The Beginning: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Begin Again
Review: Joseph Campbell once said that what makes great literature is the timeless message in its theme. Patrick Smith is a classic writer when it comes to mastering the art of story telling. The universality of his small southern town's struggle to find a common ground with the challenges the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's resonates as much today as we enter the new millenium as it did when he wrote it. Not everyone is going to like what the story has to say about our home of the free and the brave. Ike Thorton is a man with the tenacity and sommon sense to recognize that what once was considered the norm in society is no longer acceptable; the segregration of blacks and whites has to be stopped according to the new laws being passed in Washington D.C.. Midvale must act quickly to assure their black folk that the whites in Midvale don't need any outside help to integrate their town. Ike knows that if you force people into something, someone's going to react. The complexities of integration prompt events and circumstances that demand an end to tolerance of human inequities. The heart of Patrick Smith's stories lie within the hearts of his characters. For they capture the spirit of life which offers hope and the belief that each day is a new beginning. This book should be on the reading list of high schools across the country.