My pick: Top 10 holiday reads
When I pulled the image from "Losing Absalom" from Amazon Books, I glanced over at the reviews written by various authors and noticed that one woman wrote, that she "hated the work." After reading her idle comments, I literally laughed to myself. Outloud. I thought it was funny that she would be so blount. Then I thought, she does not know good work. I thought, she doesn't know "how to 'read."' Get it?! Those of you in the literally world from the diaspora know what I am talking about.
Of course, we all have opinions and I just shared mine.
I accidently came across "Losing Absalom." Guess where? A Goodwil in St. Paul, Minnesota, a stone's throw from the University where Professor Alexs Pate teaches. Does he still teach there? Don't know exactly. Anyway. I knew the book was a good find and I snatched it up. Literally. I was willing to fight for it.
(What was unique about this Goodwill on University Avenue is that they charge you for books by weight.)
I carried the book around with me for a few days before reading it. When I finally opened it up one late night at a Mickey's 24-hour Diner. It wasn't fatigue. I was loving the writing style so much so that it was hard for me to stay enaged in the storyline. Certain words carried so much meaning. It was amazing how Pate could utilize one word to in a sentence to annunicate an entire world for the characters. He could just breath life into air to easy. It was amazing.
This was my experience as a reader and writer. Writer.
Get it.
The characters reminded me of people I knew from my humble background. I don't know much about Philladelphia or Philly, where the book is set, but country is country and the characters have a lot in common. Certain things in cultures and African American communities are connected and generational, so I am trying to understand what the individual was referring to when she said, "hated it!" That comment was coming out of the left field or from someplace that she could not connect to. That is the problem with open source communities. So many folks really think they are cultural experts and don't know a damn thing. Really.
I still haven't talked much about the book. Have I?
The book is for you to read.
I liked it.
I could read the entire book. Give you a summary and half of you still wouldn't appreciate it. Really. As a writer, I found the book benefitual not only for the storyline, but for stylistic development and highly recommend it to all of my friends who are in the business, especially those who have Southern roots. Ya heard me!
Ya'll know I could tell you the story, but you would be made as hell because it would spoil the plot. I will right a few lines on Amazon and I will play "nice." It is not because I like Pate, it is because he is one helluva writer.
Nuff said.
