THE PROPHET OF CENTRAL PARK

In Burhenne’s novel, a young man leaves the conservative community where he grew up, only to wind up in the crosshairs of New York City’s culture wars.

Twenty-two-year-old Caleb Ellison flees the ultraconservative religious community where he grew up in small-town Kentucky to settle in the New York City borough of Queens.After getting a job at a Midtown Manhattan auction house,he learns that he had a gay uncle in the city, whom Caleb’s father kept a secret from the rest of the family. When Caleb intervenes to protect some abortion-rights activists from right-wing agitators, the brawl that ensues quickly goes viral. He befriends Tawana Johnson, a street performer who’s known as “the Prophet,” who introduces him to William Davey Randolph, a sculptor with whom Caleb soon has a tense relationship. All the while, Caleb is haunted by a tragedy that led to the death of his friend, Annaliese. When escalating political fallout from Caleb’s fight lands him in legal trouble, he is surprised to find that he has caring benefactors in high places. He also learns that news of his fame has reached his hometown, making his father determined to bring him back into the fold. Overall, this is an ambitious and clearly heartfelt novel. Interspersed throughout are fictional news articles about events across the country, which do a fine job of conveying the troubled political climate. However, a drawback of portraying the tumultuous forces surrounding Caleb is that he comes across as a rather passive character, reacting to actions taken by others and frequently asking himself, God, and the voice of Annaliese in his head about how he got into any given situation. He’s also frequently rescued from perilous events by powerful benefactors, which effectively relieves him of the need to solve his own problems. Even the past traumatic event is characterized more by what he didn’t do, rather than what he did. The flaws in the hero’s journey have the effect of weakening the novel’s political message, as well.

An earnest and enterprising story that might have been improved by giving its protagonist more agency.