Drop

Author: Johnson, Mat

Chris begins to realize his dreams by taking a new job in London, but his boss' death and other circumstances force him to return to his Philadelphia roots.


New York: Bloomsbury, copyright 2000, 214 p.

Publishers Weekly Review: An African-American ad designer follows his luck from the hood to the U.K.--and back--in this uneven but quite worthwhile first novel. At 31, having finally earned his B.A., narrator Chris Jones yearns to escape West Philadelphia, his rundown hometown. When Chris wins third place in a marketing contest, his entry catches the eye of David Crombie, a brilliant designer with Jamaican roots. David invites Chris to move to Britain and work for his tiny ad agency in Brixton (a largely black part of South London). Once there, Chris designs some ads and finds a passionate Nigerian girlfriend. His main job, however, is helping David's wife pick up the pieces after David's benders. Then there's a tragic twist of fate, and Chris must return to West Philly. Bitter and dejected, he takes a temp job at the electric company, phoning poor people to help them pay their bills. He must reconcile himself with his co-workers and clients, with his homegirl Alex and with the milieu in which he grew up. Johnson's portrait of West Philly is as nuanced, elegant and witty as his portrait of Brixton is lifeless and flat, and the urban American supporting characters seem alive and genuine in a way none of the English figures begins to be. Chris's inner journey toward peace with his hood and with himself remains bittersweet without being sentimental; it's in Chris's own psyche, and in his West Philly, that Johnson shows his gifts. If the author's next novel resembles the last half of this one, he will have become a writer to celebrate. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal Review: Johnson's very humorous debut novel is a classic tale of a young man's rise, fall, and redemption. At age 31, Chris Jones has just completed an undergraduate degree in marketing and lands his dream career in advertising, which propels him from the urban blight of Philadelphia to the bright promise of London. Chris enjoys the benefits of a Santa Claus-like boss, an exotic girlfriend, and a great apartment until tragedy ends his European adventure. His return to his worst memories of Philadelphia initiates a struggle with self-hatred and doubt, but he is redeemed by accepting and finally embracing his identity with the city that gave him life. Johnson's poetic reflections recall the work of James Baldwin, while the cynical realism experienced by the main character during his downward spiral reflects that of Ralph Ellison. Wonderfully written, although the poetic language occasionally interferes with the narrative; this is recommended for all public libraries.--Lee McQueen, SUNY at Buffalo Lib. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews Johnson's debut novel reworks a venerable theme: the young American who travels abroad to forge a new identity but ends by discovering that he is far more American than he'd realized.
Chris Jones is a 31-year-old African-American, living in Philadelphia, who wants to work in advertising but is having trouble breaking into the bigger New York agencies. When a job offer arrives from a small London agency, he leaps at the chance. Initially, his middle-class London neighborhood of Brixton seems a paradise compared to inner-city Philadelphia. No drug dealers on the streets, no gun battles at night, no pervasive climate of racism. Just as James Baldwin and Richard Wright found sanctuary in Paris, London offers Chris a spiritual liberation that Philadelphia couldn't. But there are ripples in the seemingly placid surface: Chris's boss, David Crombie, is mercurial and unreliable, and his Nigerian lover, Fionna Otubanjo, seems more interested in his bank account than in Chris. Then, when David dies suddenly, Chris finds himself broke and out of a job. He returns reluctantly to Philadelphia, promising himself that he'll go back to London as soon as possible. Life at home is a struggle: enduring a squalid apartment, struggling to find work, seeing his hopes evaporate. Urged on by his closest friend, Alex, Chris finally lands a job answering phones at the electric company, bringing him into contact with precisely the kind of dream-deferred, inner-city life that he tried to escape in London. In scenes both corrosively funny and bittersweet, Chris discovers that he has an innate American sensibility not so easily discarded. The tale ends on an optimistic note, as Chris sees both Philadelphia and London in a newer, wiser light.
Johnson's writing is uneven, often piling on similes and metaphors enough to slow down the narrative. But he gets his story told and his characters are real in what, on balance, ends up as a strong debut.
(Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2000)



ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1582341044
1582341508 : Paperback


Credits:
• Hennepin County Public Library
• Baker & Taylor
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Library Journal, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20010101
• TID: 003775

Hunting in Harlem: a novel
Mat Johnson

Author: Johnson, Mat

Lester employs three ex-cons to give them a new start and to help his reality business with a project to bring back Harlem, but rummors start to fly when the less desirable tenants in the area begin to turn up dead.


New York: Bloomsbury, 2003, 283 p.

Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/ Wildly escalating real-estate prices and the presence of Sony corporation and former president Bill Clinton all fuel concern by Cyrus Marks and Lester Baines that Harlem is in the grips of a land grab by greedy whites. Their answer is to form Horizon Realty and its Second Chance program, which seeks to rehabilitate ex-convicts and apartment buildings as well. Three recruits, Cedric, Bobby, and Horus, compete to win Marks’ favor and a Harlem brownstone. But they become ensnared in Marks’ maniacal vision of how to reform and transform Harlem as troublesome tenants fall victim to every manner of suspicious accident, clearing the way for more promising owners and tenants. The children whisper of Chupacabra, an urban myth about a monster that stalks residents, while Piper, a sharp reporter for the miserable little local newspaper, sees a story about the disproportionate number of accidents in Harlem as the springboard for her own ambitions. Johnson combines sharp analysis of contemporary race and social issues with finely drawn characters, a fast-paced plot, and wicked humor in this fine novel about urban gentrification and social justice.
(Reviewed May 1, 2003) -- Vanessa Bush

Publishers Weekly Review: Set against the historically rich geography of Harlem, Johnson's smart thriller offers fine writing, a sometimes wacky but compelling story, and an absorbing social history of "the most romanticized ghetto in the world." Three ex-cons are invited to join Horizon Realty's Second Chance Program by becoming interns at the real estate office: Cedric Snowden, who has served time for manslaughter; arsonist Bobby Finley; and tough thug Horus Manley. After a year learning the secrets of the real estate business, one member of this trio will be rewarded with a free historic brownstone to remodel on his own. In the meantime, their day-to-day job is to move desirable African-American tenants (read: professionals) into the apartments of various impoverished lowlifes who have recently met with untimely fatal accidents. Sexy local crime reporter Piper Goines helps Snowden see that these are not accidents—-they're part of Horizon's secret plan for revitalizing Harlem. Johnson, who probed the advertising world in his first novel, Drop, uses offbeat characters, zany humor and historical information to examine the ethics of gentrification and the problems of poor urban neighborhoods. Think James Baldwin channeled through T. Coraghessan Boyle. Johnson salts the rich narrative with popular and intellectual references (Jackson Pollock, Waiting for Godot, Eliza Doolittle). The ending may seem ambiguous and over-the-top to some, but it is certainly thought provoking. (May)
— Staff (Reviewed April 14, 2003) (Publishers Weekly, vol 250, issue 15, p46)

Kirkus Reviews Three ex-cons get ensnared in a treacherous scheme to revitalize Harlem.

Second-novelist Johnson (Drop, 2000) begins his likable, and often entertaining story, virtually a casual history of Harlem, as Starbucks, developers, and homebuyers encircle the neighborhood, sniffing bargain real estate and threatening to seal Harlem's fate as "the most romanticized ghetto in the world." Johnson's perceptive insights point up what black culture would lose in the transition, a fate that jars protagonist Cedric Snowden from his ennui. Just sprung from a sentence for the murder of his father (it was mostly an accident), Snowden and two other former big-house residents are enlisted by Horizon Reality in a program that promises to rebuild the neighborhood by cleaning out crime and opening up housing for the middle class. The reward: in a year, Horizon will deed the ex-cons a history-laden brownstone. Snowden's work finds him disposing of the belongings of recently deceased apartment owners to get the premises in shape for new owners. He soon sniffs a pattern in what's going on: all the apartments housed lowlifes (thieves, pimps, drug dealers) who died in violent accidents, spiking the accidental death rate in Harlem way beyond that of the rest of the city. Piper Goines, keen reporter for the New Holland Herald, also senses something suspicious and starts asking questions. Her investigation brings the somewhat rambling narrative into focus but also sends it along a rather conventional line that ends up begging credibility. No matter. Johnson makes a welcome raconteur for a late night: he's sharply observant and funny, even witty at times. He can also be long-winded, and some of his sentences do bump along. Still, few will complain as long as the good lines keep coming.

Fun more in the telling than in the tale.
(Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2003)



Other related features:

1. Explore Fiction - Adult -> Explore Fiction -> Mysteries -> Multicultural Murder -> African American


ISBNs Associated with this Title:
1582342725
1582344086 : Paperback


Credits:
• Novelist/EBSCO Publishing
• Baker & Taylor
• Booklist, published by the American Library Association
• Publishers Weekly, A Reed Elsevier Business Information Publication
• Copyright 2005, VNU Business Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
• Added to NoveList: 20031020
• TID: 120650