Black Coffee discussion

If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes won May's Classical fiction group read and will be lead b;y Londa. Here's the synopsis

This story of a man living every day in fear of his life for simply being black is as powerful today as it was when it was first published in 1947. The novel takes place in the space of four days in the life of Bob Jones, a black man who is constantly plagued by the effects of racism. Living in a society that is drenched in race consciousness has no doubt taken a toll on the way Jones behaves, thinks, and feels, especially when, at the end of his story, he is accused of a brutal crime he did not commit. "One of the most important American writers of the twentieth century ... [a] quirky American genius..."—Walter Mosley, author of Bad Boy Brawly Brown, Devil in a Blue Dress "If He Hollers is an austere and concentrated study of black experience, set in southern California in the early forties."

I actually have a goodreads shelf for his Harlem Cycle series. I read If He Hollers Let Him Go last year and couldn't really decide how I felt about it. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else thinks.

You all may have noticed that the start date for this one is May 15th. Kisha and I decided to stagger start dates for the group reads. Hopefully this will make it easier for those who want to read both books for the month.

Thanks Londa and Kisha!!

This is a fairly short book. We can discuss in 2 parts. I will post the schedule later today.

Has anyone started yet? I have skimmed through it and it looks really good.

Is anyone else reading this? Want to start discussion but don't want to talk to myself ;0)

lol That's were I'm at with Betsey Brown! I haven't started because I'm juggling too many books. I plan to start it hopefully next week I will be finished with The diary of a young girl and betsey brown.

I haven't started yet.

Opening this one up right now! :)

I've requested it through ILL. I'll let you ladies know when it comes and I start.

This is starting out slow to me. I hope it picks up.

For me it took me a while to get the jargon, but I love that it is so authentic since it was actually written in the 40's. Somehow I don't think someone trying to write a novel about this period would be able to get it exactly right.

I was going to start writing down quotes, but this book is full of them from cover to cover.

I think you will like it Lulu. Just give it some time.

Umm...What did Alice do?

I was confused about that too. Later Bob (not the name I would have imagined for him LoL) indicated that the house that they visited was a known lesbian house. Maybe he saw some hanky panky through his drunken haze.

Yeah... I just came across that part. That's what it was. BOB is so not a name for this character. He should have been Rasheed, Kareem, Abdullah, Tupac...lol!!!

I'm going to try to finish this one by tomorrow evening.

I'm done! This was a good book Londa!

It really is. I love the language the most of all I think. I really got a clear picture of what 1940's LA 'felt' like. I think I will chose a few quotes to discuss.

So much of it seems so current! Being in Bob's mind was crazy! Alice's Mom and Betsey's (Betsey Brown) grandmother could have been 'besties'

Yes!! I loved Bob's mind...it was so..so realistic. His character was developed very well.

Those two definitely could have been besties. lol

This book was very descriptive, but not to the point of boredom. Himes did an excellent job.

I was thinking about the neighborhood Alice lived in...I don't think it's still that way today. I think it's the "hood" now.

It finally came! I'll try to start on it this weekend.

I'm through the first fourth of the book and really hating how he and the other blacks are being treated.

Anastasia wrote: "I'm through the first fourth of the book and really hating how he and the other blacks are being treated."

Yes. They have a very rough go of things, but I couldn't help thinking they were lucky to be in California and not in say... Mississippi where they wouldn't have even had the chance to 'dream' about the jobs they had.

Been meaning to post these for a while.... I think I will just do quotes from some of the chapters and if anyone wants to comment they can.

Chapter 1

"Race was a handicap, sure, I'd reasoned. But hell, I didn't have to marry it."

"Maybe it had started then, I'm not sure, or maybe it wasn't until I'd seen them send the Japanese away that I'd noticed it. Little Riki Oyana singing 'God Bless America' and going to Santa Anita with his parents next day. It was taking a man up by the roots and locking him up without a chance. Without a trial. Without a charge. Without even giving him a chance to say one word. It was thinking about if they ever did that to me, Robert Jones, Mrs. Jones's dark son, that started me to getting scared."

"I was tired of keeping ready to die every minute; it was too much strain. I had to fight hard enough each day just to keep on living"

I think the first chapter really did a wonderful job of letting us inside of Bob's head.

The first quote is interesting because that is how he felt BEFORE coming to California, where he actually had more opportunities for jobs. His take on race seems to have mirrored Alice's then.

The fact that he started to feel real panic and fright after the Japanese were imprisoned was very poignant.

Chapter 4

"Before I got too close to her I began talking to her, like you do to a vicious dog to gentle it.

'Look, Madge, Don said you could work with me for a while.'

Well that was the match that lit the fuse! Did anyone else think ole Don set Bob up. It was almost like he knew she would react that way.

"I just had time to see him: a tall young blond guy about my age and size. His mouth was twisted down in one corner so that the tips of his dogteeth showed like a gopher's mouth and his blue eyes blistered with hate. I'll never forget that bastard's eyes."

And there went the boom! Both of these things happening in one day. No wonder Bob went a little crazy.

Londa, I believe they made a similar comparison in the book (to Arkansas, maybe?). If Cali is better than farther east then I'd hate to see what those places would do to him. :/

Is this supposed to be the start of a series?

Londa wrote: "Chapter 4

"Well that was the match that lit the fuse! Did anyone else think ole Don set Bob up. It was almost like he knew she would react that way."
I would be surprised, I felt like most every white person in this book was downright despicable. Except maybe the ones who helped Bob up after he got punched, in the beginning.

This is the quote that stood out to me the most:
"It's just that white people is white. We're different from coloured people. The Lord God above made us white and made you folks coloured. If He'da wanted to, He coulda made you folks white and us people coloured. But he made us white 'cause he wanted us the same colour as Him. "I will make thee in My Image," He said, and that's what He done. And the sooner you coloured folks learn that, the sooner you understand that God made you coloured 'cause he wanted to, 'cause when He made us in His Image He had to make somebody else to fill up the world, so He made you. Not that I say coloured folks should have to serve white people, but you know yo'self God got dark angels in heaven what serve the white ones-that's in the Bible plain enough for anybody to see. And the sooner you coloured folks learn that, the better off you'll be."

I seriously just could not believe what it when I read that. I was trying to remember any passage in the Bible that would give credence to it and came to the conclusion that it's just another case of reading the culture into it.
Man, I hope they weren't really teaching people that crap back then.

Anastasia wrote: "Is this supposed to be the start of a series?"

No this book is not part of a series though Chester Himes did write a series called Harlem Detective series - some of which have been made into movies.

Here is a link to some info on his life (early 1900s - 1984) and the events that influenced his writing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_...

Thank you, Beverly!