Literary Reviews

[Guest Ray Hollar-Gregory]

I recently read a NYTimes article Snobs and Me, by Jennifer Weiner, an impressive critique on the literature review hierarchy and its negative critical analysis of particular works. Her specific complaint is the arrogance of literary reviewers and the dismissive attitude she receives in general and from her Ivy League peers (Princeton) regarding her publications of "chick lit."

I have just published my first novel "Other Side" and anxiously brace myself for its review. I proudly write in the "second tier", and am not unfamiliar with that classification as an African-American author. I chose not to write the stereotypical commercial urban lit (Empire) that characterizes so much of black storytelling. When deciding my ISBN# I debated selecting AA General--some racial classifications are alive and well in post racial America. I deliberated that classification because I think the book is worthy of a broader appeal. However, it would be naive of me not to consider the fact that even though this is an American story that happens to be told by a black person it will be relegated to niche appeal notwithstanding its universal merits. Like Snobs and Me, if for different reasons, I resent the dismissive nature and arbitrary segmentation that will be accorded a novel by a black male author.

The theme of my book Other Side is a riveting psychological tale, set in the New York area circa mid 1980’s. The themes are viewed through the experiences of a young middle class African American attorney. While race is an issue and part of the active consciousness, the majority of themes are universal. The title Other Side is an attempt to explore the duality of personality, character and actions of people. The main character faces his conflicts and value propositions through four relationships that are juxtaposed and contradictory. His pursuit of validation and truth is explored through his mother, wife, mistress and a sex worker. All of the main characters in Other Side are of color (diverse). Racial identity is not as prevalent as gender and socio-economic status. The reader is introduced to an array of other characters and backgrounds. The anecdotes from each encapsulate a broad perspective of political and social issues in a multi cultural American society. Although presented through the prism of a male protagonist the women’s stories of relationship struggle and maturation provides the platform for all the characters development.

Other Side is very much a story for our collective times. We'll see. Your thoughts?

 

 

Available at: https://createspace.com/6178731 (paperback)

and https://www.amazon.com/author/rayhollargregory (pre-order Kindle)

 

[Troy]

This was an interesting introduction to your work Ray.

It is unfortunate to think that labeling your book as African American would narrow it's appeal. Black folks read white writers, in fact a good percentage, if not the majority, of books I read are written by white writers. Writers like Morrison, Walker, Mosley, Coates, Adiche, etc are successful largely because white folks read their work.  

Categorize the book as best as you can based upon your target reader.

The Book Industries Study Group maintain a list of book categories, but books can fall into many categories and with search capabilities I think maintaining these lists and attempting shove books into categories is not as useful anyway.  I think your description far more useful than than a category and a decent query will now pull this book up.