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waynem's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I found this hard to get into initially but I persevered and enjoyed it. My main issue was some of the prose seemed disjointed and it often took a while to ascertain where people were etc. Loved Grave Digger and Coffin Ed though and would definitely read more from their Harlem series.
readwithleigh's review against another edition
2.0
an interesting mystery, but filled with far too much voyeuristic, violent misogyny that had very little purpose. though, i guess that's just a hallmark of pulp fiction. no thanks!!
peebee's review against another edition
4.0
Just fine pulp detective novel, though it's really disorienting to read a book that's about an area that makes up about 100 square blocks that you spent eight years running long distance in. Probably not a block I didn't at least jog through, and I lived within about five blocks of probably 80% of the action in the book (across 5 apartments of the 7 I lived in in NYC, and two ex-girlfriend's places).
A very different place in the 20-teens than the late 80s, so a lot of what he's talking about is gone (missed the Lenox Lounge by months). Since most everything's gone I can't really gainsay the accuracy of it, but he gets the location of the Cotton Club insanely wrong, putting it like ten blocks north and four-five longblocks east (and yea, I know there were three, the one I know is the one that was there when the time the book was written and has been since). I think it's located in the book at the spot it was originally, which was shut down in like the 30s.
So being able to fact check and pick out a Harlem Mistake here and there like I'm an old timey street peddler biting a gold coin to see if it's real was fun.
A very different place in the 20-teens than the late 80s, so a lot of what he's talking about is gone (missed the Lenox Lounge by months). Since most everything's gone I can't really gainsay the accuracy of it, but he gets the location of the Cotton Club insanely wrong, putting it like ten blocks north and four-five longblocks east (and yea, I know there were three, the one I know is the one that was there when the time the book was written and has been since). I think it's located in the book at the spot it was originally, which was shut down in like the 30s.
So being able to fact check and pick out a Harlem Mistake here and there like I'm an old timey street peddler biting a gold coin to see if it's real was fun.
secretbookcase's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
mxmarks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mumsie_2's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
alexanderh's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Chester Himes has a true talent when it comes to language. His descriptions are so beautiful, making even those of the slums and their stench appealing within their disgustingness. Himes is also very adept at describing high-action scenes and making Harlem alive and populated. While the women were often sexualized, every character felt well-rounded and real.
tittypete's review against another edition
4.0
There's a guy running a scam were he pretends to be a preacher who wants to take his flock back to africa. But ... he really just taking money and skipping town. But ... he gets robbed by some white guys who want to get the blacks of Harlem to go back to the south and pick cotton like they used to. Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones are on the case which means people need to get shot.
lgpiper's review against another edition
3.0
So, while I was reading Mosley, Easy Rawlins and a friend of his get into a discussion as to who is the greatest African American novelist, Chester Himes or Ralph Ellison. One or the other of them opts for Himes because he wrote more books and also because he wasn't afraid to show all society's shit. Whatever, I figured I should check out Chester Himes. I think he might be the African American equivalent of Raymond Chandler, i.e. a writer of hard-boiled detective fiction, albeit from an African-American perspective.
In this book, I've been introduced to Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. Apparently, this is the 7th book about Grave Digger and Coffin Ed, but the first I've read. Anyway, they are two New York Detectives who mostly work the Harlem beat. The only cops the people of Harlem would ever trust would be black cops. This book involves fraudsters, both black and white, robbing from each other. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed find a way to ensure justice for the defrauded poor people, in a way that doesn't involve white courts, which would likely punish the criminals without ensure reparations. Something like that. Whatever, it was rather an interesting, if rough, story and I'll likely take another fly or two at Himes. He'll teach me about a whole different world that the one in which I've lived for the last many decades.
Interesting that as I read this book, and the one by Walter Mosley that prompted me to read this book, the blow up in Ferguson, MO was going down. It seems that the African American community still can't trust white cops to protect them and provide justice to their communities.
In this book, I've been introduced to Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. Apparently, this is the 7th book about Grave Digger and Coffin Ed, but the first I've read. Anyway, they are two New York Detectives who mostly work the Harlem beat. The only cops the people of Harlem would ever trust would be black cops. This book involves fraudsters, both black and white, robbing from each other. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed find a way to ensure justice for the defrauded poor people, in a way that doesn't involve white courts, which would likely punish the criminals without ensure reparations. Something like that. Whatever, it was rather an interesting, if rough, story and I'll likely take another fly or two at Himes. He'll teach me about a whole different world that the one in which I've lived for the last many decades.
Interesting that as I read this book, and the one by Walter Mosley that prompted me to read this book, the blow up in Ferguson, MO was going down. It seems that the African American community still can't trust white cops to protect them and provide justice to their communities.