Soul City

Publishers Weekly

In a swamp of political mudslinging tomes, this charming and quirky fairy tale for grownups comes as a restful change. Stem-cell clashes? Foreign policy? Forget it. The mayoral race in Soul City hinges on one issue and one issue only: which candidate will make the best DJ, pumping the hippest music into the speakers that hang from every lamppost in the city. The citizens of this grooving utopia, which boasts "more mojo than any city in the world," are entirely separated from the rest of America, and they like it that way; it leaves them free to devour Granmama's biscuits by the bushel, drive around in cars that play only the driver's favorite singer, and attend St. Pimp's House of Baptist Rapture. When Cadillac Jackson, a journalist from Chocolate City magazine, arrives to write an article about the election, he promptly falls in love with the seductive Mahogany Sunflower, but even more so with the city itself the only place left in America where black really is beautiful. Imaginative, buoyant and slyly funny, this satire by magazine writer Tour (The Portable Promised Land) is a delight to read and a pleasure to hum along to. Agent, Sarah Lazin. 5-city author tour. (Sept. 2) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this highly entertaining debut novel, Tour expands on the magical characters he introduced in his story collection, The Portable Promised Land, pulling together aspects of African American culture within a utopian setting called Soul City. Cadillac Jackson, a reporter for Chocolate City Magazine, arrives in the city to cover the mayoral election and falls in love with a woman named Mahogany, whose family can fly like birds. She is one of many distinct characters, including the boy preacher, Lil' Mo Love, who tells amusing stories about a slave who continually outsmarts his white master; Cool Spreadlove, who wins the mayoral election and spins his soul music throughout the city; and Ecstasy, who runs a hug shop where citizens pay for a rejuvenating embrace. Numerous literary and musical anecdotes run through this imaginative story, which ultimately examines African American stereotypes against a political backdrop of power and greed. This is a cleverly written page-turner whose only disappointment is that it has to end. Highly recommended; public libraries should order additional copies. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/04.]-David A. Berone, Univ. of New Hampshire Lib., Durham Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Well, what other name would you give paradise?It's not clear exactly how to react to a debut novel that's purportedly meant for adults yet whose first page introduces journalist Cadillac Jackson getting off the train in Soul City (where he's been sent by Chocolate City Magazine to cover the mayoral elections) and fully intending to check out the sights that include the world-famous 100-foot Afro pick and the "crazy" sermons delivered by Revren Lil' Mo Love. Is this the start of a bad dream that our protagonist is going to wake up from? No, dear reader, music journalist Toure (stories: The Portable Promised Land, 2002) has his story and he runs with it, for better or for worse. True enough, Cadillac keeps his clear intention of probing into the city to see what's going on with the mayoral election, but obviously that's really just a stratagem allowing him to tour the length and the breadth of this slice of paradise: where the biscuits are made with droplets of heaven-sent butter, the music is everywhere and always the best (Ellington, Prince, Marley), and there's a gorgeous Jimmy Choo-wearing femme fatale by the name of Mahogany Sunflower for Cadillac to fall in love with. There's evil, too, of course, personified in places like the nearby thug paradise of Whatevaworld and in the figure of vile billionaire tycoon John Jiggaboo. The battle for the soul of Soul City is joined only somewhat late in this thinly imagined romp, which keeps its bouncy spirit even while failing utterly to function as a racial metaphor in the manner of a Colson Whitehead or Suzan-Lori Parks, though it seems to wish to. Not half as imaginative as it may think, yet still fun in a grandly silly fashion.