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Chargement... The Sum of His Worthpar Ron Argo
Aucun Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.   StarrReina | Sep 24, 2014 |  aucune critique | ajouter une critique
A prize-winning journalist and author returns to his childhood in this fictional account of the tumultuous 1960s Civil Rights era in the South. The gripping saga takes us into the heart of an Alabama town held captive by the blind hatred of the K.K.K. in a "profound and heartbreakingly real" (Kirkus) novel. The teenager's narration breathes life into that violent setting, and pays homage to the tragedies and hardships of both black and white Southerners trying to thrive in a segregationist town. Young Sonny Poe is trapped in a dead-end life of poverty and prejudice. Horrified after witnessing a lynching in the midnight woods, Sonny turns shy of anyone he suspects is a Klansman. Soon, he meets and befriends a progressive doctor with a troubled past and a crusading spirit who's trying to help end abuse against the local Negroes. The headstrong teenager commits himself to "Doctor Joe" and his cause, even as both will suffer betrayals, beatings, arrest and finally exile in a story that can only end in tragedy and hope. This edgy thriller pulsates with violence, love, betrayal and humor on a narrative rushing us through the forebodingness of one of America's most pressing historical moments toward its shocking climax. The Civil Rights Movement forms the backbone of The Sum of His Worth, but its strength comes from the voice of its young narrator and its strongest theme lies in the caveats of moral reckoning in a "free" society. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999ÉvaluationMoyenne: (4)
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In today’s day and age, we don’t think about the prejudices of races. Yes, there are some who do not get along with others, but we don’t worry about segregation and the beatings and killings associated with breaking the rules.
“The Sum of his Worth” takes the reader on a journey when blacks and whites wouldn’t think about mixing in the south. Even though laws were trying to be changed to overcome these prejudices, there are those in the Deep South that refused to consider blacks anything but dispensable. Lynching was part of life for the white man in Alabama and Georgia.
Sonny Poe—a sixteen-year-old—meets Dr. Joe, and they are two white guys in the heart of the south. Sonny already has friends from the neighboring town Ash, who are black. He doesn’t see a problem with it, but does understand how being seen with blacks could affect him and his friends. But Sonny is rebellious and refuses to treat blacks any differently than the whites and Dr. Joe is trying to change the way people think. And some people in the Alabama town consider that to be traitorous and go after both Sonny and Dr. Joe with killing on their minds. They group together the KKK and try to murder Sonny, Dr. Joe, and any black person who thinks to try to rise above their unfortunate status. Will Sonny and Dr. Joe both die trying to do what’s right?
Argo has woven a story that unfortunately, was a little too close to the truth to think of as fiction. This well-written novel will have you gasping and flinching at the corruption and vileness. A very poignant novel, written in the voice of those of the 60s. Well done, Argo.
Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “The Other Side: Melinda’s Story” (