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Book Reviewed by:Exciting new fiction from James McBride, the first since his National Book Award–winning novel The Good Lord Bird.
The stories in Five-Carat Soul—none of them ever published before—spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge. They're funny and poignant, insightful and unpredictable, imaginative and authentic—all told with McBride's unrivaled storytelling skill and meticulous eye for character and detail. McBride explores the ways we learn from the world and the people around us. An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face unexpected judgment. An American president draws inspiration from a conversation he overhears in a stable. And members of The Five-Carat Soul Bottom Bone Band recount stories from their own messy and hilarious lives.
As McBride did in his National Book award-winning The Good Lord Bird and his bestselling The Color of Water, he writes with humor and insight about how we struggle to understand who we are in a world we don't fully comprehend. The result is a surprising, perceptive, and evocative collection of stories that is also a moving exploration of our human condition.
To Come.
Five-Carat Soul is woven around themes of slavery and racial segregation — from the many references to Lincoln, to the story of an all African-American regiment that fought in World War II. These work in concert with the collection's religious overtones to assert the significance of the soul. In a world beset by differences (of skin color, of species), God is the great equalizer. McBride's superb wit and imagination ensure that this is accomplished without sermons or rhetoric...continued
Full Review
(658 words)
(Reviewed by Lisa Butts).
In "Father Abe," a short story in Five-Carat Soul, McBride mentions two all-black regiments that fought for the Union army during the Civil War — the 32nd United States Colored Infantry and the 9th Louisiana Colored Infantry.
When war broke out in 1861, African Americans were barred from serving, but this rule was set aside by the passage of the Second Confiscation and Militia Act and the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. Over the course of the war, 179,000 African-American men served in upwards of 160 units. One of the first regiments was the all-black Massachusetts 54th, formed in February 1863, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a white man.
This regiment is known for its courageous (but disastrous) attack on the Port of ...
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