High Cotton is an extraordinarily rich account of the dreams and inner turmoils of a new generation of the black upper middle class, capturing the essence of a part of American society that has mostly been ignored in literature. The novel's protagonist journeys from his childhood home in the midwest to college, a stint in New York publishing, and Europe, yet the issue of his "blackness" remains at the heart of his being.
When I first read this, I took it to be a memoir because of some obvious overlap between Pinckney's personal history and that of his protagonist, but more especially because of the intense vividness and immediacy of the language. Learning it's a novel does nothing to change my high opinion of the book, which should be much better known/more widely read. Pinckney's got a powerful and striking prose style and it's also a fiercely intelligent book, one which takes nothing for granted. I'd group him with those essayists-novelists like Rebecca West, George Orwell and James Baldwin whose medium is prose rather than the novel per se; this book is well worth checking out.
excellent fiction
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 28 years ago
"High Cotton" is well written fiction by an author I'd like to see more work by. Pinckney is a "real" writer. By that I mean he knows how to use the language in an interesting way. It's not just a "what happens next" kind of book which, unfortunately, tends to be the norm in popular fiction by African-American writers. Just pick up a copy of any Terry Mcmillan book (with the exception of "Mama"), and you'll see what I mean. Read High Cotton to experience a black writer's voice, humor and wit, A family drama, a comedy, a social commentary, an excellent read
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