Harlem Redux by Persia Walker

I had initially planned on writing one of my little commentaries on Harlem Redux by Persia Walker. However, the best of problems arose while reading the book and stopped me from doing so: I enjoyed it too much.

I never took notes on the writing or the affects the book had on me as a reader. This was simply one of the most pleasurable reading experiences I've ever had. Now that I've finished the book and enjoyed it so much any commentary I could offer would be an inane list of superlatives rambling on for pages.

I don't read a lot of historical or crime fiction so perhaps I was merely taken with what a new-ish-to-me genres had to offer. More so than any literary device employed was the social commentary, inherent to the book, that was pertinent at the time of the story's telling and equally so today.

Walker succeeded in giving the reader a lot to think about long after the story is done. I can think of no greater victory as a writer. I haven't re-read a book in years. I plan to do so with this one shortly.

If I were one to do, 'best of' list or rattle off my personal favorites, this would be somewhere in the top five. Harlem Redux has it's share of problems, but it struck a chord with me, and if I have any influence at all in making suggestions to readers; the summation of the commentary I would've written would be: essential reading.