King Suckerman by George P. Pelecanos Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.59 You Save: $4.40 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.09 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of King Suckerman
Book Review: Compelling read
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read about eight of Pelecanos's books (having come to him through my "The Wire" obsession) and this was one of the harder ones to put down. Sure, the story isn't the most believable, but so what? The characters are compelling and Wilton Cooper is one of the baddest bad guys who's ever been put on a page. The writing of the final gundown between Cooper and Marcus Clay flows like water. Highly recommended.Book Review: D.C. Noir and Funk
Summary: 5 Stars
Alright I am a Pelecanos junkie; I've read most of his novels and this one is still my favorite. While D.C. residents may get more out of his books (we can easily recognize the streets he name drops, and understand a bit of the culture) anyone who is a fan of noir writing would dig Pelecanos. He really paints 1976 beautifully; from the style of clothes, the music, and of course the Blaxploitation movie that the novel revolves around. King Suckerman has that right amount of evil, violence, humor, and still uplifts you at the end. If you are a fan of Tarantino type characters/plot you should consider this book; if you are a DC resident, then this book (and the other Pelecanos novels) are mandatory.Book Review: Guns, Friends, and One Smokin' Soundtrack!
Summary: 5 Stars
King Suckerman is one funny book! The prose is so high energy it shines, but a quick glance of the first page of customer reviews makes me nervous about writing a positive review of this book (most of you guys are dissing Pelecanos's effort, it looks like). I think King Suckerman was intended as an action-comedy, sort of a Sergio Leone-meets-Shaft novel where the message is that friendship and loyalty rises above. Pelecanos riffs freely on subjects from reefer, to DC basketball, to violence, to the real question at each of our hearts: was Jimi Hendrix a rock musician, or a soul musician?All of this lightly covers some heavier issues underneath the surface of King Suckerman; chiefly race, drugs, and violence in our nation's capitol. Marcus Clay is a black DC record store owner (Real Right Records) and Demitri Karras is a young white man with no clear direction in his life. The two play ball together on DC's famed city courts, and when a simple drug deal draws Clay into pulling a gun on a local dealer, Karras and Clay become the subject of the dealer's (and some out of town boys') revenge.
The novel follows a pretty tight storyline from there with the redneck goons tracking down Karras and Clay, ultimately leading to the novel's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style climax on a DC bicentenial July 4th with fireworks exploding in the background!
As with other Pelecanos novels (Right as Rain, Shame the Devil, Soul Circus, The Sweet Forever), King Suckerman is a deeply moral novel where redemption and loyalty rises above ignorance and hatred. There is an interesting passage in Suckerman where Karras finds out that a young kid he's sold some dope to has died in an automobile accident, and for a time he seems torn, trying to choose between right and wrong, friendship and honor. At the end of the novel, Karras does have a focus and a responsibility, and through friendship, he comes to be a more mature character. It's the kind of ending that leaves you wanting to see what'll happen next in Karras's life, now that he has matured. Fortunately, that novel has been written (Shame the Devil) and is every bit as intense and powerful as King Suckerman. If you're new to Pelecanos, my best recommendation would be to read his more recents books (or to check out HBO's The Wire, for which he writing this season) and see if his style appeals to you. If it does, you'll eventually want to read King Suckerman because it is one of the brightest, funniest novels in Pelecanos's ouvre. I highly recommend this novel!
Stacey
Book Review: Helps to be from D.C.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the third Pelecanos novel that I've read - starting with 'Shame the Devil' and going backwards via 'The Sweet Forever', and each of them have been enjoyable pageturners. It is remarkable how many areas, places, and occurances that Pelecanos describes mirror my stomping grounds and activities during my ascending years. I'm just glad that I didn't go one more street over to shoot some hoop, or purchase some recreationals from that guy who made me just nervous enough to change my mind - because this guy has me totally believing in a world that was there just inches away from my own. I don't get all the musical references, but Pelecanos feeling that there must always be music present, either real or imagined, is just one more thing that allows me to really identify with his stories and characters. One mistake in 'King Suckerman' - you couldn't license a Superbird or Daytona in D.C., but everything else is right on.Book Review: King Suckerman just sucked me right in!
Summary: 5 Stars
Pelecanos hooks you from the very first page and makes you want to keep turning 'till the end.His knowledge of pop-culture in the 70's is outstanding and his descriptions of the locales and how it all unfolds is right on the money!This book leaves you jealous when the characters are having a good time and downright bummed when one or more of the characters leaves and/or dies.It takes alot to keep me interested, but this book kept me up all night looking forward to the end.