Wideman, John Edgar. Two Cities: a love story. Houghton Mifflen Company, 1998.
Reason read: read in honor of Philadelphia’s Global Fusion Fest that happens in July.
Two cities of then and now. Before and after.
I knew I would like Wideman when I read the passage about taking people for a walk. Like dogs, people should be exercised to work out pent up energies and aggressions. People might be nicer.
Kassima has known trouble and a grief so deep it is truly a constant sorrow. She lost her husband and two sons all within ten months. Each death was a seemingly fluke accident of epic proportions. Her husband, serving time in prison contracted AIDS. One son died while playing Russian roulette while another was murdered; a revenge killing for a drug deal gone wrong that didn’t concern him. Kassima doesn’t sugar coat the cruel realities of what it means to be black growing up on mean streets, or a man serving time in prison. When she meets a new romance, Kassima is afraid to take a chance on love. It isn’t until the death of a neighbor brings clarity to a life worth living.
Wideman’s writing is like a photograph. Images of young men trash talking while playing a game of basketball is crystal clear.
Quotes to quote, “All men got the dog” (p 21) and “People are as good as dead when you weren’t around them” (p 85).
Author fact: I am reading three novels by Wideman: Philadelphia Fire, Sent For You Yesterday and Two Cities.
Book trivia: the dedication in Two Cities is heartbreaking. It begs the question what happened? I did some digging and found that Wideman has had more than his share of tragedy.
Playlist: “Everybody Plays the Fool”, the Dells, the Imperials, the Spaniels, the 5 Royales, the Five Saints, the Diablos, Bessie Smith’s “Backwater Blues”. As an aside, Wideman mentions a guy by the name Louis Berry. I couldn’t find his musician (at least one that fit his era), but I found a new favorite with the same name
Nancy said: Pearl included Wideman in her list of other good examples of African American fiction by men.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “African American Fiction: He Say” (p 12).
~*LunaSea*~ 