Book Buzz:-->"Wolf Whistle" by Lewis Nordan (1993)

"I am just a simple man, trying to be me.
Oh, it ain't easy.
I am just a simple man, trying to be free.
Oh, believe me.
Freedom's the only thing means a damn to me.
Oh, you can't fake it."
Bad Company


NO SPOILERS:
Wolf Whistle (1993) by Lewis Nordan was inspired by a true event in 1955 revolving around the murder of a young black boy (Emmitt Till) for simply whistling at a white woman. In public, no less.

To make a tragedy worse...the accused men were tried and found innocent. And that's the way things sometimes happened in the South...in this instance...Mississippi.


This is a good story, but let me give a caveat to readers. Wolf Whistle is not a crime story in the usual sense. Nor a mystery novel. In other words, this is not a thriller.


Lewis Nordan has created a rather surreal story filled with eccentric and sometimes exaggerated, well-developed characters. And each afforded a dialect that is quite readable and sometimes downright funny.



And though this novel reads almost like an adult fairy tale...each character, however exaggerated, keeps the reader entrenched in the realities of living in extreme poverty and with racial segregation...circa 1955.

The author tackles this nasty event from angles as well as head-on...helping us to understand how this tragedy affected a small community through conversations and private thoughts.


Wolf Whistle (312 pages) is a quick read, with long-lasting images to think about...long after you've finished the book.
Good stuff!


MoSkeet

Bad Company:-->"Simple Man" (Run With The Pack) (1976)
(Must Own)

Comments

WZJN said…
A musical softspot for me, my friend. Nice track selection.
Michael Verity said…
Thanks for this...it's been a long time since I listened to this album..."Youngblood" always carries me back to the days of campground rec rooms and jukeboxes.

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