THE JUNIOR BACHELOR SOCIETY

The JBS is a kind of fraternity of black athletes who reunite after thirty years in their home-town, an industrial city not far from New York, to honor their highschool coach and mentor, Chappie Davis. Among them are those who stayed behind: Shurley, the sub rosa owner of the restaurant where the group at first assembles; Snake, risen to a position of privilege in local government; and the blue collar boys, especially Bubbles the organizer, who married early and went to work in the foundry. Then there are those who went away--a teacher, an editor, a playwright, a concert singer and Moon, the pimp, whose appearance is believably accidental. Moon is on the run and it is his trouble which pulls the group together for the last time. It is his apprehension too of the way things are which gives the novel its fitting conclusion. Williams is such a good writer that he leaves you feeling satisfied and disappointed at the same time. You know that he has mastered his chosen situation and yet you can't help expecting something more--more drama, more tension. What you get instead is a quiet, reflective work in which the perceptions ring true and all the pieces snap together smoothly and efficiently. The book's very virtues are also its limitations.