It's hard to call a book that's included in the Library of America "forgotten," but since it's my blog, I'll just talk about it, anyway. I first read the Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones books in the Avon editions (which I still have, of course) not too long after their publication. However, I had this Berkley reprint on the shelves, and because it's a lot less brittle than the Avons, it's the one I reread the other day.The first chapter's a dilly. I don't think anybody could read the first couple of pages and not want to go on. The writing is colorful and vivid. It brings the joint where the action takes place to life. And then the violence begins. There's a lot of violence, and it's described in short, sharp bursts. Pretty quickly we're out on the streets of Harlem and a white man has been murdered. This draws a crowd. It also draws Gravedigger and Coffin Ed, two cops who are at least as violent as the criminals they're after. Maybe more violent. In mere minutes, Coffin Ed has killed a semi-innocent teen and wounded someone else. The Real Cool Killers, a teen gang, what's left of them, escape with the actual suspect.
The rest of the novel all takes place in the hours following the murder. There's more over-the-top violence as Gravedigger pursues the killer on his own, Coffin Ed having been suspended. Oh, sure, the white cops are involved, too, but they're not exactly geniuses.
The novel is also very funny, believe it or not, in its outrageous way. There's social commentary, too, though it's not presented in the way you might expect. Some it is oblique, some a little more direct. Nothing in the book is politically correct, however, and there are things that current readers might find offensive.
Since I haven't read the Library of America edition, I don't know if the euphemism "mother-rapers" has been replaced by the real term. Even when I read the books the first time, I thought "mother-rapers" was just as bad as the phrase it was replacing.
Himes could've used a good editor, and the writing in spots is a bit rough. It's as if he wrote the book very quickly and didn't do much, if any, revision. Great stuff, though, and there's a nice ending twist as the last ten or fifteen pages turn everything upside down. Check it out.
7 comments:
I'll have to check the LOA edition to see if the real terminology shows up. I loved THE REAL COOL KILLERS when I first read it, too.
I think the LoA edition used the manuscript instead of the books for their edition. So maybe the real term is used.
I don't think any editor has ever messed with the term "mother raper" in any edition of Himes's books, which is pretty funny considering what turns up in most modern thrillers. This is one of my particular favorites in the Harlem Domestic Series, mostly because this story is as much about Coffin Ed's family as it is about the crime. Most writers of procedurals at this point in history hadn't really begun to explore what effect a cop's work life might have on his family. Himes really anticipated the more sociologically-driven procedurals that appeared ten or fifteen years later. It has its silly moments, but Himes is always worth reading. I still reread the Harlem stories every few years.
Thanks for weighing in, Bob. I agree about the emphasis on Coffin Ed's family here, and the reaction of the other cops to the situation is really interesting. I wish Coffin Ed had had a bigger part in the book. These books are always worth rereading.
Since I was introduced to Himes's characters by the Poitier/Cosby and Cambridge/St. Jacques films as a sprat, the notion that anyone wouldn't expect a humorous dimension to the story seems odd...yeah, MR is rather uglier than MF, even if the the second was originally meant to suggest the first, yet somehow is more Polite. It's a funny world.
You probably have to be somewhat strange to find the novels funny.
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