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A review by koreilly
Amiable with Big Teeth by Claude McKay
3.0
More interesting as a historical peak at the lives of Harlem's movers and shakers before the outbreak of World War II then as a character driven novel, Amiable with Big Teeth is slow but enjoyable. It follows the intertwining of local Harlem politics with the international scenes of the days most notably the Soviet Union's Nation Front. Trotskyism and Stalinism and all kinds of Facism pop up but most of the characters have only a cursory interest in them and are more than perplexed as to why their efforts to help the people of Ethiopa should be so complicated by these isms.
The prose doesn't exactly sing but some scene do stand out more than others. Admittedly you might find yourself having to sludge through the back half with the stakes become kind of muddle and weirdly low. Still, if you're interested in life in pre-war Harlem for the African American elite this is a great portrait of that.
The prose doesn't exactly sing but some scene do stand out more than others. Admittedly you might find yourself having to sludge through the back half with the stakes become kind of muddle and weirdly low. Still, if you're interested in life in pre-war Harlem for the African American elite this is a great portrait of that.