by memorable characters and fuses the comedy of youth with dramatic incidents, soaring on what Georgia author and friend Terry Kay calls "wings of poetic language." In 2010, the novel was chosen for inclusion on the Georgia Center for the Book's list of "25 Books All Georgians Should Read."I would go one step further and say that anybody who loves literature should read this book.
Thank you, Diane Barnes, for waking me up to a book that is indeed a masterpiece.
Jeff Fields is now 82 years old and living in Georgia. Somebody optioned this book for a movie in 1975, but he took it back, not trusting what Hollywood would do to it.
I'm glad a movie was never made, but somebody should make a movie, and I won't go to it because the book is all I want in my head. Somebody should pay serious attention to this man. I wish I knew how to do that better.
He donated his papers to the University of North Carolina. Here's his page: https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04950/. He is said to be working on another novel. I would like to read it.
12/3/21 Second Reading Update
I read this book a second time after my book club chose it from my list of three nominations. I read it much slower this time, and I was surprised to discover that, for me, it did not have the same impact as the first time. This is because there really are no new levels or writer’s technique to discover. You get it all on the first reading—not a bad thing, but now I understand how somebody could own this book and then donate it after reading it. Gorgeous writing. A slow, meandering wonderful story. And the tour-de-force cinematic ending is worth holding onto my copy of the book. Perhaps I’ll just reread that if I need a certain kind of inspiration.
August 23, 2021
Even though the novel takes its time, maybe too much for my taste, to set the scene in which the MEMORABLE characters draw the colorful lines of their vissicitudes, I can’t claim it isn’t time well spent.
The scene is Quarrytown in the fifities, an inpoverished area in Georgia and Earl, a white orgphaned teenage boy living in his great aunt’s boarding house with an assortment of elderly people discarded by their families, is the narrator of this coming-of-age story that will tear at any reader’s heartstrings.
Earl’s best friends are Tio, a black boy his age, and Em, an Indian giant of a man whose love for the bottle is as big as his heart. They join forces with Jayell, an outlandish architect who dreams of a better place for the wild arrange of people who survive in town, mainly black, mostly poor, forging an improbable friendship that reminded me of Steinbeck’s most beloved crew in “Cannery Row”.
Echoing that beloved novella and like in any good symphony, pace and emotions go in crescendo in this tender story. The last scenes become epic, reaching the level of myth with some unforgettable images; a man defying fate, circumstance and fear, fuelled by the kind of inhuman strength that only love can bestow. Gosh…what a breathtaking view, the dispossessed reclaiming their freedom and dignity back.
And how wise Jeff Fields is in letting the reader know that these moments, like childhood dreams, last only for just a split second and that reality will sink in once more, making its harsh injustice the everyday deal, but those sentenced to social marginalization will feel ready to embrace all its ugliness with renewed hearts and a brand new dose of hope, the kind that only the great masters are capable of providing.
A refreshing, moving tale that reminded me of Steinbeck’s unshackable belief in the goodness of people and of love as the only weapon to fight against fear, oppression and bigotry.
Hats off, Mr. Fields. Hats off.
"Away now. While I still dared to believe in dreams.
While I still could hear the angels cry."
The scene is Quarrytown in the fifities, an inpoverished area in Georgia and Earl, a white orgphaned teenage boy living in his great aunt’s boarding house with an assortment of elderly people discarded by their families, is the narrator of this coming-of-age story that will tear at any reader’s heartstrings.
Earl’s best friends are Tio, a black boy his age, and Em, an Indian giant of a man whose love for the bottle is as big as his heart. They join forces with Jayell, an outlandish architect who dreams of a better place for the wild arrange of people who survive in town, mainly black, mostly poor, forging an improbable friendship that reminded me of Steinbeck’s most beloved crew in “Cannery Row”.
Echoing that beloved novella and like in any good symphony, pace and emotions go in crescendo in this tender story. The last scenes become epic, reaching the level of myth with some unforgettable images; a man defying fate, circumstance and fear, fuelled by the kind of inhuman strength that only love can bestow. Gosh…what a breathtaking view, the dispossessed reclaiming their freedom and dignity back.
And how wise Jeff Fields is in letting the reader know that these moments, like childhood dreams, last only for just a split second and that reality will sink in once more, making its harsh injustice the everyday deal, but those sentenced to social marginalization will feel ready to embrace all its ugliness with renewed hearts and a brand new dose of hope, the kind that only the great masters are capable of providing.
A refreshing, moving tale that reminded me of Steinbeck’s unshackable belief in the goodness of people and of love as the only weapon to fight against fear, oppression and bigotry.
Hats off, Mr. Fields. Hats off.
"Away now. While I still dared to believe in dreams.
While I still could hear the angels cry."
December 7, 2025
4.5 Stars
Jeff Fields' novel A Cry of Angels is set in 1953-1955 in a small Georgia town. The story is told through the voice of a poor, white young teenager Earl Whitaker who lives with his aunt, Miss Esther. She runs a boarding house for old people in the rundown part of town called the Ape Yard that is "home for sharecroppers and colored folks."
There are scenes that caused me to laugh aloud such as Little Timmy Parkins at Four Fork Calvary Church, Tio's inventions, and Jayell and Gwen's wedding. Scenes that put a lump in my throat. And plenty of hard living. There's a lot going on in this small quarry town. Doc Bobo wants to start a new marble quarry and on top of it get kickbacks for the new homes for all the people that are displaced. Conflict occurs when Jayell, a visionary young architect, begins building affordable, well constructed homes for some of these people.
Fields populates his novel with strong, vivid characters and his prose is delicious. Whether it's describing the river while tubing after a rainfall:
"From the shivering cold and chaotic gray splashing we drifted into the first shafts of sunlight breaking through the trees, soft dazzling strokes of warmth, dappling, sparkling on the water, the noise subsiding to the last pitting droplets from the overhanging leaves. And clearing before us again, the old beauty of the earth, comforting, familiar, yet fresh, emerging ever new, as always, from each shower. The trees, washed of their dust to deeper greens, lifted their branches lightly in the afterbreezes."
or describing the speaking of a Klan member:
"Pure hate. It was the blood of every thought, every word. and as they listened, the men on the ground slowly, one by one, as though touched by some faint electric pulse, moved off the fenders and raised out of their squats and stood at attention, scarcely breathing. . . . Something ominous pervaded that gathering; it was as strong in the air as the black pine smoke that settled from the whipping flames. Hatred that night became a tangible thing."
Fields captures the Jim Crow South of the 1950's. His storytelling is balanced. He conveys the poverty-stricken, hardscrabble lives as well as the creativity it sometimes inspires and the love and sense of community many of these people share.
If you wonder why black families have little intergenerational wealth, look no further than these pages. So many problems from the past are still haunting us today.
If you love good storytelling, treat yourself to this treasure of a book.
Publication 1974
Jeff Fields' novel A Cry of Angels is set in 1953-1955 in a small Georgia town. The story is told through the voice of a poor, white young teenager Earl Whitaker who lives with his aunt, Miss Esther. She runs a boarding house for old people in the rundown part of town called the Ape Yard that is "home for sharecroppers and colored folks."
There are scenes that caused me to laugh aloud such as Little Timmy Parkins at Four Fork Calvary Church, Tio's inventions, and Jayell and Gwen's wedding. Scenes that put a lump in my throat. And plenty of hard living. There's a lot going on in this small quarry town. Doc Bobo wants to start a new marble quarry and on top of it get kickbacks for the new homes for all the people that are displaced. Conflict occurs when Jayell, a visionary young architect, begins building affordable, well constructed homes for some of these people.
Fields populates his novel with strong, vivid characters and his prose is delicious. Whether it's describing the river while tubing after a rainfall:
"From the shivering cold and chaotic gray splashing we drifted into the first shafts of sunlight breaking through the trees, soft dazzling strokes of warmth, dappling, sparkling on the water, the noise subsiding to the last pitting droplets from the overhanging leaves. And clearing before us again, the old beauty of the earth, comforting, familiar, yet fresh, emerging ever new, as always, from each shower. The trees, washed of their dust to deeper greens, lifted their branches lightly in the afterbreezes."
or describing the speaking of a Klan member:
"Pure hate. It was the blood of every thought, every word. and as they listened, the men on the ground slowly, one by one, as though touched by some faint electric pulse, moved off the fenders and raised out of their squats and stood at attention, scarcely breathing. . . . Something ominous pervaded that gathering; it was as strong in the air as the black pine smoke that settled from the whipping flames. Hatred that night became a tangible thing."
Fields captures the Jim Crow South of the 1950's. His storytelling is balanced. He conveys the poverty-stricken, hardscrabble lives as well as the creativity it sometimes inspires and the love and sense of community many of these people share.
If you wonder why black families have little intergenerational wealth, look no further than these pages. So many problems from the past are still haunting us today.
If you love good storytelling, treat yourself to this treasure of a book.
Publication 1974
December 17, 2021
Jeff Fields published just one book. It was this classic coming-of-age story set in the American South, which was published in 1974.
Let me give you a few numbers that will explain why I am not going to write a review of the book:
* As of now, it has received only 170 ratings on Goodreads;
* Only 5o reviews of the book have been written on Goodreads;
* However, 15 of those reviews have been written by my friends who read the book recently; 13 awarded it 5 stars, while two gave it 4 stars, but also wrote glowing reviews. After earlier reading several of my friends' reviews, I stopped and ordered a copy.
*This morning I finished the book and then read the remaining reviews, and I agree with all of them, and I can't possibly add anything to what they have written.
My advice is to check out the reviews; locate a copy; and read "A Cry of Angels."
It is a shame that Jeff Fields published only one book. He did write another, but I read that it was rejected by 12 publishers and has never been published. Furthermore, in an interview he said he was writing a third novel, but I haven't heard anything else about it.
How to explain it? It is comparable to a batter who hits the first pitch out of the park that he sees in the Major Leagues and never gets another hit. However, he should be remembered for that first time at bat, shouldn't he?
For that one time, he goes on my shelf of forgotten "writers who deserve to be remembered."
Let me give you a few numbers that will explain why I am not going to write a review of the book:
* As of now, it has received only 170 ratings on Goodreads;
* Only 5o reviews of the book have been written on Goodreads;
* However, 15 of those reviews have been written by my friends who read the book recently; 13 awarded it 5 stars, while two gave it 4 stars, but also wrote glowing reviews. After earlier reading several of my friends' reviews, I stopped and ordered a copy.
*This morning I finished the book and then read the remaining reviews, and I agree with all of them, and I can't possibly add anything to what they have written.
My advice is to check out the reviews; locate a copy; and read "A Cry of Angels."
It is a shame that Jeff Fields published only one book. He did write another, but I read that it was rejected by 12 publishers and has never been published. Furthermore, in an interview he said he was writing a third novel, but I haven't heard anything else about it.
How to explain it? It is comparable to a batter who hits the first pitch out of the park that he sees in the Major Leagues and never gets another hit. However, he should be remembered for that first time at bat, shouldn't he?
For that one time, he goes on my shelf of forgotten "writers who deserve to be remembered."
August 14, 2020
A nearly flawless piece of overlooked Southern literary fiction that is the first novel to tug my heartstrings in a very long time. Books like this are few and far between for me. All five P’s - people, place, prose, plot and punch. I have a weakness for coming-of-age stories with adolescents struggling to make sense of their chaotic world through unjaded, innocent eyes, and it always breaks my heart when the real world knocks them down too young.
Step into the Ape Yard and meet an unforgettable orphaned teen named Earl “Early Boy” Whitaker and his extended circle of friends and enemies: the multifaceted, multicolored, multigenerational residents of 1950’s Quarrytown, Georgia. Once you settle in and get to know these beautifully layered characters, you won’t want to say goodbye - not to the devil himself, slumlord and undertaker “Doc” Harley Bobo, and especially not to the not-so-gentle Lumbee giant, incorrigible but lovable Em JoJohn. Earl has to grow up fast and hard in the Yard but he’s never without support from either the group of oldsters in the boardinghouse where he first moves to live with his great-aunt after his parents die in a fire, to his best friend Tio, a fellow orphan who helps provide Earl with food from Mist’ Teague’s grocery when Earl moves out of the boardinghouse, to local architect and builder Jayell Crooms who tries to find work for Earl, to Em JoJohn, both savior and nemesis to Earl.
Jeff Fields uses words long forgotten like “fantod” and “brass cracker” and “spook” (ghost). And how about this for metaphor and imagery: “She was near ninety now, and fragile-looking as a glass cobweb.” Here are a few more samples of Fields’ phenomenal writing in hopes that one will strike a chord and convince you to read this book. Prepare for a leisurely start, but I assure you the pace and plot kick in. This is one of the few books to keep me turning the pages during this year of intense distraction, and I could have easily spent another 350+ pages here. Highly recommend to all.
“Love is a thing to take out when you need it, then put it away someplace. Nobody could stand it all the time.” ~ Em JoJohn
Families, like houses, sometimes have a distinct smell, and theirs was clinging to me like pond scum.” ~ Earl Whitaker
“In dead seriousness, he leaned close and confided, “You can trust us. We’re not family.” ~ Old Mr. Burroughs to young Earl Whitaker
“A man’s environment should free him, not box him in.” ~ Architect and whirling dervish, Jayell Crooms
Step into the Ape Yard and meet an unforgettable orphaned teen named Earl “Early Boy” Whitaker and his extended circle of friends and enemies: the multifaceted, multicolored, multigenerational residents of 1950’s Quarrytown, Georgia. Once you settle in and get to know these beautifully layered characters, you won’t want to say goodbye - not to the devil himself, slumlord and undertaker “Doc” Harley Bobo, and especially not to the not-so-gentle Lumbee giant, incorrigible but lovable Em JoJohn. Earl has to grow up fast and hard in the Yard but he’s never without support from either the group of oldsters in the boardinghouse where he first moves to live with his great-aunt after his parents die in a fire, to his best friend Tio, a fellow orphan who helps provide Earl with food from Mist’ Teague’s grocery when Earl moves out of the boardinghouse, to local architect and builder Jayell Crooms who tries to find work for Earl, to Em JoJohn, both savior and nemesis to Earl.
Jeff Fields uses words long forgotten like “fantod” and “brass cracker” and “spook” (ghost). And how about this for metaphor and imagery: “She was near ninety now, and fragile-looking as a glass cobweb.” Here are a few more samples of Fields’ phenomenal writing in hopes that one will strike a chord and convince you to read this book. Prepare for a leisurely start, but I assure you the pace and plot kick in. This is one of the few books to keep me turning the pages during this year of intense distraction, and I could have easily spent another 350+ pages here. Highly recommend to all.
“Love is a thing to take out when you need it, then put it away someplace. Nobody could stand it all the time.” ~ Em JoJohn
Families, like houses, sometimes have a distinct smell, and theirs was clinging to me like pond scum.” ~ Earl Whitaker
“In dead seriousness, he leaned close and confided, “You can trust us. We’re not family.” ~ Old Mr. Burroughs to young Earl Whitaker
“A man’s environment should free him, not box him in.” ~ Architect and whirling dervish, Jayell Crooms
August 3, 2025
5-Stars (Edited)
It’s been over thirty years since I last read A Cry of Angels. For me, this is still a 5-star read and remains a favorite book. Thirty years have dulled my memory about some of the details, but not the feelings. It’s still a moving and touching story. On the cover of the copy, I read it’s written, “The most touching, gripping and memorable story since To Kill A Mockingbird”. I, for one, believe this is true. I have read both books. Both gripped me from the start, both touched my mind and heart, and both stories are distinctly memorable. Both take place in the Deep South. Both books delve deep into interpersonal relationships, a person’s individual character, and social interactions, including race relations. Both stories are told from the perspective of youth. In Mockingbird, our young narrator is a protected middle-class lawyer’s child who is becoming aware that the world is not all sunshine and roses. She is learning that there is ugliness, cruelty, and violence in the world that’s not normally a part of her everyday life. A Cry of Angels also comes to us from the voice of youth. This young person is not middle-class, nor has Earl been protected from the world’s harsher realities. In the place he calls home, bigotry, prejudice, and racism are just the way things are.
This story takes place in 1950s Georgia and is about a white teenage boy named Earl Whitaker and his friend Tio Grant, a black teenager. They are both orphans and live in the same neighborhood, a place known as the Ape Yard. Being orphans, their food, clothing, and shelter are provided by others. In Earl's case, he lives with his great aunt, who, after his parents died, took him in only because no one else would. After Tio’s mother dies, he is taken in by an elderly white grocery store owner named Mr. Teague. Teague’s fondness for Tio over time turns into a love as deep as any father could have towards a son. Something the reader should easily observe. Some of the strongest emotional moments in the book come when Mr. Teague defends Tio from the powers that want to do him harm.
Most of the story revolves around Earl Whitaker. It’s his coming of age that we observe the most. Earl is orphaned as a result of a fire. He wakes up in the middle of the night to his parents screaming as they are about to die. He, too, should have died. He suffers some burns, but afterward, when he becomes aware of his surroundings, he finds himself outside the burning house with no explanation as to how he got there. This is how Earl comes to live with his great aunt, who owns a boardinghouse for the elderly. Earl becomes a problem because of his violent nightmares. He wakes up screaming to the point of disrupting the sleep of the elderly tenants. This results in people thinking he should be placed in an institution. To avoid this, Earl stays awake at night and hides out during the day to sleep. It’s during this dark time that we are introduced to Em Jojohn, a seven-foot-tall Indian.
As Earl and Jojohn become friends. Jojohn's presence helps Earl face and control his fears, and soon his nightmares go away. Jojohn is a total free spirit, with no permanent home. He comes and goes as he pleases. He goes off for months at a time, but always comes back to look after Earl. It’s Jojohn’s past and his secrets that are revealed as our story reaches its climax. This revelation and the fight for control of the Ape Yard put Earl on a new path of self-discovery, and that’s how the story comes to an end.
Other characters of importance and influence to Earl and Tio are Jayell Crooms, a wild-natured eccentric architect. Who, after a breakup with a girl, probably the love of his life, on the rebound, Jayell marries Gwen Burns. Gwen is the local schoolteacher and is more of a social climber than Jayell, who has little interest in money or fame. This difference provides the fuel for the friction that develops between them. This friction climaxes with a little manipulation from Jojohn in a spectacular way, which I cannot divulge. The last character of real importance is Doc Bobo. He is the local black undertaker and functions as the community's “Godfather”. His thrust for power makes him more villainous to the black people living in the Ape Yard than the local KKK.
Exceptional read. I cannot recommend the book enough. If you can get hold of a copy, waste no time, read it as soon as you get home.
It’s been over thirty years since I last read A Cry of Angels. For me, this is still a 5-star read and remains a favorite book. Thirty years have dulled my memory about some of the details, but not the feelings. It’s still a moving and touching story. On the cover of the copy, I read it’s written, “The most touching, gripping and memorable story since To Kill A Mockingbird”. I, for one, believe this is true. I have read both books. Both gripped me from the start, both touched my mind and heart, and both stories are distinctly memorable. Both take place in the Deep South. Both books delve deep into interpersonal relationships, a person’s individual character, and social interactions, including race relations. Both stories are told from the perspective of youth. In Mockingbird, our young narrator is a protected middle-class lawyer’s child who is becoming aware that the world is not all sunshine and roses. She is learning that there is ugliness, cruelty, and violence in the world that’s not normally a part of her everyday life. A Cry of Angels also comes to us from the voice of youth. This young person is not middle-class, nor has Earl been protected from the world’s harsher realities. In the place he calls home, bigotry, prejudice, and racism are just the way things are.
This story takes place in 1950s Georgia and is about a white teenage boy named Earl Whitaker and his friend Tio Grant, a black teenager. They are both orphans and live in the same neighborhood, a place known as the Ape Yard. Being orphans, their food, clothing, and shelter are provided by others. In Earl's case, he lives with his great aunt, who, after his parents died, took him in only because no one else would. After Tio’s mother dies, he is taken in by an elderly white grocery store owner named Mr. Teague. Teague’s fondness for Tio over time turns into a love as deep as any father could have towards a son. Something the reader should easily observe. Some of the strongest emotional moments in the book come when Mr. Teague defends Tio from the powers that want to do him harm.
Most of the story revolves around Earl Whitaker. It’s his coming of age that we observe the most. Earl is orphaned as a result of a fire. He wakes up in the middle of the night to his parents screaming as they are about to die. He, too, should have died. He suffers some burns, but afterward, when he becomes aware of his surroundings, he finds himself outside the burning house with no explanation as to how he got there. This is how Earl comes to live with his great aunt, who owns a boardinghouse for the elderly. Earl becomes a problem because of his violent nightmares. He wakes up screaming to the point of disrupting the sleep of the elderly tenants. This results in people thinking he should be placed in an institution. To avoid this, Earl stays awake at night and hides out during the day to sleep. It’s during this dark time that we are introduced to Em Jojohn, a seven-foot-tall Indian.
As Earl and Jojohn become friends. Jojohn's presence helps Earl face and control his fears, and soon his nightmares go away. Jojohn is a total free spirit, with no permanent home. He comes and goes as he pleases. He goes off for months at a time, but always comes back to look after Earl. It’s Jojohn’s past and his secrets that are revealed as our story reaches its climax. This revelation and the fight for control of the Ape Yard put Earl on a new path of self-discovery, and that’s how the story comes to an end.
Other characters of importance and influence to Earl and Tio are Jayell Crooms, a wild-natured eccentric architect. Who, after a breakup with a girl, probably the love of his life, on the rebound, Jayell marries Gwen Burns. Gwen is the local schoolteacher and is more of a social climber than Jayell, who has little interest in money or fame. This difference provides the fuel for the friction that develops between them. This friction climaxes with a little manipulation from Jojohn in a spectacular way, which I cannot divulge. The last character of real importance is Doc Bobo. He is the local black undertaker and functions as the community's “Godfather”. His thrust for power makes him more villainous to the black people living in the Ape Yard than the local KKK.
Exceptional read. I cannot recommend the book enough. If you can get hold of a copy, waste no time, read it as soon as you get home.
July 20, 2020
4.5 ★
I have friends on GR who would really appreciate being turned on to this mostly undiscovered jewel of southern literature. I can only hope you are able to find your way to it.
I'm getting lazy—so just read Libby's excellent review and you'll know my thoughts as well.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have friends on GR who would really appreciate being turned on to this mostly undiscovered jewel of southern literature. I can only hope you are able to find your way to it.
I'm getting lazy—so just read Libby's excellent review and you'll know my thoughts as well.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
December 10, 2022
With evocative prose and colorful, one-of-a-kind characters, Jeff Fields weaves a coming of age tale that unfolds slowly with a suspenseful ending that has the reader quickly turning pages to see what happens. Taking place in Georgia at the dawning of the civil rights movement, it could be a companion novel with To Kill a Mockingbird. It has heroes and villains, tenderness and humor, and a plot that sometimes disappears only to dramatically reveal itself later on — basically, this novel has something for everyone.
Thanks are given to group leader Bob from Goodreads Catching Up with the Classics for steering me to this book that belongs on the Classics shelf.
Thanks are given to group leader Bob from Goodreads Catching Up with the Classics for steering me to this book that belongs on the Classics shelf.
June 11, 2021
4.5 rounded up.
Delightful. Entertaining. Heartbreaking. Enriching.
There's a book called The Family of Man, full of photographs that capture "a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world". A Cry of Angels was a verbal photograph, reminiscent of those haunting pictures, pulling me into a world that preceded my birth, but was as immersive as if it were my amniotic fluid. A world both carefree and burdened, humorous and painful, hopeful and desolate.
"Children sat idly watching a stranger pass--spindly, clay-colored children with raw, expressionless faces, to whom play was a perpetual, listless roaming....Women brush-broomed the porches slowly, scuffling heavily on bare, callused feet. Their men sat in the yards and rubbed their hair, tinkered with machines, wandered off somewhere."
A world where hardscrabble lives intersect with dogged determination and dreams. Where the takers and users circle and feint towards the givers and helpers.
"But the one thing all of the people in the Ape Yard had in common was that they were trapped, caught in the basin of poverty and servitude to Doc Bobo in the hollow, and held in place by the weight of the white structure beyond. For them, escape seemed futile at the outset."
There are multiple ways to be shackled, and many of them are invisible to the naked eye. Conversely, the keys to freedom are found in unexpected places. This story is a testament to the underdog, to the power of community, to the unbridled desire to be oneself, to the refusal to stay down after a figurative (or actual) beating.
"A community of young, old, black, white and even red if I can get JoJohn to move in. A place for all races, all ages, put together with scraps and sweat and ignorance and hope. A dream village, Carter, think about it!"
These characters and their story burrowed under my skin. They made me chuckle, bite my nails in concern, cheer, and hug them in my mind. If this had been a movie, I'm sure the entire theater would have cheered as the credits rolled. As it was, my own roof might now be just a little slanted.
Well done, Fields. What a treat this was to read.
Delightful. Entertaining. Heartbreaking. Enriching.
There's a book called The Family of Man, full of photographs that capture "a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world". A Cry of Angels was a verbal photograph, reminiscent of those haunting pictures, pulling me into a world that preceded my birth, but was as immersive as if it were my amniotic fluid. A world both carefree and burdened, humorous and painful, hopeful and desolate.
"Children sat idly watching a stranger pass--spindly, clay-colored children with raw, expressionless faces, to whom play was a perpetual, listless roaming....Women brush-broomed the porches slowly, scuffling heavily on bare, callused feet. Their men sat in the yards and rubbed their hair, tinkered with machines, wandered off somewhere."
A world where hardscrabble lives intersect with dogged determination and dreams. Where the takers and users circle and feint towards the givers and helpers.
"But the one thing all of the people in the Ape Yard had in common was that they were trapped, caught in the basin of poverty and servitude to Doc Bobo in the hollow, and held in place by the weight of the white structure beyond. For them, escape seemed futile at the outset."
There are multiple ways to be shackled, and many of them are invisible to the naked eye. Conversely, the keys to freedom are found in unexpected places. This story is a testament to the underdog, to the power of community, to the unbridled desire to be oneself, to the refusal to stay down after a figurative (or actual) beating.
"A community of young, old, black, white and even red if I can get JoJohn to move in. A place for all races, all ages, put together with scraps and sweat and ignorance and hope. A dream village, Carter, think about it!"
These characters and their story burrowed under my skin. They made me chuckle, bite my nails in concern, cheer, and hug them in my mind. If this had been a movie, I'm sure the entire theater would have cheered as the credits rolled. As it was, my own roof might now be just a little slanted.
Well done, Fields. What a treat this was to read.
December 16, 2025
This, pretty much forgotten gem, published in 1974, deserves a much bigger following than what it appears to have. Many thanks to my goodreads friends (especially you Howard) for bringing it to my attention. A southern Classic if ever there was one. This is why I come here.
July 15, 2020
First, thanks to the group, On the Southern Literary Trail for the recommendation of this excellent book.
A Cry of Angels is a truly one of a kind southern literature experience despite its comparisons to To Kill a Mockingbird. It is the gritty, coming of age story of young Earl Whitaker, who was left to be raised by his Aunt Esther after his parents died in a house fire when he was 5. The boardinghouse Esther runs is in the Ape Yard neighborhood of Quarrytown, Georgia. The story takes place in the 1950's right around the time the Supreme Court rules to desegregate schools. Thus the characters find themselves in an atmosphere of racial strain within their community.
There are so many unforgettable and colorful characters you have to get to know while reading this gem. Jayell Crooms, a creative architect who dreams of building better homes for the poor in the Ape Yard. His style is unique as is his method. Gwen Burns, a socialite, and Phaedra Boggs, a free spirit are complete opposites but both vie for Jayell's attentions. The cast of old folks who live at the boardinghouse provide much humor and candor. Most unforgettable is Em Jojohn, the rather large Indian who doesn't really fit into either the white or the black groups whose story is the most complex and compelling of all. He has a special connection with Earl which presents itself throughout in so many different ways. His hard exterior surrounds the heart of gold inside. He is one character to remember for a long time! There are also the seedy characters that leave you wanting to scream, Doc Bobo and his henchman Fay and that dark green Continental that "trailed a wake of silence".
I definitely plan to revisit this some day. It will go into the category of favorites for sure!
A Cry of Angels is a truly one of a kind southern literature experience despite its comparisons to To Kill a Mockingbird. It is the gritty, coming of age story of young Earl Whitaker, who was left to be raised by his Aunt Esther after his parents died in a house fire when he was 5. The boardinghouse Esther runs is in the Ape Yard neighborhood of Quarrytown, Georgia. The story takes place in the 1950's right around the time the Supreme Court rules to desegregate schools. Thus the characters find themselves in an atmosphere of racial strain within their community.
There are so many unforgettable and colorful characters you have to get to know while reading this gem. Jayell Crooms, a creative architect who dreams of building better homes for the poor in the Ape Yard. His style is unique as is his method. Gwen Burns, a socialite, and Phaedra Boggs, a free spirit are complete opposites but both vie for Jayell's attentions. The cast of old folks who live at the boardinghouse provide much humor and candor. Most unforgettable is Em Jojohn, the rather large Indian who doesn't really fit into either the white or the black groups whose story is the most complex and compelling of all. He has a special connection with Earl which presents itself throughout in so many different ways. His hard exterior surrounds the heart of gold inside. He is one character to remember for a long time! There are also the seedy characters that leave you wanting to scream, Doc Bobo and his henchman Fay and that dark green Continental that "trailed a wake of silence".
I definitely plan to revisit this some day. It will go into the category of favorites for sure!
August 7, 2020
This is a delightful book, rambunctious and sagacious in equal measures. At the heart of it there is a disparate group of characters who are all dispossessed. Dispossessed by fire, by age, or at the hands of a rapacious landlord and employer . Everyone is just trying to get by.
Jojohn’s advice to the 14yr old Earl is priceless.
"School! Let me tell you sump’n, boy. When you’re born, you’re complete, and don’t need nothin’ else. After that, any changes you make in yourself you gotta strain and sacrifice. Little piece of you here in exchange for this, little piece there in exchange for that. Lose your health makin’ a dollar, till you end up wise and rich. Then what happens? You die in a pile of clutter. Kinfolks you never liked end up with your possessions and the worms get your brains. The thing to do is hold down your wants. In the long run it’s less of a strain, and you get to keep more of what you stared out with. ”
I finished reading A Cry of Angels a few days ago and I've not stopped smiling since. That really is priceless.
Jojohn’s advice to the 14yr old Earl is priceless.
"School! Let me tell you sump’n, boy. When you’re born, you’re complete, and don’t need nothin’ else. After that, any changes you make in yourself you gotta strain and sacrifice. Little piece of you here in exchange for this, little piece there in exchange for that. Lose your health makin’ a dollar, till you end up wise and rich. Then what happens? You die in a pile of clutter. Kinfolks you never liked end up with your possessions and the worms get your brains. The thing to do is hold down your wants. In the long run it’s less of a strain, and you get to keep more of what you stared out with. ”
I finished reading A Cry of Angels a few days ago and I've not stopped smiling since. That really is priceless.
October 29, 2021
This novel is many things. A coming-of-age story with hilarious scenes that had me periodically chuckling, laughing and grinning. There is also much sadness, anger and pain. The story follows Earl Whitaker through his early to middle teens. This novel addresses an important period, the early 1950’s in the deep South: specifically, Quarrytown, Georgia. From a teenager’s point of view we observe as the inter-racial relationships and conflicts in this community run headlong into the desegregation efforts that gained momentum with the Supreme Court’s Brown v. The Board of Education decision in 1954. The novel was written in 1974. lt provides insight into a time where the momentum was building for the civil rights changes that took place in the 1960’s.
One of the main characters in the novel, Ape Town, is a place rather than a person. Ape Town is where much of the town’s Black population resides along with some poor white residents. It is a ghetto, but a place that has good and the bad as most places do. Why did Jeff Fields choose to call this place Ape Town? The derogatory connotations of this name must have been intentional on his part, to reflect the attitudes of Quarrytown and the surrounding area. Then there is Doc Bobo, the owner of the Bobo Funeral Home and the wealthiest black in Quarrytown. He uses his “dog boys” to control, through fear and intimidation, the Black population in Ape Town. Why, in telling a story at this moment in American history, would Jeff Fields represent the greatest fear of the Blacks in Quarrytown to be a black man, instead of the white residents? Was he just describing a specific situation that he observed when he was growing up? Or was he showing the complexity of the lives of Blacks in the South, such that the most obvious source of fear wasn’t always their greatest fear?
There is a 47-minute interview of Jeff Fields discussing the novel, a copy of which resides at The Chicago History Museum. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available online. The most recent edition of the novel comes with a foreword, but it sheds no light on these issues. I searched for a review that might be of some help but couldn’t easily find anything. Regardless, almost 50 years after its original publication, this novel left me with a strong sense of a critical period in American history and some questions that I continue to consider.
One of the main characters in the novel, Ape Town, is a place rather than a person. Ape Town is where much of the town’s Black population resides along with some poor white residents. It is a ghetto, but a place that has good and the bad as most places do. Why did Jeff Fields choose to call this place Ape Town? The derogatory connotations of this name must have been intentional on his part, to reflect the attitudes of Quarrytown and the surrounding area. Then there is Doc Bobo, the owner of the Bobo Funeral Home and the wealthiest black in Quarrytown. He uses his “dog boys” to control, through fear and intimidation, the Black population in Ape Town. Why, in telling a story at this moment in American history, would Jeff Fields represent the greatest fear of the Blacks in Quarrytown to be a black man, instead of the white residents? Was he just describing a specific situation that he observed when he was growing up? Or was he showing the complexity of the lives of Blacks in the South, such that the most obvious source of fear wasn’t always their greatest fear?
There is a 47-minute interview of Jeff Fields discussing the novel, a copy of which resides at The Chicago History Museum. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available online. The most recent edition of the novel comes with a foreword, but it sheds no light on these issues. I searched for a review that might be of some help but couldn’t easily find anything. Regardless, almost 50 years after its original publication, this novel left me with a strong sense of a critical period in American history and some questions that I continue to consider.
July 20, 2020
This is a tremendous work by an unsung master of southern literature. Set in the 1950s in a fictional town based on the author's own hometown of Elberton, Georgia, it tells the story of a remarkable friendship between Earl Whitaker, an orphaned white teen and Em JoJohn, a native American drifter and their life in Ape Town, the poor colored district ruled over like a feudal lord by Doc Bobo, the district's mortician. While the friendship between Earl and Em was reminiscent of the relationship between Huck Finn and Jim, theirs wasn't the only interesting characters. One of the things that makes this book the classic that it is is that all of the characters are fully fleshed out and made to come alive on the page by Fields' skilled pen. There's Miss Esther, Earl's aunt, and her boarding house full of cast-off seniors, each with their quirks. There's Earl's brother Jayell, an eccentric architect with a head full of unconventional ideas and Gwen, his conventional fiancée. There's also Phaedra, Jayell's former girlfriend, Mr. Clyde the grocer, and Tio, his young black protégé. The list could go on but the short of it is that few authors that I have read have created such a large ensemble of fascinating characters. These descriptions alone would earn this book a solid review but Fields' has spun a story that pits these characters against the times and the social structure that they lived in that will keep the reader turning pages until late into the night.
Bottom line: Jeff Fields wrote this book in the mid-1970s and I have never heard of him. Neither had anyone in the On the Southern Literary Trail until one member happened upon it and recommended it recently. I am very grateful that she did. This book, and this author deserves to be remembered.
Bottom line: Jeff Fields wrote this book in the mid-1970s and I have never heard of him. Neither had anyone in the On the Southern Literary Trail until one member happened upon it and recommended it recently. I am very grateful that she did. This book, and this author deserves to be remembered.
September 25, 2023
Originally published back in the early 70’s, here’s a book that would have never been on my radar, except for a glowing review from a GR friends. Thank you, Sara! I’d not only categorize this book as one of the best books I’ve read this year, but probably ever, and with so many great books out there, that’s saying a lot.
The story takes place in the mid-1950’s in a primarily Black slum down in Georgia called The Ape Yard. The main characters are two teenage, orphaned boys, best friends, one Black and one White, and two larger than life adults who have a profound influence on their lives. One is an American Indian who values his freedom, and will fight tooth and nail for what is right, the other a young genius architect who wants to transform the slum into something better with good, affordable housing for the residents. This pits them against the town racketeer and thug, who controls the flow of money, always making sure a big cut always goes into his own pocket. The town is very close to landing a lucrative deal, and he doesn’t need these rebel upstarts messing up his cut of the pie. It’s a classic tale of good vs. evil that’s hard to put down, and oh so satisfying by the end.
Very highly recommended!
The story takes place in the mid-1950’s in a primarily Black slum down in Georgia called The Ape Yard. The main characters are two teenage, orphaned boys, best friends, one Black and one White, and two larger than life adults who have a profound influence on their lives. One is an American Indian who values his freedom, and will fight tooth and nail for what is right, the other a young genius architect who wants to transform the slum into something better with good, affordable housing for the residents. This pits them against the town racketeer and thug, who controls the flow of money, always making sure a big cut always goes into his own pocket. The town is very close to landing a lucrative deal, and he doesn’t need these rebel upstarts messing up his cut of the pie. It’s a classic tale of good vs. evil that’s hard to put down, and oh so satisfying by the end.
Very highly recommended!
July 7, 2010
Jeff Fields put a curse on me.
I happened upon his book, A Cry of Angels, many moons ago. Jeff, and his magical, miraculous book, changed my life in the worst way.
Jeff made me want to look at my world as he saw his, full of sun and smoke, laughter and love. Jeff made me want to write, which is one of the worst things to wish upon a person.
You see, his book is up there with Harper Lee and Mark Twain. It gets under your skin. Every time I step in mud, I think of Jeff’s description of “work-stained men in clay-crusted brogans.”
It’s a blessing — and a curse — to breathe in this book and roll along with Earl, Tio, Em Jojohn, Jayell and that feisty Southern Venus named Phaedra Boggs. You want to climb into an inner tube on the river and hold on and never let go.
When you do let go and return to dry land, you feel your life is enriched. The last line of Jeff’s book still pierces my heart.
That’s the way it is with a curse. It sticks with you all your life, and just sometimes you’re a better man for it. I became a writer, and Jeff’s book is always here.
I’m thinking that this curse may be a blessing, after all.
I happened upon his book, A Cry of Angels, many moons ago. Jeff, and his magical, miraculous book, changed my life in the worst way.
Jeff made me want to look at my world as he saw his, full of sun and smoke, laughter and love. Jeff made me want to write, which is one of the worst things to wish upon a person.
You see, his book is up there with Harper Lee and Mark Twain. It gets under your skin. Every time I step in mud, I think of Jeff’s description of “work-stained men in clay-crusted brogans.”
It’s a blessing — and a curse — to breathe in this book and roll along with Earl, Tio, Em Jojohn, Jayell and that feisty Southern Venus named Phaedra Boggs. You want to climb into an inner tube on the river and hold on and never let go.
When you do let go and return to dry land, you feel your life is enriched. The last line of Jeff’s book still pierces my heart.
That’s the way it is with a curse. It sticks with you all your life, and just sometimes you’re a better man for it. I became a writer, and Jeff’s book is always here.
I’m thinking that this curse may be a blessing, after all.
April 23, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story deserves a better following than it gets. Published in 1974, it was re-released in 2010. This book is for you if you like Southern literature and a coming of age story. It’s set in a small southern town in Georgia in the 1950’s. The protagonist is Earl Whittaker who is 13 years old, an orphan being raised by a great aunt, and narrating the story. Earl lives in his aunt’s boardinghouse after being mysteriously rescued from a house fire that killed his mother and father when he was five years old. Earl’s best friend is Tio, another orphaned kid, who is black and being raised my Mr. Teague, the local white grocer. Jim Crow is alive and well in this novel of the Deep South. All these characters live in “the Ape Yard”, in ramshackle houses, the few poor white sharecroppers and the even poorer and more numerous black folk. Add a really big Indian (Em Jojohn) who isn’t sure where he fits in among the whites and the blacks and you have the set up for a really great story. I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited. So go read it for free!
ATY Goodreads Challenge - 2023
Prompt #8 - an author’s debut book
This story deserves a better following than it gets. Published in 1974, it was re-released in 2010. This book is for you if you like Southern literature and a coming of age story. It’s set in a small southern town in Georgia in the 1950’s. The protagonist is Earl Whittaker who is 13 years old, an orphan being raised by a great aunt, and narrating the story. Earl lives in his aunt’s boardinghouse after being mysteriously rescued from a house fire that killed his mother and father when he was five years old. Earl’s best friend is Tio, another orphaned kid, who is black and being raised my Mr. Teague, the local white grocer. Jim Crow is alive and well in this novel of the Deep South. All these characters live in “the Ape Yard”, in ramshackle houses, the few poor white sharecroppers and the even poorer and more numerous black folk. Add a really big Indian (Em Jojohn) who isn’t sure where he fits in among the whites and the blacks and you have the set up for a really great story. I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited. So go read it for free!
ATY Goodreads Challenge - 2023
Prompt #8 - an author’s debut book
December 10, 2022
What fun! But what heartbreak....
Also, a lot of action and excitement, and characters with lots of personality :)
Also, a lot of action and excitement, and characters with lots of personality :)
May 13, 2021
Whatever happened to writer Jeff Fields? What happened to A Cry of Angels, that it did not become a mainstream bestseller? After reading this beautiful book, written in 1974, those are valid concerns. I found a limited answer to the first question. Fields never published another book. He's 83 years old now, so unfortunately we can't look forward to more of his work. I have two theories about the answer to the second question, and I'll discuss those below.
We are greeted by narrator Earl Whitaker, who is a 13 year-old boy living in a ramshackle boardinghouse on the wrong side of the tracks in Quarrytown, Georgia. Earl was orphaned when he was 5, and came to live with his great Aunt Esther, who runs the boardinghouse. (Author Jeff Fields himself moved into a boarding home at age 14 after running away from home.). Actually, Earl has recently moved out to the loft above the garage to stay with Em JoJohn, a giant Native American man. Em is a strange character, who says little and lets his huge fists do the talking when he gets drunk and takes on the whole tavern once every month or so. The boarding house is populated with aged down-on-their-luck folks, and runs on gossip and accusations and offended feelings. Earl's best friend is Tio Grant, a Black boy his age, who "works for" (read manages the grocery store for) Mr. Teague, a fiercely independent entrepreneur barely scraping by now that a modern grocery store has opened up in the nice part of town. Jayell Croom is a brilliant but eccentric architect who has a thing about authority figures that drives pretty much every decision he makes. He's dropped girlfriend Phaedra, the beautiful wild child, and has become engaged to Gwen Burns, an Atlanta woman who is like a fish out of water in Quarrytown, especially around the plain and poor folks that Jayell hangs out with. Looming over everyone on the poor side of town is Doc Bobo, the Black undertaker and power figure who owns everything in sight and has a squad of goons to knock people around if they step out of line. As long as he confines his antics to that part of town, the Sheriff looks the other way.
As I read the book, I felt a creeping familiarity settle in. I've read someone who writes of places and characters like this. Before long I realized that Fields' creation reminds me of some of Joyce Carol Oates' work. It's pretty sentimental and poetic. Here are two outtakes:
(About Miss Esther's Boardinghouse): "It was never allowed to become one of those places where old people sit and listen to the ticking away of their lives. At Miss Esther's there was humor, there was individuality, there was respect, all radiating from her own bullfiddle personality."
"Jayell, why you suffer so?"
He spoke through gritted teeth. "God is jealous of anyone who attempts to create. It's the ultimate sacrilege."
"It is?"
"That's why artists are so miserable. It's their punishment."
I suppose this could be called a coming of age story, though there is no dramatic moment when Earl decides he's now an adult. He's 13 when we meet him and 15 at the conclusion. The trouble with a young teenage narrator is always that we have to suspend disbelief that a person of that age could have a comprehensive grasp of the subtleties of incidents that occur and issues that arise.
As I read A Cry of Angels, I realized that it bears a certain resemblance to the story of the musical Finian's Rainbow. Without belaboring the plot comparison, the chart below indicates the parallel characters from each, and their archetype:
Jayell = Finian and Woody - the Dreamers
Earl = Sharon - the Pragmatist
Phaedra = Susan - the Misunderstood Woman
Em and Tio = Og - the Crazy Man / Outcasts
Doc Bobo = The Sheriff - the Immoral Authority Figure
Fields' story deftly explores a number of issues, one reason that I was so surprised that the book hasn't been more widely discussed, perhaps even taught in high school. Themes I noticed included those of Poverty, Alienation vs. Belonging, Progress, and Hope. As I mentioned in the intro, I have two ideas about the failure to fully embrace this book. Doc Bobo is a powerful, selfish, greedy and evil Black man. Not a common character type in literature. The second potentially controversial angle is that the book could be read as a veiled call for Socialism. I don't like to presume political messages that are not intended, but in looking for reasons for a book of this quality to be somewhat ignored, that possibility has to be considered.
We are greeted by narrator Earl Whitaker, who is a 13 year-old boy living in a ramshackle boardinghouse on the wrong side of the tracks in Quarrytown, Georgia. Earl was orphaned when he was 5, and came to live with his great Aunt Esther, who runs the boardinghouse. (Author Jeff Fields himself moved into a boarding home at age 14 after running away from home.). Actually, Earl has recently moved out to the loft above the garage to stay with Em JoJohn, a giant Native American man. Em is a strange character, who says little and lets his huge fists do the talking when he gets drunk and takes on the whole tavern once every month or so. The boarding house is populated with aged down-on-their-luck folks, and runs on gossip and accusations and offended feelings. Earl's best friend is Tio Grant, a Black boy his age, who "works for" (read manages the grocery store for) Mr. Teague, a fiercely independent entrepreneur barely scraping by now that a modern grocery store has opened up in the nice part of town. Jayell Croom is a brilliant but eccentric architect who has a thing about authority figures that drives pretty much every decision he makes. He's dropped girlfriend Phaedra, the beautiful wild child, and has become engaged to Gwen Burns, an Atlanta woman who is like a fish out of water in Quarrytown, especially around the plain and poor folks that Jayell hangs out with. Looming over everyone on the poor side of town is Doc Bobo, the Black undertaker and power figure who owns everything in sight and has a squad of goons to knock people around if they step out of line. As long as he confines his antics to that part of town, the Sheriff looks the other way.
As I read the book, I felt a creeping familiarity settle in. I've read someone who writes of places and characters like this. Before long I realized that Fields' creation reminds me of some of Joyce Carol Oates' work. It's pretty sentimental and poetic. Here are two outtakes:
(About Miss Esther's Boardinghouse): "It was never allowed to become one of those places where old people sit and listen to the ticking away of their lives. At Miss Esther's there was humor, there was individuality, there was respect, all radiating from her own bullfiddle personality."
"Jayell, why you suffer so?"
He spoke through gritted teeth. "God is jealous of anyone who attempts to create. It's the ultimate sacrilege."
"It is?"
"That's why artists are so miserable. It's their punishment."
I suppose this could be called a coming of age story, though there is no dramatic moment when Earl decides he's now an adult. He's 13 when we meet him and 15 at the conclusion. The trouble with a young teenage narrator is always that we have to suspend disbelief that a person of that age could have a comprehensive grasp of the subtleties of incidents that occur and issues that arise.
As I read A Cry of Angels, I realized that it bears a certain resemblance to the story of the musical Finian's Rainbow. Without belaboring the plot comparison, the chart below indicates the parallel characters from each, and their archetype:
Jayell = Finian and Woody - the Dreamers
Earl = Sharon - the Pragmatist
Phaedra = Susan - the Misunderstood Woman
Em and Tio = Og - the Crazy Man / Outcasts
Doc Bobo = The Sheriff - the Immoral Authority Figure
Fields' story deftly explores a number of issues, one reason that I was so surprised that the book hasn't been more widely discussed, perhaps even taught in high school. Themes I noticed included those of Poverty, Alienation vs. Belonging, Progress, and Hope. As I mentioned in the intro, I have two ideas about the failure to fully embrace this book. Doc Bobo is a powerful, selfish, greedy and evil Black man. Not a common character type in literature. The second potentially controversial angle is that the book could be read as a veiled call for Socialism. I don't like to presume political messages that are not intended, but in looking for reasons for a book of this quality to be somewhat ignored, that possibility has to be considered.
June 13, 2020
One of the most satisfying things I’ve read so far this year. Jeff Fields brilliantly captures the complexity, the oppression, the corruption, the poverty, the grit of the mid-fifties deep South, largely through its people and their struggles, while not failing to celebrate that troubled land’s pastoral glory, as experienced through the eyes of a perceptive fourteen-year-old. Along with all that, he tells a gripping story; there is much to love here. Comparisons with To Kill a Mockingbird are apt. It’s difficult to do justice to Fields’ work in a review; the book is so compelling, so rich in language, character and drama that I can only say: Read it and prepare to be swept away!
Earl, the troubled protagonist materializes gradually, sometimes stepping forward in his own voice, while at other times slipping unobtrusively behind the curtain, allowing the drama to continue in a disembodied omniscient voice; I’ve rarely encountered a writer able to make this silent transition so effortlessly.
Larger-than-life characters burst onto the stage: Em Jojohn, a gigantic Indian, raging against the strictures of his small-town world; the Machiavellian ‘Doc’ Bobo, victimizing his fellow blacks while manipulating the local authorities; Jayell, a wildly nonconformist architect, racing pell-mell to construct his own bizarre brand of affordable housing, over the violent objection of the local powers and their corrupt cohorts; and a whole boarding-house full of feisty old folks, determined to live out their lives with dignity despite all efforts to uproot them. In the hands of a lesser writer, these people might have been trite caricatures, emblematic of their place and time, but under Fields’ pen, they emerge whole, as individuals, complete with scars, tears and sweat.
It’s hard to pick out small quotes but I’ve chosen a particularly evocative passage, where Earl and his friends are drifting in inner-tubes down a small river:
The rain was slacking off, falling to a scattered pelting across the water. Em lowered his chin on the tube. “Sshh … look” he said, “Listen.”
From the shivering cold and chaotic gray splashing we drifted into the first shafts of sunlight breaking through the trees, soft dazzling strokes of warmth, dappling, sparkling on the water, the noise subsiding to the last pitting droplets from the overhanging leaves. And clearing before us again, the old beauty of the earth, comforting, familiar, yet fresh, emerging ever new, as always, from each shower. The trees, washed of their dust to deeper greens, lifted their branches lightly in the afterbreezes. Birds darted out, flicking, fussing at the wet, and slowly the woods revived with its million throbbings of bugs and flies. Under the patching sun-shadows the river flowed quietly again.
I find it surprising how little attention this great novel attracts today and I’m not sure if it met with the success it deserved when first published; perhaps it was a couple of years ahead of its time, appearing just before the great changes of the sixties swept through the south.
Highly recommended.
Earl, the troubled protagonist materializes gradually, sometimes stepping forward in his own voice, while at other times slipping unobtrusively behind the curtain, allowing the drama to continue in a disembodied omniscient voice; I’ve rarely encountered a writer able to make this silent transition so effortlessly.
Larger-than-life characters burst onto the stage: Em Jojohn, a gigantic Indian, raging against the strictures of his small-town world; the Machiavellian ‘Doc’ Bobo, victimizing his fellow blacks while manipulating the local authorities; Jayell, a wildly nonconformist architect, racing pell-mell to construct his own bizarre brand of affordable housing, over the violent objection of the local powers and their corrupt cohorts; and a whole boarding-house full of feisty old folks, determined to live out their lives with dignity despite all efforts to uproot them. In the hands of a lesser writer, these people might have been trite caricatures, emblematic of their place and time, but under Fields’ pen, they emerge whole, as individuals, complete with scars, tears and sweat.
It’s hard to pick out small quotes but I’ve chosen a particularly evocative passage, where Earl and his friends are drifting in inner-tubes down a small river:
The rain was slacking off, falling to a scattered pelting across the water. Em lowered his chin on the tube. “Sshh … look” he said, “Listen.”
From the shivering cold and chaotic gray splashing we drifted into the first shafts of sunlight breaking through the trees, soft dazzling strokes of warmth, dappling, sparkling on the water, the noise subsiding to the last pitting droplets from the overhanging leaves. And clearing before us again, the old beauty of the earth, comforting, familiar, yet fresh, emerging ever new, as always, from each shower. The trees, washed of their dust to deeper greens, lifted their branches lightly in the afterbreezes. Birds darted out, flicking, fussing at the wet, and slowly the woods revived with its million throbbings of bugs and flies. Under the patching sun-shadows the river flowed quietly again.
I find it surprising how little attention this great novel attracts today and I’m not sure if it met with the success it deserved when first published; perhaps it was a couple of years ahead of its time, appearing just before the great changes of the sixties swept through the south.
Highly recommended.
September 25, 2021
A coming of age tale featuring Tio and Earl two orphan boys one black and one white and their champion
Em JoJohn a seven foot tall reclusive Indian. Set in a 1950’s Georgian slum town known as the Apeyard it is a character study dealing with racism, greed, and true friendship.
This is an old gem of a book which was has been republished and is garnering high ratings from those who enjoy great old fashioned storytelling. It has been compared to To Kill A Mockingbird and some of Faulkner’s work.
Read to catch up / On The Southern Literary Trail club
5 stars
Em JoJohn a seven foot tall reclusive Indian. Set in a 1950’s Georgian slum town known as the Apeyard it is a character study dealing with racism, greed, and true friendship.
This is an old gem of a book which was has been republished and is garnering high ratings from those who enjoy great old fashioned storytelling. It has been compared to To Kill A Mockingbird and some of Faulkner’s work.
Read to catch up / On The Southern Literary Trail club
5 stars
July 19, 2008
I never understood why this book never reached the same level of critical acclaim as To Kill a Mockingbird. It is my number two of my list of all time favorite books.
February 16, 2021
Wonderful Book
This novels was set in the 1950’s, but could pass as today’s news. Evil people trying to control the just, with fear and violence.
Any review, I may give, wouldn’t give justice to the pages within , A Cry of Angels
This novels was set in the 1950’s, but could pass as today’s news. Evil people trying to control the just, with fear and violence.
Any review, I may give, wouldn’t give justice to the pages within , A Cry of Angels
December 2, 2021
To read this book is to be totally immersed in time and place. Granted, it's not the loveliest of time or place, but it came alive for me. A Cry of Angels doesn't seem to be very well known, and it should be. They had to get my copy from another library and it arrived without any cover and with nice thick pages, the way they used to print books. It helped me feel like I was discovering a treasure. I wouldn’t change a thing about it
June 5, 2021
4 stars for the writing and story...3.5 for my enjoyment. Violence and hatred abound.
It has taken me a long time to read this one. Some of the problem was only reading a few pages at night due to lack of time. But, then when I got more time, I felt like I could still only read a few chapters before just needing a break. I guess I need a break when everything feels so hopeless and well....just dismal. "Someday I'll die like that, with nobody around to grieve. So I grieved for him and me, both of us tryin' to get along down the road, and gettin' hit by sump'n too big to understand, and we don't know why."I wouldn't say it's a completely depressing book....there are some very funny moments. There are some awesome passages. There are some great friendships and a small inkling of hope trying to break through...but then you get smacked in the face with the overall hatred of people to each other. The near ending had me ready to throw in the towel. Such violence and human ugliness. The actual ending however, saved it. A sense of hope prevailed. It is filled with great characters, Earl, Tio, Mr. Teague and the boarders. Also some vile ones like Doc Bobo, and a couple that had me conflicted, Jayell and Em JoJohn.
I am glad I read it. It made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable at times. As it should...a reminder that all is not as it should be in this world.
It has taken me a long time to read this one. Some of the problem was only reading a few pages at night due to lack of time. But, then when I got more time, I felt like I could still only read a few chapters before just needing a break. I guess I need a break when everything feels so hopeless and well....just dismal. "Someday I'll die like that, with nobody around to grieve. So I grieved for him and me, both of us tryin' to get along down the road, and gettin' hit by sump'n too big to understand, and we don't know why."I wouldn't say it's a completely depressing book....there are some very funny moments. There are some awesome passages. There are some great friendships and a small inkling of hope trying to break through...but then you get smacked in the face with the overall hatred of people to each other. The near ending had me ready to throw in the towel. Such violence and human ugliness. The actual ending however, saved it. A sense of hope prevailed. It is filled with great characters, Earl, Tio, Mr. Teague and the boarders. Also some vile ones like Doc Bobo, and a couple that had me conflicted, Jayell and Em JoJohn.
I am glad I read it. It made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable at times. As it should...a reminder that all is not as it should be in this world.
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