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Book Reviewed by:The prolific Mosley (at least 26 novels
published since 1990, not including contributions to collections
and anthologies) is back with a new stand-alone novel about two
men brought up as brothers who are separated when very young and
only rediscover their other halves in their late teens.
The tale is enjoyable but predictable to the point that it is best to read it as a sort of parable; but if that's the
case, what exactly is the moral lesson Mosley wishes to impart?
Is it that nurture is more important that nature, or perhaps
that those who have life handed to them on a plate appreciate it
less than those who have to fight for it? Or is it about
prejudice and racism? Perhaps it's about all of that and much
else. Then again, maybe Mosley just set out to write a
story of two brothers and this is how it turned out!
The majority of the critics love Fortunate Son. Publishers
Weekly and Booklist both give it starred reviews; Library
Journal appreciates its "impeccable plotting" while Kirkus
Reviews admires the "studied artlessness of his storytelling".
The Houston Chronicle is less enamored, feeling it "contains
an unwieldy blend of ghosts, auras, sex, violence, murder,
mayhem and love"; but the Chicago Sun-Tribune can't get enough
of it, describing it as "a brilliant book, rumbling with life,
scary and sacred and scented with everything that makes Los
Angeles our best heaven and our best hell."
As always, you can browse a substantial excerpt for yourself at
BookBrowse.
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in May 2006, and has been updated for the
September 2007 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
If you liked Fortunate Son, try these:
by Shari Goldhagen
Published 2006
A finely nuanced, universally resonant portrait of the ties, however strange or awkward, that bind two brothers and their families together through the decades.
by T Jefferson Parker
Published 2006
The emotionally wrenching tale of three brothers and the brutal act that irrevocably changes their lives.
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