Elefante’s message to a cop encapsulates McBride’s mission statement: “‘A lot of saints don’t start out well, but they end that way.’” In one sense, the reader needs this context to root for a character like Elefante in another, the reader is unwilling to rationalize his decisions without it. The actions would seem contrived and unearned without McBride’s emotional backdrop. somebody would love me.’” Leading up to that acceptance, though, McBride offers a full page of metaphors and descriptions, each more depressing than the last, all focused on portraying Elefante as “a dreamless, friendless, futureless, sorry-ass New York guy.” This context is what makes “Deacon King Kong” flow so well. Take the internal suffering of Thomas Elefante, a gangster known as “The Elephant.” The only words he utters after a change of heart are “‘I wish. Indeed, these characters are so omnipresent because they were commonplace in mid-century New York. “The characters in ‘Deacon King Kong’ are people I’ve known and loved my whole life,” McBride says. Part of this dimensionality stems from personal experience. That said, McBride’s characters transcend their tropes because he humanizes them so well. have been done to the point of staleness. Some of the character archetypes - mobster with a heart who wants out, grizzled cop getting close to retirement, elderly woman with prescient information, etc. In the face of alarming structural and personal trauma, “Deacon King Kong” is undeniably human and life-affirming.ĭoes “Deacon King Kong” feel original? Not especially.

While other writers would focus on the senseless violence following such an event - such as Marlon James’ “A Brief History of Seven Killings” - McBride builds a hilariously improbable story of grace and redemption.

Set in 1960s Brooklyn, “Deacon King Kong” examines the aftermath of an alcoholic’s attempted murder of a young drug dealer in the Causeway Housing Projects. National Humanities Medalist James McBride’s latest novel points to the good in people, no matter how many bad things they’ve done.

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