Night Journey : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Caught by Surprise
Review: "Night Journey" is a good book that had me totally fooled. After reading the title and skimming the author's bio I thought it would include more in depth details of a religious and/or spiritual journey. To my surprise the novel is full of obstacles that a young boy must overcome to free himself form the microcosm that he knows as the world. The end of book leaves a lot open for interpretation and hopefully an empowering and uplifting sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting but Hopeful
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel, but I find myself remembering the characters at random moments days after I finished the book. Kalam is good at writing memorable characters, and it's easy to envision them. I admit the first 70 pages or so were too graphic for me. I stuck with it though and was rewarded for my effort. I find it hard to believe that Kalam did not grow up as his main characters did -- gang-banging and pimping -- because he describes these activities so well. But the way these activities are described, the reader does not have a contempt for them. It's a way of life, good or bad. The main character -- Eddie -- hopes that boxing will be his way of overcoming his rotten childhood. In fact, his older brother, Turtle, forces Eddie to take up boxing to distract Eddie from his affection for Tessa, one of Turtle's prostitutes. Eddie triumphs in the end, but not as we expect -- in a way that is actually more personally satisfying. Even Tessa turns out to be the great love of Eddie's life but in reality not. Eddie accepts this reality, just as he accepts his brother's bad ways, his own shortcomings, his dissillusionment with the Nation of Islam, which he joins towards the end of the book. Eddie is a boxer outside of the ring too: keeping his head low and averting punches but fighting still. It's an inspiring book. The writing is well done too. I am a slow reader generally, but, once I was past the first 70 pages, I was breezing along -- which happens rarely for me. I think it's because I became a part of Eddie's world too.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book
Review: Night Journey is a compelling work of literature by a young author destined to become a literary star. In his remarkable novel, Kalam dares to go where few other writers have gone, using the Third Ward in Phoenix Arizona, an area where prostitution and drugs are rampant, as the setting for his novel. Night Journey beautifully tells the tale of Eddie Bloodpath, a young man who struggles to become a boxer in order to avoid a life of hustling and drug dealing. In addition to Eddie, Night Journey's cast of characters includes pimps, hustlers, drug dealers, and prostitutes- all of whom are depicted with a sense of tragic realism. Few other writers could have written about Phoenix's Third Ward with the same sense of grace and humanity. Although this book certainly deserves 5 stars, I'm withholding one star until the author writes a sequel finishing Eddie's tale.