“I chose this novel, expecting to read a well written crime novel. Instead, to my equal enjoyment, it was a well written historical novel. I was initially impatient with the start of the book as it took many pages before the two main characters interacted. The book's prologue, however, is wonderful and promised that if I hung in, it would be worth it, and it was. The novel brings to life forgotten portions of post World War I (1918/19) U.S. history: the Spanish flu pandemic, anarchist bombings, the Red scare, the Boston police strike, and my favorite, the great molasses flood. These historical facts impel both the book's narrative and its themes. The story concerns Luther Lawrence, an African American baseball player on the run for a killing a man. Luther ends up fleeing to Boston and working for Police Captain Thomas Coughlin's family as a house servant. Luther eventually becomes good friends with the other protagonist in the book, eldest son Danny Coughlin, an undercover police officer who is sympathetic to police unionizing.
The book does a compelling job of tracing the theme of power: how to exert it when you lack it and how to survive it when it impedes you. Best illustrative of the theme is the book's prologue which tells the story of a baseball game between a team of black players and a team of idling professional players. The professional players, embarrassed by the black players' skill, cheat and manipulate the rules in order to win the game once they realize they will loose otherwise. The black players, despite the cheating, manage to stay even, but Luther, who is about to catch a game-tying ball that will surely lead to an extra inning and more likely a violent confrontation between the teams...declines to catch the sure thing, lets the ball drop to the ground and walks away with his team and without a word. Babe Ruth, playing with the professionals, is ashamed of his role in the incident (and continues to serve as a thematic tent pole throughout the book). The baseball game is analogous to struggles Luther faces later on and to Danny's activities regarding the police union. Most striking, the prologue eloquently ties together the themes of race, power and honor. Ultimately, the book concludes on both a fatalist and optimistic note, which I feel is the book's reflection on the "American Dream."
This is an excellent book if you enjoy U.S. history and especially if you enjoy the history of Boston. It is well written, full of historical facts, lots of action and cameos by Babe Ruth, Calvin Coolidge and J. Edgar Hoover. All this is balanced with thematic musings on race, family, honor and power. (It's also my idea of a "boy" book, as it focuses on male characters and often narrates action and violence). ”
TakYak wrote this review Monday, December 8, 2008.
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