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arisbookcorner's review
3.0
I didn’t like the omnipresent narrator and then the abrupt switch to third person. Sentences such as these “David felt Rachel tense.[….]He could tell that she wanted to speak up. She was biting her lip to keep silent. He took hold of Rachel’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Like most of the doctors, lawyers and educators who composed the bulk of Strivers’ Row residents, the Canfields were committed to doing everything they could to make sure that their street would not be sucked into the slum beyond. They had convinced themselves that they could provide a shining example to other blacks of how a winsome neighborhood could be maintained. [….] David, perhaps because he lived for so long among Philadelphia’s poor, understood what Emma could not.” (pg. 225) but then all of the sudden, it would switch back to omnipresent. The author clearly loves history and at times gets so caught up in expressing a variety of ideas that the characters tend to wax philosophically out loud or in their thoughts. But it presents a clearer, more entertaining portrait of Harlem in the 1920s. “They both dreamed of a day when Harlem artists would receive the same recognition, prizes, and contracts that white writers did. Lillian wanted to read books about well-bred, refined colored people. There was, she said, enough being written about the downside of Negro life, about the crime and the poverty. Someone had to tell the story of the educated colored people, too. Someone had to speak up for the Negroes who were doctors, lawyers, philosophers, professors” (pg. 42), the sad thing is these sentiments still ring true today, we still need those books about the Black people who are moving on up.
Harlem Redux is a most appropriate title for this book as it will introduce a new genration of readers to 1920s Harlem and greatly please those who already love studying the Harlem Renaissance. The book allows readers to rediscover Harlem and it is also about rediscovering old habits, old flames, buried secrets. The author has crafted an appealing group of characters that present a portrait of the diversity of 1920s Black Harlem Americans as well as Black Americans overall. David is a civil rights attorney in Philly but he also fought in World War I. I do wish more time had been spent on David's time overseas but the mystery grew to be satisfying. No book about wealthy Blacks would be complete without touching on our color issues and the author deftly handles the topic and shows once again, that she can dig deep and discover people's motivations and their breaking points. I was not expecting the ending but in retrospect it made sense and I had suspected one half of the surprise so I was pleased with my meager detective skills :)
Harlem Redux is a most appropriate title for this book as it will introduce a new genration of readers to 1920s Harlem and greatly please those who already love studying the Harlem Renaissance. The book allows readers to rediscover Harlem and it is also about rediscovering old habits, old flames, buried secrets. The author has crafted an appealing group of characters that present a portrait of the diversity of 1920s Black Harlem Americans as well as Black Americans overall. David is a civil rights attorney in Philly but he also fought in World War I. I do wish more time had been spent on David's time overseas but the mystery grew to be satisfying. No book about wealthy Blacks would be complete without touching on our color issues and the author deftly handles the topic and shows once again, that she can dig deep and discover people's motivations and their breaking points. I was not expecting the ending but in retrospect it made sense and I had suspected one half of the surprise so I was pleased with my meager detective skills :)
bigbooklife's review
4.0
This was an interesting book. I don't usually read murder mysteries, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Persia Walker takes the reader back to the Harlem Renaissance in this engaging tale. David McKay, a member of the prominent McKay family in elite African-American Harlem, has returned home after disappearing for four years to investigate the mysterious suicide of his sister Lillian McKay. In addition to learning of the suicide, which is unlike Lillian, he learns that "a lot done changed since he's been gone." (His housekeeper Annie constantly tells him that.) Harlem Redux keeps you guessing until the end. I thought I had it figured out midway through the book, but there were a couple twists and turns that I did not expect. I can't wait to read another one of Walker's mysteries.
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