Fiction Subjects, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction

Getting Right with God : A Novel

Name: Getting Right with God : A Novel
Author: Lionel Newton
ISBN: 9780452271470

by Lionel Newton

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Overview

There's a new spirit abroad in African-American fiction, and with this fresh, appealing first novel, Lionel Newton joins the ranks of such breakthrough writers as Trey Ellis and Jess Mowry. Part Boyz N the Hood, part Catcher in the Rye, Getting Right with God is a powerful novel about a young black man in urban America, circa now. Lucas Martin's adolescence has caught up with him. He's trying to focus on real life, but on balance he'd rather hang out with his friends, drink, and pull fast ones on corner prostitutes. Or maybe wail away on his sax, or have one of his chats with God and Satan, two depraved drag-queen images he creates for himself to help him indulge in flights of ferociously funny fantasy. Anything to avoid dealing with his father's newfound sense of parental responsibility or his new stepmom's overtures at mothering. Add a whacked-out, dope-dealing best friend and a radical "church-girl" who alternates "Marcus Garvey bends" with determined efforts to make Lucas fall for her, and you've got the makings of a bumpy ride into manhood. As he wrestles with the ambiguities of sex, love, religion, and the puzzle of his own identity, Lucas Martin combines the familiar trials and tribulations of youth with a take on life that's utterly his own. Written with a young, irreverent style that never misses a beat and a storytelling command that soars with the wile and wit of its young hero, this winning, uncommonly accomplished debut introduces a bold new talent to the literary scene.

Part Boyz N the Hood, part Catcher in the Rye, Getting Right with God is the brash, energetic story of a young black man in urban America--and his bumpy ride into manhood. "In a raw, raunchy and highly imaginative style . . . Newton addresses the myth and meaning of African-American life today."--Publishers Weekly, starred review.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Lucas Martin, the unlikely hero of this wonderful first novel, is, by his own admission, a bit slow; he's also a self-professed coward with little vision or ambition. An African American high school student, Lucas is coming of age in a Long Island ghetto rife with prostitution, violence and drug abuse, patrolled by police interested only in making sure that crime stays within its borders. Yet this is not a tragedy, but rather a wildly comic story of growing up black in modern society. Lucas's best friend is a hustler and drug dealer he describes as a ``role model for the condemned''; his detested stepmother is showing a newfound interest in him that may not be entirely maternal; and his girlfriend Deana is pushing him towards social and personal awareness, of which he's decidedly wary. He also has an active, albeit unconventional, spiritual life: he treasures and reads an old Bible that belonged to his mother, and with the help of the gas in aerosol cans, he can talk to God--and Satan. Both of these supernatural beings find their influence on earth declining; with Lucas as their only company, they ultimately make friends after some spirited exchanges reflecting their age-old animosity. In a raw, raunchy and highly imaginative style reminiscent of Ishmael Reed (but without his often blatant sexism), Newman addresses the myth and meaning of African American life today. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Lucas Martin is a young African American who considers himself slow, despite his 3.8 grade-point average in high school. His bad ass friends think he is too concerned with God and his saxophone. His recovering alcoholic father is making up for lost time by cramping his style with some newfound parenthood routine. And his girlfriend insists on trying to turn him into Marcus Garvey. Lucas's 'hood encompasses the not-so-mean streets of Long Island, and the problems he and his friends encounter have as much in common with Holden Caulfield as with Spike Lee's characters. In Lucas, first-time novelist Newton has created one of the most engaging characters in recent fiction. Lucas's search for identity and a resolution to today's tug of good and evil stands with the best coming-of-age fiction. Highly recommended for all libraries.-- Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.