Author: Kurtis Davidson

ISBN: 1597660027

Publisher: Eastern Washington University Press

The following review was conducted by: NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor of Bookpleasures &CLICK TO VIEW  Norm Goldman's Reviews 

To read Norm's Interview With The Author Click Here

Not too many authors succeed in writing a satirical novel. This is probably due in large part in that there must be a tale of ideas that are appealing and stimulating to our intellect.

In addition, the satire has to be funny and witty, often including far out and slap stick characters, who constantly exhibit goofy playfulness, as they grapple with various propositions. Readers are not so much interested in the story per se, but rather in the author’s intellectually fascinating thoughts and ideas.

Kurtis Davidson, author of What The Shadow Told Me, has brilliantly overcome this Herculean task with his satire that revolves around an African-American author who supposedly had written a book that some considered as the greatest African-American novel of the twentieth century-even perhaps the greatest American novel!

Rufus Walter Eddison was born in a one room shack in Missouri, and at the age of seventeen, during the Great Depression, moves to Harlem, forsaking a scholarship to attend the state “Negro college.”

He finds employment with a newspaper called, The Call and Response, and then moves onto, The New York Herald.

As a newspaper journalist covering a horrendous story concerning a baby killer, Rufus meets his future wife Maisy May.

Maisy realizes that Rufus is a brilliant writer, and she encourages and supports him, while he writes his masterpiece, Darkness Visible, that ultimately turns out to be a best seller.

The world awaits the sequel from Rufus, however, unfortunately he dies before delivering his second novel.

After his demise, a cast of hilarious and absurd characters with their cacophony of different voices with ulterior motives search to locate Rufus’s novel, which they are certain exists.

Davidson’s thoughts pertaining to the publishing industry, as well as the world of academia, are refreshing and are cleverly woven into the narrative. The “bottom line” mentality as the most important element in publishing books, as well as sometimes unethical and questionable practices, particularly pertaining to deceased authors, is skillfully expounded upon using satire to its fullest.   

Throughout the novel, the author succeeds in moving the spoof effortlessly from the larger to the smaller picture, often with side-splitting one-liners, hilarious dialogue mixed with black humor- all effectively paced within an unbelievable plot.  And it is precisely this humor and wittiness that is the novel’s narrative engine, maintaining our interest until the last sentence.

 (It should be noted that Kurt Davidson is the pen name of Kurt Jose Ayau and David Rachels)