Amazing! Brilliant! The book that needed to be written!

books:


	• Tell Me a Tale: A Novel of the Old South James McEachin Berkley, 1997 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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Tell Me A Tale

And what a tale it is. Years removed from slavery, a teen-aged Moses leaves his caretakers and makes his way to Red Springs, North Carolina. When he reaches his destination, a ramshackled country store, he finds a group of men and while liquoring them up, begins to tell them a tale. As Moses' tale ends, one of the men realizes that this just isn't any old tale but his realization comes just a little too late.

If you can get past the first couple of chapters, you'll find that this is a decent piece of storytelling. I found the story pretty far-fetched, but it's well-written and finely crafted with nifty twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I must admit, it took about two weeks for me to finish this because while I found the story quite interesting, it was hard to read. I didn't find a rhythm or flow to the writing, so I was only able to read a few pages a day. It's pretty solid, though - different from my norm but not something that I would read again.

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should be mandatory reading for the human race

This gifted writer held my attention, interest, and heart for every page of this novel. I found the valleys and peaks of emotional turbulence as necessary as breathing air. The characters are so real to me that I only pray that no one has to truely experience this to get the perspective that the experience brings. If you've never understood someone trying to explain the "ghosts of the south" just take this journey which Mr.McEachin so skillfully offers and then you'll wonder as I do, "tale"-couldn't possibly be that far from truth, could it?

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Amazing! Brilliant! The book that needed to be written!

Tell Me a Tale became my favorite book the moment I picked it up, and it earned that praise over and over again with every turn of the page. Mr. McEachin is the most gifted American author alive today.

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POWERFUL

I have read this book twice - once several years ago and again at this time. The book haunted me with an otherworldly memory and needed to be revisited. I found McCachin's skill as an author and storyteller compelling and very deep. Some passages verged on sheer poetry. The plot unravels in such a way that, just as the reader senses predictability, new surprises arrive.

Good characterization also deserves note. Each person is iconic and simply but well developed. Mildred is the old fearful aristocracy and Archy is the change agent that victimized the South. Ben came forth as the old guard slave, Ms. Pratt the voice of hope, Moses, the new generation of liberated slave, and of course there was the ever present representation of ignorance and hate. The last chapter deserved two readings.

I am hoping that the author continues to write. I am also hoping this book is made into a screneplay. I would love to see it acted out.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Journeying back to the racist community of his childhood after Emancipation, a young ex-slave confronts four men with the harrowing realities of slavery and transforms their lives with his story. Reprint. K. PW.