A Chicago pimp of the 1940's gives authentic voice to the deprivation, bigotry and despair of a whole underclass. Charting the inevitable destruction of a black plantation family's move to the city, this makes raw, uncomfortable but memorable reading. Like a Greek tragedy the malignant influence of the eponymous mother ultimately destroys them all, including the narrator, her drag queen son Otis. The dialogue may grate but the overall effect is to shock and disturb.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 15 October 2002 ) |
