The Awkward Black Man
Walter Mosley
(Author)
Description
A masterful collection of stories that showcases one of the country's most beloved and acclaimed writers--award-winning author, Walter Mosley.
Bestselling author Walter Mosley has proven himself a master of narrative tension, both with his extraordinary fiction and gripping writing for television. The Awkward Black Man collects seventeen of Mosley's most accomplished short stories to showcase the full range of his remarkable talent.
Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories--heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and, on the whole, odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals. In "The Good News Is," a man's insecurity about his weight gives way to a serious illness and the intense loneliness that accompanies it. Deeply vulnerable, he allows himself to be taken advantage of in return for a little human comfort in a raw display of true need. "Pet Fly," previously published in the New Yorker, follows a man working as a mailroom clerk for a big company--a solitary job for which he is overqualified--and the unforeseen repercussions he endures when he attempts to forge a connection beyond the one he has with the fly buzzing around his apartment. And "Almost Alyce" chronicles failed loves, family loss, alcoholism, and a Zen approach to the art of begging that proves surprisingly effective.
Touching and contemplative, each of these unexpected stories offers the best of one of our most gifted writers.
Product Details
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Publish Date | September 15, 2020 |
| Pages | 336 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780802149565 |
| Dimensions | 9.0 X 6.0 X 1.2 inches | 1.1 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction
A New
York Times Editors' choice
A
Washington Post 50 Notable Fiction
Selection
A Boston
Globe Best Book of the Year
A
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the
Year
Praise
for The Awkward Black
Man: "The
title of Mosley's latest story collection, "The Awkward Black
Man," is both a spot-on descriptor and yet one that only hints at the
broad range of people we find in the book's pages...Reading these stories, you
feel as if you're sitting with a gifted storyteller while he spins yarns about the
strange people living in his mind. The prolific Mosley delights in the
wonderfully bizarre...Each protagonist seems simple and often shallow on the
surface, but as the story progresses he unfurls into greater and frankly
breathtaking complexity."--New York
Times
"Mr. Mosley is a
famous crime writer, but this collection is nearer to the recent work of Julian
Barnes and Roddy Doyle...In practiced, plainspoken prose, [Mosley] presents a gallery
of old men facing divorce, illness or perhaps some more unnamable crisis of
existence...The humble stories befit their soft-spoken
antiheroes."--Wall Street
Journal
series featuring Easy Rawlins, but in these short stories, we see the prolific
author as a chronicler of Black life in America. As he overturns stereotypes
and focuses on individual characters, Mosley asks us not to look away from men
who are isolated and awkward, but to see them as human beings in
full."--Washington
Post"Seventeen bold stories of brokenhearted Black
men...The stories are tinged with sardonic humor and acerbic observations, many
echoing the pained, bristling voices of Ralph Ellison and James
Baldwin."--New
Yorker"The tough-minded and tenderly observant Mosley
style remains constant throughout these stories even as they display varied
approaches from the gothic to the surreal. The range and virtuosity of
these stories make this Mosley's most adventurous and, maybe, best
book."--Kirkus
Reviews, starred
review"Despite the trailblazing work of writers such
as Toni Morrison and more recently Edward P. Jones, James McBride, and Colson
Whitehead, correcting the canon is an ongoing effort. In the brilliant and
bracing The Awkward Black Man, Mosley has given us
food for the journey."--Alta"These stories tap into the vulnerability and
indignity of the human condition, but also its remarkable, even irrational,
commitment to hope."--Buzzfeed "Mosley delivers a vibrant collection of 17
luminous stories, many with a focus on downtrodden and troubled
protagonists...Each entry is a testament to Mosley's enduring literary
power."--Publishers
Weekly"The Awkward Black Man" is a treasury of unsung
lives, vignettes of the loves of unloved, praise of people who are out of place
and time but not out of mind or mortality. . . True to his mystery tradition,
these stories are tiny murders of the soul, things that are seldom told from
this point of view, showing the insight and talent of Walter
Mosley."--New City
Lit"Walter Mosley is the kind of storyteller that
makes his characters' worst days into something you can recognize and relate
to...Fans of Mosley don't need to be told twice to go find this book. Just go. If
you're new to Mosley but you love short stories, though, The
Awkward Black Man might be the best book for your life right
now."--North Dallas
Gazette (syndicated)"The Mosley voices cover the spectrum from dumb
despair to sublime wisdom, from sexual intimacy to orgasms on the Staten Island
Ferry. The cities are old, and the jobs are ordinary, but he discovers
ways to find some truths and show how all life can play
out."--Bookreporter.com"The cool Black guy stereotype is shattered in
this collective of stories about Black men saddled with as much humanity as the
rest of us. Follow nerds, weirdos, dorks and oddballs as they take the stage as
heroes of their own
stories."--Essence"These 17 old and more recent stories...feature
distinctive characters, plus Mosley's jazzy prose and extraordinary insights.
It's a tender, sad and gripping
collection."--AARP"Since Walter Mosley published his first
book, Devil in a Blue Dress, in 1990, he's been
exposing, dismantling and subverting stereotypes. Race, ethnicity, gender,
class -- he's brought a fresh and discerning eye to all of them, in the midst of
writing beautifully crafted fiction and thoughtful nonfiction...He does all that
again in his new short story collection, The Awkward Black
Man."--Tampa Bay
Times"This autumn, Mosley will be awarded the
National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American
Letters, which follows the PEN America Lifetime Achievement Award and the
Harold Washington Literary Prize for the author of more than 50 books,
including his bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series. As if to
underscore the range of his incredible talent, he is publishing an excellent
collection of short stories--17 first-person narratives that wrestle in
distinctive ways with the experiences of Black
men."--National Book
Review "Fifty-plus books into his career,
Mosley hasn't run out of inspired plots, and his interest in social issues
remains acute, although he editorializes with the lightest of
touches; The Awkward Black Man teems with
sharp, quippy dialogue and not a sentence suffers the indignity of a frill...This
primo story collection by an author best known for his crime fiction reaffirms
his place in the literary pantheon."--Shelf
Awareness
"Master
storyteller Mosley has created a beautiful collection about Black men who are,
indeed, awkward in their poignant humanity...Mosley's is an essential American
voice and his portraits of Black men will have profound resonance."
--Booklist (starred review)
Praise
for Walter Mosley:
"When reviewing a
book by Walter Mosley, it's hard not to simply quote all the great lines. There
are so many of them. You want to share the pleasures of Mosley's jazz-inflected
dialogue and the moody, descriptive passages reminiscent of Raymond Chandler at
his best." ―Washington Post,
on Down the River Unto the
Sea
"A daring, beautifully
wrought story that incorporates elements of allegory, meditative reflection and
the lilt of lyric tragedy." ―Los Angeles
Times, on The Last Days of Ptolemy
Grey
"With Mosley, there's
always the surprise factor―a cutting image or a bracing line of dialogue."
―New York Times Book Review,
on And Sometimes I Wonder About
You
"Mosley's invigorating,
staccato prose and understanding of racial, moral and social subtleties are in
full force." ―Seattle Times,
on Known to
Evil
"Mosley is the Gogol
of the African-American working class―the chronicler par excellence of the
tragic and the absurd."
―Vibe
"[Mosley]
has a special talent for touching upon these sticky questions of evil and
responsibility without getting stuck in them."
―New
Yorker
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