Yes, I Liked: Deacon King Kong
On the buoyancy of faith #68
Babies, my book babies, I am BACK and FORTIFIED after a long week of reading with some naps and meals thrown in, and really, I can highly recommend it. Admittedly one must have an extremely high tolerance for repetition and potential boredom to pull off this amount of reading and sleeping, but apparently I have this and so it was a dream break, not least because I have some books to recommend to you (and honestly, a few you can skip.)
My absolute favorite thing I read, and what I can highly recommend, is Deacon King Kong (yet another on-point suggestion by great reader Jeff, who apparently influences me enough that I just inadvertently quoted his must-follow Book-stagram account.)
Power summary: In 1969 Brooklyn, a 71-year old widow, deacon, part-time handyman and full-time drinker walks up to the local drug dealer and shoots him in the head. The reasons, and the fallout, and the reverberations in the community, all unfold in a densely converging, darkly comic “What happens next?”
For over a year this book has been in my humiliatingly overpopulated category: Important Books I Considered But Avoided, subtitle: Yes Barack and Oprah, I Get It, You Loved This.
Why? Because … reasons? I guess I thought it would be dense, and capital-C crafted, and traditional, and hidey-ho, turns out! It is all those things but in absolutely the best ways. Here are three reason I loved it and maybe you will too!
Dense … with Glorious Characters
Every character in Deacon King Kong is more interesting, more memorable, and more colorful than the last, and there are a LOT of characters in this. In the hands of a lesser author, everything would get muddy and confusing, but instead my synesthetic takeaway is a riot of bold, confident character color and pattern. From the main character (the eponymous Deacon King Kong, which is a nickname for a guy named Sportcoat, and does that not just tell you everything about these characters?) to the Elephant to the Governor to Sister Paulette to Hot Sausage (HOT. SAUSAGE!) to every other side character who glances by in early chapters only to become a key player in later moments, every single person is vividly, individually, memorably rendered. Every time someone shows up on the page, you’re happy to see them, and to sit down for a while and listen to their stories, and to care about what happens to them.
Crafted … in the Most Delightful, Madcap Way
Both the plotting and the writing itself are intricate high-wire acts. This book feels like one of those comedy of errors, near-miss, doors-opening-and-closing plays, in all the best ways. Absolutely nothing is mentioned for no reason, and it’s all densely packed in without feeling stodgy or record-scratchingly expository. In fact, it’s deeply immersive and engaging, so it feels like you’re riding the perfect wave.
And the writing. The writing! At turns literature, slang, patois, mystery and comedy, and always with an unexpected but perfect description that feels written but not heavy. For example, one character is described this way:
“Her smile displayed a raw, natural beauty that caught Potts off guard. The woman, he thought, was all good handwriting.”
ALL.
Good.
HANDWRITING.
No, I can’t, I just love it so much.
Traditional because … Everything is Terrible, the Optimist’s Edition
So this a book with shootings, self-harm, drinking, drugs, aging, loss, ghosts, organized crime, assassins, and poverty, and yet it’s a comedy. Yes, it’s quite funny (my love language), sometimes even veering toward slapstick. But even more indelible is the way that this book treats traditional subjects like respect, and family, and melancholy, and most importantly faith, with a buoyant, irrepressible optimism, trust and goodness. The themes of faith and resurrection run throughout this novel without apology, just a smiling and steady assurance that you’ll get where you need to be in the end, despite all evidence to the contrary. We could all use a bracing dose of that, you feel me?
So yeah, Barack and Oprah, you win this round. I really liked this book.
Have you read this? Let me know what you thought in the comments!
More, you say? Okay then:
There are more books in le archive, in case Deacon King Kong does not float your reading boat!
You can learn more about those sweet little lavender lambs here, and why they’re the perfect reading diagnostic tool, here.
You can find more books over at Bookshop.org, which has not only all of my past recommendations but pretty much all the books you could ever want, from independent bookstores. Yay!
Here’s one more recommendation, if you must: listen to The Trojan Horse Affair, a podcast from Serial. Like all Serial podcasts, there are no tidy answers, but the ride is compelling, thought-provoking, self-confronting and oh-so-fun to listen to.
No, I missed YOU more. More.