Drop

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Chris, the protagonist of this snappy and engaging first novel, has a refreshingly original voice. A disillusioned, irresponsible African-American from the wrong side of Philadelphia, he'd rather be anywhere than the City of Brotherly Love. Upon college graduation, he enters an advertising contest promising the winner a job at a top New York agency but sadly comes up short. His hopes for escape momentarily dashed, he soon receives an offer from a small London advertiser looking for a junior creative associate, and Chris' journey of discovery begins.

With a plane ticket to London and little else, Chris heads overseas, eager to leave his homeland behind. London was "everything I'd ever hungered for…Success was defined by how far I'd run from the place I'd been born to." But what he finds across the Great Pond isn't all it's cracked up to be. Chris becomes a co-dependent in a murky relationship with his self-destructive boss, and meets up with a beautiful and feisty Nigerian lady who takes to his bed as well as she does to bossing Chris around.

In less than a year, his job in the U.K. quite literally goes up in smoke, and Chris is forced to come to terms with his own personal demons. Arriving in Philly newly humbled, he begins to take stock of what's really around him, and what's deep inside of himself-possibility.

Black Issues Book Review

Drop is a hip, contemporary morality tale set on two continents. The novel is at times predictable, but the language is so alive, crispy-fresh and musical that you will find yourself reading aloud. “Bring-Bring me somewhere lovely where people are so alive you can hear their pulses bump-bumping as they pass you on the street,” whines Chris Jones. He is a victim of the Philly ghetto who would sell his soul to escape his fate. He does manage an escape by “pimping perfection” to the public as a top young creative wizard, putting a London advertising agency on the map.

Jabari Asim

Mat Johnson's talent is obvious from the get-go. I especially like the way he injects snappy jazz into his sentences, successfully deconstructing Big Ideas while resisting the urge to show just how smart he is....Drop manages to be comical, serious and eloquent--all at the same time.
— Washington Post

From The Critics

Chris Jones, the self-loathing hero of Johnson's quixotic but strangely appealing new novel, is a rich and complex African-American whose various adventures and psychoses flutter across the pages with such emotional intensity that the reader ultimately forgives his pathetic attraction to glamorous but destructive personalities. Born in Philadelphia, a city he loathes, Jones moves to England and wins a job at a quirky advertising agency in Brixton. The young, creative wannabe finds himself in love with swinging, open London—that is until his job and love life both blow up in his face. Stylistically uneven, Johnson's prose expends energy on tangential themes and events and leaves holes in narrative logic—especially at its less-than-credible climax. But it's a fresh, original and stylish coming-of-age work that avoids most of the cliches of the genre.
—Chris Jones

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An African-American ad designer follows his luck from the hood to the U.K.--and back--in this uneven but quite worthwhile first novel. At 31, having finally earned his B.A., narrator Chris Jones yearns to escape West Philadelphia, his rundown hometown. When Chris wins third place in a marketing contest, his entry catches the eye of David Crombie, a brilliant designer with Jamaican roots. David invites Chris to move to Britain and work for his tiny ad agency in Brixton (a largely black part of South London). Once there, Chris designs some ads and finds a passionate Nigerian girlfriend. His main job, however, is helping David's wife pick up the pieces after David's benders. Then there's a tragic twist of fate, and Chris must return to West Philly. Bitter and dejected, he takes a temp job at the electric company, phoning poor people to help them pay their bills. He must reconcile himself with his co-workers and clients, with his homegirl Alex and with the milieu in which he grew up. Johnson's portrait of West Philly is as nuanced, elegant and witty as his portrait of Brixton is lifeless and flat, and the urban American supporting characters seem alive and genuine in a way none of the English figures begins to be. Chris's inner journey toward peace with his hood and with himself remains bittersweet without being sentimental; it's in Chris's own psyche, and in his West Philly, that Johnson shows his gifts. If the author's next novel resembles the last half of this one, he will have become a writer to celebrate. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Johnson's very humorous debut novel is a classic tale of a young man's rise, fall, and redemption. At age 31, Chris Jones has just completed an undergraduate degree in marketing and lands his dream career in advertising, which propels him from the urban blight of Philadelphia to the bright promise of London. Chris enjoys the benefits of a Santa Claus-like boss, an exotic girlfriend, and a great apartment until tragedy ends his European adventure. His return to his worst memories of Philadelphia initiates a struggle with self-hatred and doubt, but he is redeemed by accepting and finally embracing his identity with the city that gave him life. Johnson's poetic reflections recall the work of James Baldwin, while the cynical realism experienced by the main character during his downward spiral reflects that of Ralph Ellison. Wonderfully written, although the poetic language occasionally interferes with the narrative; this is recommended for all public libraries.--Lee McQueen, SUNY at Buffalo Lib. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Johnson's debut novel reworks a venerable theme: the young American who travels abroad to forge a new identity but ends by discovering that he is far more American than he'd realized.