The Tragedy of Brady Sims,
the new novel from well-known writer Ernest J. Gaines was a late edition to my
lineup this year, so I did not expect to have my world moved when I finally picked
it up and read it. It turns out I was right. While it is not a bad book (there
are very few out there, or maybe my radar is just that good), it feels like a
minor work, something that shouldn’t be seen to represent the author’s output.
Gaines is most well known for his bestseller A Lesson Before Dying, which I don’t
know much about besides it was adapted into a TV movie by Oprah. And this slim 114-page
novel is his first published work of fiction since that book was put out in
1993, almost a quarter century ago. It was released this year to little fanfare,
and after reading it I can see why. It begins with an intense scene of sudden
violence, where a black man is coming out of a courthouse after being sentenced
to death and is shot and killed by Brady Sims, a well known person in the town
of Bayonne, which is where all of Gaines’ fiction takes place. The majority of
the book takes place in a barbershop where the local population of elderly men
reminisces about Sims, who was known to take extreme measure to keep local
youth out of jail, and his strange relationship with Mapes, the local sheriff. I
like the setup and it benefits from the book’s short length. It reminded me of
Stephen King’s short story “It Grows on You”, where the remnants of a destroyed
Castle Rock are seemingly stuck in a place out of time, who tell pointless
stories to ignore the horrors around them. It is just too bad none of those
stories are very interesting. The locals tell the stories as stories within the
story, so they come off heavy handed, inauthentic and not very compelling. The
book has a very good final few pages, but the bulk of this short novel never
seems like anything very special.
Rating: 3/5
You have zero understanding of the power of this novella. You might want to invest in a few critical reviews of the author's works before you try and write a review. To admit that you've not read his best-selling literary work, "A Lesson Before Dying," is ridiculous. There are scholars all across this nation who have written critical scholarship on Gaines's work. Do your homework before you write another word about a topic you obviously have zero expertise in. BTW, the novel is very "special." Just not to a word-caller/page-turner like you.
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