That a novel has the power to immerse you in a time and place and thoroughly lose yourself there, is one of the beauties of the form. Whitehead’s novel, in essence a sequence of three interconnected stories, featuring the same characters, does this effectively, transporting the reader to New York of the seventies, specifically the black New York of Harlem and neighbouring boroughs. It’s beautifully written, as the author’s twin protagonists, Pepper and Ray Carney, decent men moving in a murky world, get caught up in nefarious high jinks. There’s an affectionate tone to the writing, and we never suspect that anything too terrible will happen, but we’re along for the ride. There are odd hints of Pynchon in amongst the novel’s neo-classical perfection, (three sections of nine chapters each, neatly splitting the book into three parts), but the book would also seem to pay its dues to the hard-boiled simplicity of Chandler and Elroy. The final section could perhaps be read as a commentary on the NY from which someone like the future president might have evolved, as it probes the corruption in the real estate business.
"He crossed Sixth Ave. The Twin Towers still startled him when they lurched into view, freed by this or that turn around a street corner. Looming over the city like two cops trying to figure out what they can bust you for."
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