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HARLEM REDUX
by Persia Walker
New American Library, July 2003
344 pages
$12.95
ISBN: 0451208749


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

This ambitious first novel sets its story in 1920s Harlem. It is, in many ways, very successful; the author shows many things about life in the Harlem Renaissance, without constantly telling what it was like getting by during Prohibition, showing many issues of race and class, politics and society that divided, and united, black New York during this time.

On the other hand, at times, I found myself getting a little huffy at the lumps of description. I imagine that it's difficult to know how much to educate your readers but I found passages about the "talented tenth" to be awkward, and the repetition of the themes of dark and light skins, and their merit, to be overdone. But maybe there are readers who will value the education; I don't know if I've read too many other books, both fiction and history. But I did know much of it and it slowed the book down for me.

Persia Walker tells the story of David McKay, an upper class black man, a lawyer from a very ambitious "Strivers Row" family, who left Harlem to work for the Movement (which is ill-defined, but apparently is the name of an organization that works on civil rights - in the 20s, this was often lynching, a crime that usually went completely unpunished, and in fact, often was supported by the authorities, as part of the vaunted "Southern way of life".) He returns to Harlem several months after learning that his beloved younger sister Lilian is dead. McKay refuses to believe that she killed herself, but there are so many contradictions. David and Lilian had lost contact with each other; she had married and her twin sister, the totally self-absorbed and rather revolting Gem, had returned from Europe, where she'd been surviving as a high class party girl. 

McKay has a secret and to be honest, Walker takes too long to tell it. I got impatient with all the hints of David's past and the anxiety and burden it was to him. When the author does get around to telling the story, it's too much. While I respect the need to ensure people understand that lynching was both common and accepted behavior, I cannot - will not - read torture scenes and had to skip several pages of the narrative. I also was dismayed that very early on when I said to myself "oh, I hope she doesn't do this" I found that sure enough, she did. 

The author does not shy away from showing some of the issues of Harlem's internal racism as well as the more violent, obvious racism in other places; the issues of light skinned Negroes being considered higher class than those with darker skins (with some folks seemingly oblivious to what that truly meant for many families) are part of the story. Also part of the story are the rather disgusting white folks who have "adopted" Harlem's black culture, who find "you people" ever so fascinating and have taken it upon themselves to translate black culture for white folks. That they don't even hear their massive condescension and arrogance is awful, but probably another insight into the complexities of 1920's New York. While I think this mystery has some typical "first novel" weaknesses, it's worth reading and the author tells a story worth knowing. Anyone interested in this period, with its wealth of jazz music, fine writing and compelling political movements should try Harlem Redux.

Reviewed by Andi Shechter, June 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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