MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND

by Claude Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 1965

Manchild is a naturalistic autobiography which carries Brown through his Harlem childhood and adolescence to his middle twenties, Some of the names are apparently changed, but the detail and dialogue are authentically unsparing. The accent is on drugs and sex during the Forties and Fifties. Brown's ideal as a Child was to grow up and kill his father for beating him so often. Slum life was dismally sordid and murder common, though the author seems to skip the hallway smells, the garbage and the rats and settles for constant action and talk. He was involved in violence and robbery from about five on; hit reform school several times; got shot at thirteen during a trivial theft. He was fornicating before puberty, smoking reefers, and ready for heroin at thirteen. As in Farrell's Lonigan trilogy the passage of time is a major theme, and yet few pages are saturated with ""the times."" In some ways the author's insistent emphasis on vice overloads the dice. Though many of his companions die or turn into addicts, what's amazing is that so many survive with honor. Impressive as it is, this would have had an electric vigor if disciplined by more art and less memory.

Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1965

ISBN: 0684864185

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION