Deacon Kong

Deacon Kong by James McBride is an unusual novel.  This book was outside my  regular reading selections, but once again,  I read it for a book group.  It is always interesting to be challenged outside your reading list and then to find it very interesting is a plus.

The main question I had while reading this books was; is  this book really written for a Black audience and would people of Color read this with a different perspective than I am.  Are there inside jokes or references that I am missing, but that make the book more enjoyable to people who are on the inside.  I  often wonder just that as I read a book that though for a main stream audience has what I feel are insider references and mentions to the Jewish culture or religion and I wonder what a non-Jewish reader thinks when reading the book.

This is a story of Deacon Kong, as he is known in the neighborhood  of Red Hook, NY.  He is an elderly man now, who came up from the South with his young bride, Hettie, many years ago.  He is a deacon in the local church and has coached the young people's basketball team for years.  When a young man who he felt had potential to escape the small world they live in, falls into drug dealing, he is upset and tries throughout the book to change the course of this young man's direction.  This book shows the dark side of the area with drugs and crime bosses.  But also tries to show the love and caring of the church and the neighborhood.  There is a multitude of characters, some are involved in crime and others show that there is still so much good in the world.  One young man, who inherited his business of crime from his father, decides he is ready to get out.  He finds a girl to marry and is closing up the business.  He is looking for answers his father never shared with him.  

There are unexpected relationships, and unexpected characters who show their caring disposition.  A very interesting novel.